Spots and bloom
Algae treatments for Chandler and Gilbert pools.
Green, mustard and black spot algae, treated at the wall and in the water, with algaecides and water conditioners matched to what is actually growing.
Chapter 01
Green, mustard and black spot: what each looks like on plaster
Green algae is the one everyone knows. It shows as a haze or a full bloom in the water and a slick green film on the walls and floor. It spreads fast in warm water with low sanitizer, and it is the easiest of the three to kill because it floats free and meets the chemicals head on.
Mustard algae is a yellow-brown dust that settles on the shady side of the pool and on the steps. It brushes off, then comes back in the same place a few days later. It also hitchhikes on ladders, toys and swimsuits, which is how a pool that looked cleared can bloom again for no obvious reason.
Black spot is the stubborn one. It shows as dark, round spots, rooted into rough plaster and grout lines below the waterline tile. The roots go deeper than the surface, so a light scrub leaves them behind. If you can see dark spots on the plaster that do not wipe off with a hand, that is the one.
Dark algae spots on pale pool plaster below the waterline tile with a wall brush resting against it
How Del Sol treats it
Treatment starts with a water test, then the right product for what is growing. Del Sol's work includes algaecides and water conditioners, and the choice follows the algae. A bloom floating in the water is handled differently from spots that have rooted into the plaster.
Brushing does half the work. The wall brush breaks the algae's grip on the plaster, which lets the algaecide and sanitizer reach what was shielded underneath, and it throws the loosened growth into the water to be netted, vacuumed or caught by the filter. Black spot gets brushed hard and treated directly at each spot.
Once the growth is off the walls, the filter takes the load. A filter full of dead algae gets a breakdown and cleaning, so the water is not pushed back through what it just caught. After treatment the water is retested and the chemistry balanced again so the sanitizer can hold. Del Sol is fully licensed, bonded and insured, ROC#275375.
Chapter 03
Why algae comes back
Algae returns where the water does not move. Dead spots around the steps, behind ladders, in the corner of a bench or at the far end from the returns get less circulation and less sanitizer, so growth starts there. A skimmer or pump basket full of leaves, or a filter running dirty, turns the whole pool into one big dead spot.
Sanitizer is the other half. In a Chandler summer, sun and heat burn chlorine off quickly, and a pool that is only tested now and then can drop to nothing between tests. Keep the sanitizer at a working level and keep the water moving through a clean filter, and algae has very little to start from.
That is what weekly service is for: sweeping the walls, benches and steps, netting, emptying baskets, checking the equipment and testing the water every visit. Weekly service for Chandler and Gilbert homes starts at $90 per month, and the office at (480) 272-7260 can price your pool.
Fully licensed, bonded and insured, ROC#275375. Call (480) 272-7260, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm.
On the repair line
Algae work sits next to the equipment work, because they feed each other.
- Filter breakdown and cleaning
- Automatic pool cleaner repairs
- New equipment installation
- Pool light repairs/replacement
- Salt system maintenance
- Pump and filter repair/maintenance
- O-ring maintenance and service
- Algaecides and water conditioners
If the pool has already gone fully green, read how a green pool turn around is worked. To keep it from starting again, weekly pool service catches the skimmer basket, the filter and the sanitizer before they slip. Questions go to (480) 272-7260.