Swimming Pool Liner Wrinkles and Black Algae Problems
by Connie
We have an onground pool. 16 X 32 X 4 ft. 2ft are in the ground, 2ft above. Our pool is called a Woody with a vinyl liner and a Styrofoam bottom between the liner and the sand underneath. We have a salt water system and for the first year everything was wonderful, but last year our liner came off the track and we had to call the installer in to fix it to the tune of 300.00. Also there are a LOT of long lines of wrinkles in the pool and some very deep crevices where the Styrofoam bottom has gobbled up the liner or where the Styrofoam edges meet. My tale of woe is, last year, I noticed black in the crevices and all along the creases. My husband convinced me it was dirt, not black algae. I think it is black algae because I had some in all around my skimmer as well and when I touched it to try and remove it, it was sticky. I tried everything I could think of, even a tooth brush between my toes, to try and get rid of this black stuff. So, my husband closed the pool at the end of last season convincing me the cold would kill this off. Not so. This year when we opened the pool, I wanted to remove all of the water and get in there with some cleaning products and a brush and just scrub it all off the bottom of the liner. The guy who installed the pool warned me to not remove all the water and just head over to my local pool store to get help with this problem. We had no idea that you had to use a pool closing kit when you close the pool and another pool opening kit when you open the pool. We understood that when you have a salt water pool, all you need to do is put in salt and the salt generator takes care of the rest. The pool store has sold us about 300.00 worth of chemicals so far. They are telling us we need to use granular chlorine in our pool, so we added it, some whammo, so we added that, also these blue puck things in our skimmer so we did that and some other product they want us to bird feed on top of the water 20 minutes before using to get chlorine in the pool. My husband said we are stuck spending money to add more and more chemicals because we should not have messed with it in the first place. I know this is long, but we didn't have any problems until we installed a heater last August. Before that we always had a clean, crystal clear pool. Wow Connie That was one of the best, and longest, comments I've ever had. I'm not sure if you were venting or want some advice on your swimming pool liner and possible black algae issue, but here it goes. Concerning your liner, the two major causes I see with wrinkled liners are an improperly cut liner that doesn't fit the pool design or improper installation of a correctly cut liner. For the bad fit it is a matter of taking precise measurements and ordering from a reputable manufacturer. If there are only a few small wrinkles, you may be able to remove these by using a toilet plunger. By plunging around the wrinkle you can spread out the liner in that area thereby removing the wrinkle. Do not plunge directly on the wrinkle but rather just above, below, or to the side. You can also try to heat the pool to 92 degrees or higher to soften the liner. Push a rubber broom or squeegee along the wrinkles to smooth them out. If they are too numerous a pool professional should be called. If the wrinkles were caused by his poorly laid liner, he should come back to fix it. Allow him a second chance to correct the problem. Now, you black algae issue is something else. Without going into too much detail, your best bet is to go to these pages: Black Algae Remove Swimming Pool Algae The above links will give you the information you need to clear up your swimming pool black algae. This is really not something to be taken lightly. Black algae can ruin a pool because it burrows into anything it can find. I must point out that black algae is more common in plaster and concrete pools and is uncommon in vinyl liner pools. But that doesn't mean you don't have black algae. Your best bet is to get a qualified pool tech to look at your swimming pool to either confirm or deny that you do have a black algae issue. Thanks once again for the questions and comments. Good luck with your pool All the best Robert
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