Pool help-very reluctant to use the chemicals

[barefootmama0709]

So, I recently bought a kiddie pool for my kiddies. It's lovely. However, it's also in the sun and gets algae-very, very fast. Like, less than a week. I really don't want to put chemicals in it, but I can't keep cleaning it and refilling because we live in an apartment and that would just be a ridiculous amount of water usage. Any tips or tricks? There is nowhere shady it can go. I can't even move it-it's in the only relatively flat spot in the yard. Am I going to have to suck it up and buy chemicals for it??

[Llyra]

It's not just the algae. Untreated pools, even little kiddie pools, can harbor bacteria and parasites that can cause skin and eye infections, and in some cases make kids pretty darn sick. You can't see them, either, like you can SEE the algae. I wouldn't leave a kiddie pool more than three days, I think-- that would be the maximum for my comfort level.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swim...tic-pools.html

[lifeguard]

Yeah, I'd prefer a little bit of chlorine over the nasties that can grow in there. You really don't need much.

[JamieCatheryn]

Perhaps you could use salt. Big pools sometimes use electrolysis systems to make chlorine out of pool salt, but maybe you could prevent bacteria growth by making it a salt water pool? Something to look into anyway.

I never considered leaving a kiddie pool filled up long. We just empty ours after less than 3 days, watering the garden with the pool water.

[CariOfOz]

Ours wasn't *technically* a kiddie pool... it was about half a metre deep and 2.5m across AND we got one that is able to have a filter/pump hooked up. Even with cleaning our filter every other day (and it was FILTHTY even that often!), we had to use an algaecide to keep the water from getting gross.

If we hadn't had the filter system we'd have had to empty it weekly.. and yeah, that would've been a massive water waste (we have drought issues) so we'd never have had a pool. I agree that a small amount of chemical intervention in the pool is much safer than the things that would grow in it otherwise! (you can have a look into salt chlorine, which is what most permanent pools in Australia use, but I don't think you'd want to drain it onto your lawn after as it may damage it due to the salt?)

[annethcz]

Have you heard of salt systems? We have an above-ground pool, and I think that's what I'll be investing in next year.

[allnaturalmom]

IMO, if this is a pool that is too small for a filter, you really should empty it, rinse it out and let it dry between uses. It doesn't have to be filled all the way up for the kiddos to have a good time splashing around in there. There is no way I would allow my dc to swim in water that sat in the pool for more than a day. You don't know what could be harboring/incubating in there... just sounds like a uti waiting to happen. I would not put chemicals in it either. When you dump it out, the chemical-treated water could kill the grass... especially if you use bleach.

Now if it is a small pool that is big enough for a filter, then you can look into a mineral purification pack, like the Frog System. They make them for above ground and in-ground filters. IME, they are good... we have one for our pool and really like it.

gl
hth