# How to keep growth out of a small kiddie pool **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2017, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779 "2017-06-12T15:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/21 "2017-06-13T17:43:42Z")
> [@RememberMe](#): > > Like how bleach bottles get brittle? Hmm not sure, never had a bleach bottle crack, but probably never had one survive long enough to find out. The pool liner though gets hard from over chlorination, then it starts to crack, and of course leak. Then the real fun of installing a new liner ensues. I didnt like that fun too much ☹ I liked it so little i eventually got rid of the pool. Owning a pool in Florida sucks. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/22 "2017-06-13T18:15:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > … tell them what the green stuff eats… Sunlight? :dubious: Yeah, I know. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/23 "2017-06-14T00:26:06Z")
Fill it in the evening and hit it with a double dose of chlorine but not a shock level or use some algaecide to get a few days head start on the green stuff. Also get and use a floater every night and pull it out in the morning before the kiddies use it. That’ll do the daily chlorine recharge overnight when the sun is not as destructive. Even then, plan on changing the water bi- weekly. The only long lasting pool water we ever got was when we graduated into the larger portables to which we were able to attach a sand filter. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/24 "2017-06-14T01:55:37Z")
> [@RememberMe](#): > > While I am not a chemist, I think I can set you straight on a few things: > > You are correct about UV doing damage to the liner, and that’s about all that is doing damage. I have had pieces of vinyl liner sitting in full strength bleach for months, with no apparent degradation. Chlorine oxidizes organic matter, vinyl is not organic. That is not actually true, sodium hypochlorite does in fact damage vinyl if you over chlorinate [Below the pH neutral level of 7.0, pool water becomes acidic and corrosive to vinyl. Over time, this can suck out the plasticizers and resins that keeps vinyl pliable. Over more time, a liner in a low pH “acid bath” will become brittle, fade in color and eventually begin to literally fall apart.](http://www.poolproducts.com/blog/5-mistakes-to-avoid-with-a-new-inground-vinyl-liner) Which you get if you overdo the chlorine Vinyl is by the way an[organic compound](https://www.britannica.com/science/vinyl-compound) May want to consult some pool manufactures to update your info. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2017, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/25 "2017-06-14T06:41:25Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > [Below the pH neutral level of 7.0, pool water becomes acidic and corrosive to vinyl. Over time, this can suck out the plasticizers and resins that keeps vinyl pliable. Over more time, a liner in a low pH “acid bath” will become brittle, fade in color and eventually begin to literally fall apart.](http://www.poolproducts.com/blog/5-mistakes-to-avoid-with-a-new-inground-vinyl-liner) Yes - in public pools, specially trained employees Monitor both pH and chlorine Levels because These influence each other (To give full Details: it’s measured and administered automatically today, but for safety reasons and by legal prescription, Manual measuring is done at least 3 times a day). While the pool employees here are not chemists, the part of chemistry which relates to pH and chlorine and their interaction is part of their 2-year Training. Which is another reason why People don’t have built-in private pools here - for Swimming, there’s the public Swimming pools which follows the laws and has trained personal; for People with backyards, there are the inflatable kiddie pools which are emptied out every few days instead of Dumping chemicals without any know-how. But then, I live in an area with high rainfall so water is not scarce. > [@](#): > > May want to consult some pool manufactures to update your info. But didn’t you read that he knows so much more? ---
**Author:** ![thatguyjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@thatguyjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatguyjeff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/26 "2017-06-15T02:07:47Z")
tl;dr For a pool that size, there really isn’t anything you can reasonably do. I used to be a maintenance guy at an apartment complex with a pool. Part of my responsibilities included daily water testing and chemical adjustment, all that jazz. Doesn’t make me an expert, just have some experience. Getting the chemistry just right takes time, effort, and the right equipment and chemicals (= extra $). I don’t do that any more. But I have a couple kids and a similar pool in our back yard. And we have the same problem. Household bleach won’t work because UV rays break it down too fast to do any good. You would have to use chemicals specific for pool use. The problem with that is the smaller the pool, the less forgiving or room for error in getting the chemicals/Ph just right (enough to help, but not too much to harm the kids). A pool like that has a tiny window. When our pool is out and filled, my wife waters the plants out of it - dipping her can in there and buckets, etc. And we refill with fresh. We dump every 4-5 days. Wait a couple days for the grass to recover, and refill again. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/27 "2017-06-16T08:19:02Z")
> [@thatguyjeff](#): > > Household bleach won’t work because UV rays break it down too fast to do any good. You would have to use chemicals specific for pool use. The problem with that is the smaller the pool, the less forgiving or room for error in getting the chemicals/Ph just right (enough to help, but not too much to harm the kids). A pool like that has a tiny window. Another aspect: Our public Swimming pools have lowered the Level of chlorine in the past decades because in the 90s scientists discovered that the chloramines - several compounds that are produced when the “bound chlorine” (free chlorine binding to anyhting organic in order to disinfect) is broken down again - can cause cancer and organ damage\*, and that the smaller/ younger the child was, the smaller the amount and the bigger the damage that could be done. Chloramines are a gas, which hovers just above the surface of the water. Part of the laws changed the pool design - a flat surface, which dispels the cloud more than a sunken pool of old - but part was also lowering the Levels of allowed bound chlorine. (That means more fresh water is put into the pool). The side effect is that customers complain less about the red eyes, damage to the hair and brittle bathing suits that came with the high amount of bound chlorine in the 60s and 70s (also the typical “pool smell”). \*Chloroform which we know now causes liver damage also belongs to the Group of chloramines > [@](#): > > When our pool is out and filled, my wife waters the plants out of it - dipping her can in there and buckets, etc. And we refill with fresh. We dump every 4-5 days. Wait a couple days for the grass to recover, and refill again. To clarifiy: watering your plants means not using any chemicals like bleach/ chlorine; but emptying out regularly keeps growth in check, too. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779/28 "2017-06-16T08:20:53Z")
Oh, another thought: if you live in one of the 3/4th of the US that is water-scarce, a way to just refresh small kiddies is a bathing suit and the lawn Sprinkler / solar shower. It’s not Swimming, but refreshing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keep-growth-out-of-a-small-kiddie-pool/788779.md?page=1)