An algae garden. Nothing replaces firsthand maintenance, according to Angie Sanchez, one of the owners of Doctor Pool, a pool-supply and maintenance company in Mesa. There is no such thing as a self-cleaning pool,'' she says. So every pool owner should have a brush, a long pole, a vacuum head and a hose to connect the vacuum head to the pool-filter intake. But even that system has its problems.
Brushes stir dust and other debris into the water, resulting in a cloudy pool.
Ideally it is sucked up by the filtration system and filtered out. Vacuuming thoroughly can take an hour or more and must be done regularly, in season or out. That's where an automatic pool cleaner can come into play. Some cleaning systems are built into pools. Whips, which stir up the dirt so it can be filtered out of the water, were popular once.