Rudy, Author at Aquatic Facility Training and Consultants

2021 U.S. Chlorine Shortage

Post author:Rudy
Post published:February 9, 2021
Post category:Pool News

Chlorine Shortage Expected to Plague Nation into 2022 A follow up to our September 2020 article Biolab Fire Expected to Cause Pool Chlorine Price Increase U.S. Chlorine Shortage What Caused…

Badly Decomposed Body Found in Swimming Pool

Post author:Rudy
Post published:January 28, 2021
Post category:Pool News

Lewisville PD has Not Ruled Out Foul Play. A swimming pool service company uncovered the badly decomposed body of an unknown male early Thursday morning. Nemo's pool service had been…

Water Hammer Pool Plumbing

Post author:Rudy
Post published:January 9, 2021
Post category:Equipment

This one won't be a long one because it's fairly cut and dry. If you move a valve handle, no matter what type of valve, while the system is running,…

How Borates in Swimming Pools Buffer pH

Post author:Rudy
Post published:December 27, 2020
Post category:Water Chemistry Borates pH Adjustments

Borates in Swimming Pools This may very well be the 'New Craze' in swimming pool chemistry and probably comes as close to being the elusive 'Magic Pill' as anything. Though…

How Pool Pump Cavitation Sucks!

Post author:Rudy
Post published:December 11, 2020
Post category:Equipment Pool Service Tips

I'm afraid there's not going to be anything pretty about this one. At least not with the diagrams. I want to talk about Why Pool Pump Cavitation Sucks and the…

Backwashing Pool Filter Weekly is NOT a Thing!

Post author:Rudy
Post published:December 4, 2020
Post category:Equipment Pool Service Tips

[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Male" buttontext="Listen to Post"] Backwash Pool Filter. Filters are designed to have water run through them in a certain direction. To clean two of the three types…

CPO Certification Course ©

Post author:Rudy
Post published:November 28, 2020
Post category:CPO Certification Class Education

CPO Certification Made Easy At Aquatic Facility Training & Consultants, we believe the CPO certification class should include more than the class itself. We know that students may have questions after…

Example Price Increase Letter

Sample Pool Service Price Increase Letter – Chlorine Shortage

Post author:Rudy
Post published:November 20, 2020
Post category:Pool News

A Manufacturer's price increase should not cost you money - Pool Service Price Increase Letter ✔ This is a tough one, especially during 2020, with everything else that has gone…

Alum-CyA ‘Tech Bulletin’ Response

Post author:Rudy
Post published:November 16, 2020
Post category:Pool News

In mid-October of 2020, Robert W Lowry released an Alum-CyA 'Tech Bulletin' titled 'Does Alum Remove CyA?' This appeared again in the Service Industry News publication several weeks later. His…

The AOP Hydroxyl Radical •OH

Post author:Rudy
Post published:October 25, 2020
Post category:Water Chemistry

The Future of Swimming Pool Disinfection Advanced oxidation process is defined as those which involve the generation of hydroxyl radicals in sufficient quantity to affect water purification. As a result…

Talking Pools Podcast

If you’ve ever stared at a test kit like it personally insulted your family… welcome home.

Talking Pools Podcast is the pool industry’s “pull up a chair” show—part shop talk, part field manual, part therapy session—built for people who actually live on pool decks: commercial operators, service techs, builders, facility managers, and anyone responsible for water that can’t afford to go sideways. The network was created to level up the pool industry with real-world conversations on water chemistry, filtration, troubleshooting, construction, safety, and the business side of keeping pools open and budgets intact.

Here’s the hook: it’s not theory-first. It’s experience-first—a roster of seasoned pros (with 250+ years of combined “been there, fixed that” wisdom) turning complicated problems into practical moves you can use the same day. And it’s not one voice, one vibe, one corner of the industry: it’s a network of shows designed to reflect how diverse this work really is—different regions, different specialties, different personalities.

Also worth saying out loud: women aren’t “special guests” here—they’re on the mic as hosts, from the beginning, with an intentionally balanced roster. That matters, because the best ideas in this industry don’t come from one lane—they come from the whole road.

If you want a podcast that can make you laugh and make you better at what you do—without pretending the job is easier than it is—Talking Pools is the one you queue up before the first stop, and keep on when the day starts getting weird.

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When the National Park Service added hydrogen peroxide to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the internet immediately decided it had found the culprit behind the peeling coating.

But science doesn't work that way.

In this episode, Rudy Stankowitz takes a research-first approach to one of the most discussed pool stories of the year. Instead of asking whether hydrogen peroxide caused a coating failure, he asks a different question:

Why was hydrogen peroxide chosen in the first place?

Drawing from published scientific literature on cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms, microbiology, biofilms, and water treatment, Rudy explores how hydrogen peroxide affects microorganisms, why mature biofilms are so difficult to eliminate, and why swimming pool professionals may need to rethink the way they've approached ”black algae” for decades.

This isn't a product pitch.
It isn't a treatment recommendation.
And it certainly isn't clickbait.

It's an evidence-based discussion designed to separate what science has demonstrated from what still remains a hypothesis.

The episode also introduces the first part of Rudy's proposed research protocol—a hypothesis assembled from published mechanisms that has not been validated in controlled swimming pool research—and explains exactly where established science ends and new investigation begins.

If you're tired of opinions masquerading as facts, this episode is for you.

In This Episode

Why the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was treated with hydrogen peroxide
Why concentration matters more than percentage
Correlation versus causation in coating failures
What published research says about hydrogen peroxide and cyanobacterial blooms
The difference between free-floating algae and mature cyanobacterial biofilms
How extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) protect biofilms
Why oxidants often struggle against established biofilms
The biology behind oxidative stress
Photosystem II, lipid peroxidation, and cellular damage explained
Why mature biofilms deserve to be studied separately
Why Rudy believes better questions lead to better science
The first step in a proposed research protocol using aluminum sulfate
Why coagulation and physical removal may reduce oxidant demand before disinfection
Where the published literature ends—and where hypothesis generation begins

Key Takeaway

Science advances by asking better questions—not by rushing to conclusions.

This episode doesn't claim to have solved black algae. It challenges listeners to examine what the published research actually supports, recognize the limits of current knowledge, and think critically about where future swimming pool research should go.

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