Rudy, Author at Aquatic Facility Training and Consultants

Cleaning Paint Spilled in a Pool

Post author:Rudy
Post published:October 17, 2020
Post category:Pool Service Tips

Whether it is by accident or the act of vandals, discovering paint dumped into a swimming pool is extremely disheartening. This is the intent of the crime in the case…

¡Saca el pato de mi piscina!

Post author:Rudy
Post published:October 3, 2020
Post category:Noticias de piscinas españolas

[responsivevoice_button voice="Spanish Female" buttontext="Listen to Post"] ¡Saca el pato de mi piscina! Los patos y los gansos se sienten atraídos naturalmente por el agua, especialmente si consideran que…

Biolab Fire Expected to Cause Pool Chlorine Price Increase

Post author:Rudy
Post published:September 14, 2020
Post category:Pool News

[responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Male" buttontext="Listen to Post"] The boost in residential pool sales and service is welcome but unexpected. Having pool stores, service companies, and builders declared 'Essential' in all…

CPO Practice Test

Post author:Rudy
Post published:September 1, 2020
Post category:Pool News

CPO (Certified Pool Operator) Practice Test Check out our training videos, Practice Math Test (includes answer key), and our CPO Class Flashcards at CPO Class Prep Need a CPO Class?…

CPO Class Flashcards

Post author:Rudy
Post published:August 29, 2020
Post category:Pool News CPO Certification Class

Enrolled in a Certified Pool Operator Certification Class? Okay, maybe you haven't been in school for a long time. I get it. Studying for a test is something we had…

Get Rid of Green Algae

Post author:Rudy
Post published:August 9, 2020
Post category:Algae

?Charophyta & Chlorophyceae Okay, this should be the easy one, right? Green alga is certainly the most common algae we face in a swimming pool and is definitely the least…

Get Rid of White Water Mold & Pink Slime

Post author:Rudy
Post published:June 21, 2020
Post category:Subscription Content Algae

There's a Fungus Amongus! Chunks of wet toilet paper floating in the pool. That's probably the most accurate description for what these semi-transparent floating globules of loogie look like. Like…

Photo Contest Winners

Post author:Rudy
Post published:June 10, 2020
Post category:Pool News

Congratulations! Congratulations to the Winners of the Talking Pools? Ugly Pools photo contest. Over three dozen entries. Top 5 fan votes (which became Top 6 due to a tie for…

Photo Contest Finalists

Post author:Rudy
Post published:June 1, 2020
Post category:Pool News

UGLY POOLS PHOTO CONTEST After two months of Fan Voting, our top five finalists have become a top-six with a tie for fan votes on the fifth slot. The Finalist's…

Dealing with Chronic Pain

Post author:Rudy
Post published:June 1, 2020
Post category:Pool News Swimming Pool Safety

Chronic Pain is a Mutha F**ker! This isn't a story about me, although I'm kind of in it. This is a story about my cane. We'll have to talk about…

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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