Possible to have a tiny bit of algae?

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Thanks, guys. FC was 12.5 last night as I started another OCLT and this morning was 11.5 with near 0 CC. Had a couple faint algae spots. So I brushed them and added another 20 oz of liquid chlorine. Maybe I'll add another 10 oz and see how it goes.
 
I meant to ask, though, in many pieces here it says that if a pool has algae it's "dangerous" to swim in. Does that apply to my situation? I'm not clear on what "dangerous" means and I certainly don't want to get anyone sick!
 
Bacteria,viruses, and most other pathogens are easier to kill than algae. The only reason to say it is unsafe to swim in a pool that has algae is that the algae can consume enough of the chlorine to drop the chlorine to unsafe levels. You are carefully monitoring the FC, and we aren't even positive that you have live algae (no CC) in the pool.
 
Thanks Chief! I hadn't really considered that the algae I've been seeing is dead. It's still been faintly green so I assumed it's alive.

And PAGirl, I've been angling my return down to churn the bottom as much as possible. The algae's only been on the floor so I'm sure circulation has something to do with it.

Thanks all!
 
Does this green cloud up when you brush it? If it's just lying in dips along the bottom, can you just carefully vacuum it to waste?
 
Most the "dangerous" part of swimming in algae is if you cannot see the swimmer on the bottom. Think of all the people who swim in lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.

You are safe to swim in your water if you FC is just under your SLAM level.

Kim
 
chiefwej said:
Does this green cloud up when you brush it? If it's just lying in dips along the bottom, can you just carefully vacuum it to waste?
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Yep, that's what happens. I brush it and it turns into a little cloud. But at various times over the past few days there is either more or less of it. So I figured if there was more at times it must be alive and growing.

I can try to vacuum it up but what tends to happen is when I get in the pool to do that some part of it kicks up onto that cloud and makes vacuuming impossible.

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kimkats said:
Most the "dangerous" part of swimming in algae is if you cannot see the swimmer on the bottom. Think of all the people who swim in lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.

You are safe to swim in your water if you FC is just under your SLAM level.

Kim
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Ahhh, got it. I'm learning more every day! Thanks!
 
Well, this has just become a persistent problem I can't seem to solve. On Saturday I took the advice here and hand-vacuumed every inch of the pool floor that had a little faint green/dirt/debris on it. I spent an hour going step by step sucking up everything. Sunday morning it was faint green/dirt/debris-free, save for one, 1-inch spot and I kept the FC up around 11-12. But then this morning there were a good dozen small spots of faint green on the floor. Ugh.

It's so bizarre, the chemistry all looks good. I haven't let the FC drop below 8 in over a week, and it's usually been at 10+. The CC level has basically been zero for a week. Every OCLT I've done has seen a loss of no more than 1 ppm, sometimes less. The water itself looks sparkling clear, aside from those darn little spots of what appear to be algae on the floor. I've brushed and vacuumed repeatedly.

I guess at this point I'll just deal with it daily for another 2-3 weeks. The season in Connecticut ends before Labor Day for all practical purposes, so maybe I'll SLAM the first week of September and see what happens. Would like to fix this before I close the pool for the season, obviously!

Thanks to all who have given advice.
 
Have you tried using a skimmer sock to see if this is pollen or other debris getting into the pool? Do you have a blue vinyl liner? If so, this could be yellow/mustard algae which on a blue background can look green though at the high FC/CYA level this seems unlikely unless bottom circulation is very poor. Is this stuff only showing up on the shady side of the pool (or the side with morning, not afternoon, sun) or is it even in areas exposed to a lot of sun? Were you able to collect any of it so that you could feel it?
 

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chem geek said:
Have you tried using a skimmer sock to see if this is pollen or other debris getting into the pool? Do you have a blue vinyl liner? If so, this could be yellow/mustard algae which on a blue background can look green though at the high FC/CYA level this seems unlikely unless bottom circulation is very poor. Is this stuff only showing up on the shady side of the pool (or the side with morning, not afternoon, sun) or is it even in areas exposed to a lot of sun? Were you able to collect any of it so that you could feel it?
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I'm not familiar with a skimmer sock so I'll read up on it and maybe try that. My neighbor, who's pool is very similar to mine and is located all of 30 yards from mine, told me recently that he's had recurring mustard algae for 2 season running. So perhaps that's it. My liner is blue, and I haven't been able to collect any of the green stuff to examine it.

I took a picture of it in the pool, it may be difficult to make out, but there were 7-8 of these faint green spots on the pool floor this evening.

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image.jpg
 
Scooch, if your FC has not consistently remained ABOVE your slam value, it gives algae a chance to outpace you. If you hit it harder for a few days and never let it drop you should be able to nail it and enjoy the rest of the season ;)

Slam for 40 cya (always round up) is 16. Dropping to 10 is not maintaining slam...click on the chlorine:cya link in my signature.
 
Thanks folks. I'm going away for a long weekend on Friday so I may just breakdown and SLAM when I return. It'll probably be worse then anyway since I won't be able to brush for 3 days.

A question though.... Should I be concerned about high FC levels for my liner? My pool is only 3 years old, but this would be my 3rd SLAM this season, along with keeping the FC well above target (but under SLAM) for over a week now. I didn't know if high FC could cause the liner to weaken somehow?
 
as long as you don't go crazy with your FC levels there is no issue with your liner bleaching. just set it to the SLAM value based on your CYA and you will be good to go. its tough to fade a liner with liquid bleach unless you are going way over the SLAM levels. most fading comes from people dumping shock and it sitting on the liner. the bleach gets diluted so fast when you are pouring it in front of a jet.


you don't have much algae, if you start today I bet you can finish your SLAM by Friday if you hit it aggressively and keep up on your testing and adding FC. with your CYA being pretty low, you can then use a floater and some pucks while you are away to keep your FC up.
 
I fear that his CYA is actually higher then he thinks
The amounts of Chlorine he is adding is really not having much of an affect
I would revisit the CYA level
Il bet you need more chlorine for the Slam then you think. Or at the least take the Slam to Mustard level for your CYA.

By the way I have had Algae start just like you when the CC showed zero. I know its strange but it happens
 
Makdaddy said:
I fear that his CYA is actually higher then he thinks
The amounts of Chlorine he is adding is really not having much of an affect
I would revisit the CYA level
Il bet you need more chlorine for the Slam then you think. Or at the least take the Slam to Mustard level for your CYA.

By the way I have had Algae start just like you when the CC showed zero. I know its strange but it happens
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he hasn't been SLAMing, he has just been keeping his FC between target and SLAM. that's not enough to kill the algae off completely, its probably enough just to keep up with its multiplication. that's why his FC consumption is so high

no need to go to mustard level right now
 
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