Dust or algae or what?

[Supertrucker]

Been following TFP since day one of moving into our new house. So far the pool is clear enough to see the texture of the plaster in the deep end. I test my water almost daily, clean the skimmers and brush the pool at the same time. My only issue is every time I brush I get a fine cloud of brown/tan "dust" that comes up everywhere. Even if I brush and then go and do all my testing and other cleaning, if I brush again I get some more brown "dust." I plan to clean the filter weekend after next when I'm back in town.

Here are my test number from last night

FC 14
CYA 45
pH 7.5
TA 110
CH 240

So I have no clue what this "dust" might be or how to get rid of it.

Thanks for the help!

 

[atttech-2]

I get a lot of fine dust that my polaris can't hold it just blows through the bag. I keep brushing every couple of days to get as much of it up in suspension as I can while running the filter and I get a few days without much wind I can get 90% of it removed. I suspect if I were to go buy a vacuum hose/head to connect into my skimmer I could get all of it in one session and be down to dealing with it weekly until we get all of our landscaping in I just have not got around to it yet.

 

[duraleigh]

You didn't post your CC's test result. I suspect what you are seeing is dead algae. That brown "dust" is an indicator that will be reinforced if your CC's are 1.0 or higher. Tell us the results of that test/.

 

[Supertrucker]

I will recheck and post my numbers tomorrow night after work. Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[Supertrucker]

Here are my latest numbers-
FC 8
pH 7.5
CC 0
CH 225
TA 100
CYA 40

Brushed the pool and the dust like substance is back. You can't see except when you brush. Could it be pollen?

 

[duraleigh]

I doubt it is pollen and I still lean towards dead algae.

Look in Pool School and read the article to perform the OCLT......run that test and post the results (now is a perfect time for the first half and then finish the test tomorrow AM) That will give us another clue that it is or isn't algae.

Once we get it identified, it will be an easy fix.

 

[Supertrucker]

Managed to get the test in before the rain today

Night FC 8
Morning FC 7.5

 

[duraleigh]

So, since you have no cc's and you only lose .5 ppm overnight, it's hard to make algae the suspect. Dirt is the next best bet....not pollen

Are you brushing often? Does the contaminate settle back to the floor pretty quickly? Can you capture any of it between your thumb and finger?

How often are you running your pump? How often have you vacuumed manually?

 

[Supertrucker]

I try to brush daily. The contaminate does settle back very quickly. I haven't tried capturing any of it but that may be the next thing if I can get to the spot where it is accessible. My pump runs from midnight until 1700 daily and I manually vacuum every weekend. I think it may be dirt as well. The pool was looked after by a pool guy while the house was up for sale but I don't think he did much beyond putting some chlorine pucks in the skimmer every once in awhile.

 

[duraleigh]

A pic might help, but if it settles back to the pool floor pretty quickly, it points again towards dirt.

You're FC is high enough and your other numbers look okay so I would treat it as if it were dirt. Can you tell us the psi on your gauge?

If it's OK (10-15 or so), then I suggest you vacuum daily and run the pump 24/7 for a while. It should go away in just a day or two.

If your psi is 20 or higher (rough guess) I think you will need to backflush and recharge your DE.

 

[triptyx]

Dallas is often downwind from the sand hills, which provides an ample supply of red dust. Frequent wind assists that process. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just dirt.

It's a bigger problem where I live now, there's a lot more exposed dirt to blow around - I'm always seeing a little bit of reddish brown sediment when I brush the bottom - it's not noticeable until you're sweeping, but my CC is always 0 when I do my weekly test.