Mustard Alge?

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

Well, I neglected my pool for a week while I was out of town and came back to clear water but sheets of yellowish stuff on the bottom and brown/blacksish spots about 2 inches in diamater.

I began shocking at normal shock level of about 10-12ppm running the pump 24/7 brushing daily. When I wake up it seems to just the way it was when I went to bed but the yellowish sheeting seems to be back. I re chlorinate and stirr in the AM.

I did this for 2 days with no luck so I dcided to super-shock at mustard levels 22 ppm before bed and before work. over night I'm loosing about 9-12 ppm after a stirr and scrub. from 12:00am to about 10:30am. I've done this for 2 days and all i've done progress wise is go through about 10 jugs of 12.5% chlorine.

My CYA is at about 28 I've been chlorinating based on 30ppm to be sure I'm shocking hard enough

Any ideas or thoughts? My only concern is that its acutally loads of pollen but the whole pool turns a clowdy green when scrubbed or vacuumed.

CYA 34
FC 10-24 (depending on time of day)
CC < .5 (was .5 before first shock)
PH 7.5 (based on an initial FC of 4)
TA 120-140 ish

(~20k gal 16x32 IG Pentair superflo SD filter)

 

[lborne]

I just went a round with some unseen algae or possibly liquid fertilizer that got into the water. I can tell you that after a few days of shocking and still having CL drop overnight, I thought I was chasing a ghost and was getting frustrated. I mean, if I can't even see the stuff, how can it be using so much chlorine and taking so long to fix. Plus, I had the wife and kids nagging me to let them back in the pool. I went through lots of liquid chlorine (which I did not even have on hand because I use a SWG), and a couple bottles of the R-0871 before it was all done.

So I'm just writing to say "stick with it" and to give you some encouragement.

Your CYA reading seems odd - how did you get at 28? You are not taking your water to the pool store, are you?

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

No just counting drops, until I can't see the black dot using the test kit.

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

perhaps I screwed that up... (at work now looking up the instructions)

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

Some Photos
[attachment=2:106t1f7d]IMG00202-20100629-1032.jpg[/attachment:106t1f7d]
[attachment=1:106t1f7d]IMG00203-20100629-1032.jpg[/attachment:106t1f7d]
[attachment=0:106t1f7d]IMG00204-20100629-1033.jpg[/attachment:106t1f7d]

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

[attachment=0:1pvd3pxo]IMG00205-20100629-1033.jpg[/attachment:1pvd3pxo]

When swept from the bottom it clowds up its almost like sweeping a dusty garage floor.

 

[Guest]

I've had mustard algae crop up a few times over the past 2-1/2 seasons I've owned the pool. It's usually just small spots / coatings on the bottom (or hopper sides) of the deep end of the pool, usually around the seams. But my water is normally clear, bottom looks blue and inviting -- just a few random spots here and there. It's very hard to get rid of, and the best thing for me to do is stay on top of it and shock (FC at least 20, maybe even to 30 -- no cc) until it disappears. I also brush the bottom and sides of the pool. This often takes days.

From the pictures, your pool looks pretty green rather than blue. I can look out my window 30 feet away and see my bottom drain (and the 2 leaves near it) very clearly. Water's crystal clear, pool looks blue. I can still get mustard algae, but if I keep chlorine in there and keep brushing it, it probably won't develop. It tends to crop up when I have the blue solar cover on it -- MA seems to like the shade it provides -- it's been so hot that I haven't been putting it on and there's no MA. I also did not put the wedding cake steps in this year as algae seems to like to grow under them or under the plastic sheet under them; I just installed the ladder instead.

Anyhow, just keep putting bleach in. Take it up to 30 if needed to get rid of it -- you may have to hold it there for a few days if it's really MA. If you can pour bleach in twice a day or more, even better. Backwash or clean your filter. Brush the sides once or twice daily at least. Eventually it will go away.

Good luck!

BTW, it's hard to say whether it's MA or pollen. Our pollen is pretty much over right now, but I had some cloudiness at the beginning of the season that may have been pollen as it was really bad this year here. I just kept brushing, vacuuming, bleaching and broke down and cleaned my filter -- and the pool cleared shortly after cleaning the filter.

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

Originally before I started attacking the problem it was crystal clear water could see the MD screw heads from the kitchen. but the yellowish lines/sheeting on the sides was pretty bad. when I started to scrub it turned green in a hurry. I'll keep going with the bleech and retest the CYA for accuracy, then elevate levels of bleech as necessary.

 

[Guest]

I just walked out to mine and brushed the bottom and put some bleach in it. There was some green and some white stuff on the bottom, mostly in the corners and at the seams -- we had a front move in with a lot of high winds last night. So mine was a touch cloudy for a few minutes, but it's clearing quickly. It only takes about 15 minutes for it to clear enough to be enticing (and I was bad yesterday -- didn't brush it).

Is your filter doing an adquate job? I've never had to clean mine at the beginning of the season (since I do it at the end of the season and it starts out with fresh DE), but this year I had to because of the cloudiness. Backwashing didn't help at that time. The pool started to clear quickly after cleaning. I ran it 24 / 7 until the water was sparkly.

I started the season with pH around 7, CYA close to 0, TA around 30 and they're all within goal now.

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

Filter should be good, its new as of a month ago, when I had to replace the pump also some new media, it sort of sucks, but the main drain is plumbed to the skimmer so its almost impossible to get alot of circulation down near the bottom. I wish I could sit it to MD only and suck from the bottom only for a couple days.

 

[Guest]

Run the vacuum then -- at the bottom? I had the same feeling before I broke down my filter.

No idea why but it quickly worked. I've read about people putting some DE in their sand filters but can't help with that as I've only got DE filter experience. Mine works great BUT it's a royal pain to break down and put back together, and cleaning the fingers isn't all that much fun either!

 

[chem geek]

No just counting drops, until I can't see the black dot using the test kit.

You don't count the drops in the CYA test. You see the level of fluid in the tube at the point when the black dot disappears. There will be markings on the tube starting at 100 near the bottom and going to 30 or 20 near the top (depending on which test kit you are using).

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

UPDATE:

Went home on lunch and rechecked my numbers I think this mornings FC reading was wrong because it seems I didn't lose much today but the water still looks pretty bad im going to try again with fresh double checked numbers even though the incorrect numbers this morning if anything were wrong on the conservative side.... I wasn't counting drops for the CYA test, I ran the test right originally but wrote it down wrong as when I re-ran it at lunch, it was at same level as before.

The CYA is actually 32, and brought the FC up to 34 heres another pic of the floor/side.
[attachment=0:202131vy]IMG00206-20100630-1638.jpg[/attachment:202131vy]

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Are you photoshopping the pics to make the water that green? Or is that the true color?

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

its pretty green but there are 2 large green trees near by and my blackberry isn't picking up the color well.

but otherwise no editing involved.

 

[chem geek]

I'm going to guess that there are two different things going on with this pool at the same time. The clear green of the water is iron that probably got worse when shocking due to the higher pH while the yellow/mustard powder on the bottom is either yellow/mustard algae or pollen. With chlorine at shock level, green algae in a pool won't stay green and the pool would get cloudy instead (from the algae turning gray as the chlorophyll gets bleached out).

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

Is there any sort of test for the Iron? This is deffinitely a possibility, but the strange thing is that if I let it sit, the water clears up until I scrub the bottom, is it possible that the iron settles out?

Thanks for all the help thus far.

 

[Guest]

I'm still confused by the precise number of 32 on the CYA. The way my test works, when my CYA was between the 30 and 40 markers on the tube, I had estimated it to be about 35.

I have no experience with iron and other metals but agree with chem geek that if the chlorine is high, the algae in the water won't stay green. Also, if the chlorine is at 34 for very long, mustard algae will disappear (it will help make it go away if you brush the pool and / or vacuum). So if the chlorine's high and the water's green, it's something else. And if the chlorine stays high for a few days, and you're brushing and there's still mustard-colored stuff on the bottom, it's something other than mustard algae.

Also, since your pool was OK but turned color while you were away, is there any chance that someone put something in it while you were gone?

 

[chem geek]

Is there any sort of test for the Iron? This is deffinitely a possibility, but the strange thing is that if I let it sit, the water clears up until I scrub the bottom, is it possible that the iron settles out?

I could be wrong. It could be algae that mixes with the water, but I'm surprised it's still green in that case. And I said iron, but probably should have said copper. Iron is usually more red; it's copper that is usually green. Sorry I got those mixed up.

 

[mrplowjr_ez_v]

No worries I figured you meant copper. I don't think anyone intentionally put anything in the pool, but we did get a good rain storm and the pool took some run off according to my wife who was home but not tending to the pool. as far as the CYA level being 32 the level is at what weould be 32 test tube. If you look at the back of the tube, my level is between 30 and 40, a little less than 25% of the way to 40ppm from 30ppm. I guesstimate it at 32.

Here is the log thus far.
Day 0 CLEAR but Crud on the sides and bottom
Day 1 1:00a 22ppm
Day 1 10a 19ppm
Day 1 10p 9ppm (Added almost 2 gals)
Day 2 1:15a 21.5 ppm
Day 2 1030a 9ppm (suspect reading) (added almost 2gal 12.5%)
Day 2 4:30p 34ppm (mostly sunny and chilly out)
Day 2 11:42p 25ppm


Tonight im hooking up the Vac and will suck from the bottom to see if this helps clear out anything that settles out or forms on the bottom over night.