Hi Everybody, I got Algae!

[Al G. Bloom]

Hi Everybody,

New here, and glad I found this site, you guys have a huge amount of info, Ive learned so much already from the pool school and the sparkling oasis thread, and once I get this under control I hope to master BBB too.

So here's my story so far. My mothers pool is seasonal, it's covered but not drained in the winter. We uncovered it, cleaned out the debris, but we have pesky algae. She started with shock, it cleared a little, then came back, she tried algicide (which thanks to you guys I've learned is a no, no), and has now shocked the pool again a few days ago.

From what I've read here so far it seems that she's been leaving too much time between treatments right. We need to test and shock more frequently.

The water has been going clear and she said she brushed the pool the first time but there are blooms forming on the floor. The water was nice and clear after the last treatment but she said after the vacuum started going over the blooms on the floor the water started going green. She thinks the filter isn't working right and that the vacuum is just dispersing the algae from the floor throughout the pool, is that possible? The filter is 4 years old by the way.

My Measurements (which are approximations as I'm using a coloured strip):

Bromine: 0ppm
Chlorine: 0.5ppm
Total Alklinity: 180+ppm
pH: 7.6

We're going to take a water sample in tomorrow, as theyll test it for free so I'll have more accurate numbers then, and we're going to get some bleach.

Also, quick question about CYAs: Do they occur naturally at some levels? Or if she hasn't specifically added them is it safe to assume that level is 0 too?

Thanks again for all your help, advice, thoughts, and excellent instructional material.

 

[Richard320]

CYA has to be added, it's not naturally occurring. Unfortunately, it's a component of most chlorine pucks and a lot of "shock" powders. So you may have some. I'd even wager that you have a lot.

The bad news for you is, there's only one distributor of Taylor test kits in Canada, and the prices reflect the monopoly.

 

[8corneflakes]

I can't help because I'm still learning, but I wanted to say "WELCOME" and tell you that you have the best username yet!

theresa

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

CYA is never in the water to start with, but if the pool was used as a pool last year there is very likely to be CYA in the water. The common chlorine tablets contain CYA, as do some of the granular chlorine products.

It is possible for the filter to be letting debris through, though that isn't my first guess at what is happening.

To really deal with this problem you need to know your CYA level, and if it is below 30, raise CYA to at least 30.

 

[techguy]

Sounds like you killed some algae and it sank to the floor where new algae grew in the shade of the old, dead algae and the vacuuming stirred it up. Read the pool school and focus on the "shock process". As we say here, shock is not a product, it's a process. It may take several days and several jugs of chlorine to solve her issue.

Good luck,

 

[RobbieH]

Ignore the bromine number.

 

[Al G. Bloom]

Thanks for clarifying that CYA question up for me Richard and Jason, and I hadn't thought that they may have been too high, but now that you mention it, they do use pucks and added a bunch of a granular shock product but I didn't see any indication on the package that CYA's were in there. Although they've also been doing a lot of backwashing to the ground so who knows. Hopefully this test will reveal that number.

Lol, thanks for the warm welcome 8corneflakes and glad you like my username

In the meantime I'l review the shock process and ignore the bromine. Thanks guys.