mustard algae?

[Greenie]

hi brand new user...have read pool school ...ordered tf100 kit today but onlyy have test strips given us from pool store, so my numbers are probably useless CH 0, TOTAL CL 10+ , FREE CL DARKER PURPLE THAN TOP OF 20PPM, PH ALL OVER THE PLACE, TA 100 CYA 0.
We filled our pool from our pond, it appears we have mustard algae, can i start some treatment before my test kit arrives? our water is clear but yellowish tint...yellow almost rusty looking grime forming on walls and little piles of same on floor, definitely not pollen, vac and scrubbed off yesterday back this am.

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP!

There is not much that you want to do before your kit arrives, test numbers are crucial to getting it right. The only thing I would think is a good addition is stabilizer, but only if you haven't added anything containing stabilizer yet. Have you added anything to the pool at all? If not then your CYA is actually zero in which case I hope that your chlorine level isn't actually above 20... That you can adjust while you wait for your test kit. Also if you can get a decent reading on your pH you can adjust that a bit with either muriatic acid to reduce it or borax to increase it. After those adjustments you could work on putting your pool in kind of a holding pattern until the kit arrives.

The rusty tint sounds more like an iron problem than mustard algae. Is there a chance you have iron in your fill water?

 

[Greenie]

Yes we have added 4 gal of shock and pool guy added conditioner but we back washed the filter yesterday.
We have in total added 8lbs of borax 6 lbs of baking soda also in the last few days. Pool company tested for iron and was fine.

 

[Donldson]

I hate making assumptions so forgive me for asking, the "shock" was liquid, correct?

Even with backwashing the CYA probably mostly dissolved, do you know how much was put in? If you know that we can guesstimate your CYA level and you can add a small amount of chlorine to try to prevent further growth. You want to hold off any major adjustments or SLAMing until you get your kit and accurate test results.

 

[duraleigh]

our water is clear but yellowish tint...yellow almost rusty looking grime forming on walls and little piles of same on floor, definitely not pollen, vac and scrubbed off yesterday back this am

Despite the pool stores test, that is almost surely iron in your pool water from the well.

Keep vacuuming it out every day.

Until your test kit gets to you, I would suggest you add roughly 1 gallon of Clorox each evening. That should keep algae at bay until you can post some meaningful test results.

 

[Greenie]

Yes our shock was liquid....4 lbs of cya were added on Thursday

 

[Greenie]

Just got back from walmart ,our numbers from hth 6drop are cl off scale high ph 7.5. Cya 30. TA90. TH 70

 

[Greenie]

ok update: received tf 100 test kit
results were all pretty good chlorine was high enough where i was probably slamming it the whole time while waiting for the kit. I left alone and monitored chlorine a couple of days . yesterdays test results FC 4.5, CC 1.5, TA 120, CYA between 30 AND 40, ph 7.3. I then read a bunch of posts on this forum and decided a slam couldnt hurt so started one yesterday..... i'll attach pics of the stuff forming on our skimmer lid and a shot of the yellow tinted water.

 

[Greenie]

Any suggestions is it algae or iron? Any advice appreciated

 

[Bama Rambler]

Maybe some of both, but with a CC of 1.5 SLAMing is what's called for. Once you get past that we can work on any staining.

 

[Greenie]

Slam done Oclt <1 cc .5. Is it safe to swim in 14.5 ppm FC?

 

[duraleigh]

With CYA of 40 or so, it is fine.