Pool Guy Says to Drain Pool

[ljweller]

Hi,

I'm the preseident of my HOA, a small 47 unit community in Los Angeles with an inground pool. The pool is not that heavily used. Last year our pool company (with whom we've never had a problem) was sold to a new guy, who immediately started having problems with our pool. For some reason, we started getting some very weird large blue "jellies" in the bottom of the pool. They looked like large tapiocas, but dark blue. I've never seen anything like it. He couldn't explain it. He tried vacuuming, but the next day it would be back, the entire bottom filled. He said he needed to drain the pool, and I said that he needed to fix this and bring in his own external filter to vacuum it so it didn't continue to be recycled back into the pool.

It's been good for about 5 months, and now he calls me and says it's happening again. He said we needed to drain our pool because the water is "old" and there are too many chemicals.

Can anybody explain this and tell me whether we should trust him? I think he's a cook and this is all his fault.

 

[JamesW]

The only thing that I can think it might be is black algae, but it really does not match with your description. Can you post a picture?

If the pool person does not know why it's happening, then they might not be able to effectively cure it or prevent it from happening again.

It sounds like they are not able to maintain reasonably good water quality.

 

[pwrstrk]

The CYA level is probably ski high and he's not able to keep enough chlorine in the pool to prevent it, hence saying the water is old and needs replaced.
Do you know how they chlorinate the pool ? ?

 

[jblizzle]

The CYA level is probably ski high and he's not able to keep enough chlorine in the pool to prevent it, hence saying the water is old and needs replaced.
Do you know how they chlorinate the pool ? ?

Of course I would not be surprised if he does not know that the CYA is too high or that it impacts the required chlorine levels as much of the pool industry does not seem to get it.

 

[Richard320]

I'm wondering if he put some kind of clarifier in the water because he couldn't get the water clear? It's supposed to clump up and get filtered out.... or gum up a DE filter.

 

[TreeFiter]

Blue jelly? I've never seen anything like that. Just shooting from the hip, but could it be some sort of copper sludge? The clarifier idea might have something to it, but I've never seen it congeal. Usually it just kind of dissipates. Whatever it is it sounds very odd.

However, if it is copper related, there aren't too many places it could have come from. It could be in the fill water, which means it isn't going to fix it to drain and refill the pool. It could be from the heater being dissolved slowly due to low pH. It could be from using certain algaecides.

In any case, your best bet is to identify whatever it is. Try to get a sample of it and look at it up close. You might be able to see if it is actually particulate or more of a slime. It could point you in the right direction.

 

[Patrick_B]

Blue Jelly....if it wasn't blue I would have a guess at least. Strange. Whatever it is, I agree with James W. If he can't figure out what they are, he won't be able to fix it, or prevent it. Out of curiosity, what color is the inside of the pool?

 

[Bama Rambler]

The word "Jellies" makes me think Flocculent. The blue tint could be from copper algaecide that's been added.

At very least I think it's time for a new pool guy!

I would suggest getting a good test kit even if you're going to let someone else take care of the pool you can run tests to make sure you understand what's going on.

I would also request a list of everything he's added to the pool since he's been taking care of it.

 

[woodyp]

I want a picture of this..."blue jelly".