Mustard Algae vs pollen

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brmommy

brmommy

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jul 21, 2013
83
Southeast Ohio
For the last month I have a powdery substance on the bottom of the pool and a little on the step. (The steps are just to the right of the return which points that direction) I vacuum it only to have it back a couple days later. My pool only gets used by me a couple times a week. When busy only once a week. I have the filter on 24/7 right now. I do not have any issue with using extra chlorine. The cc is usually 0 or occasionally .5. Never more. I'm usually only adding an average of 4 cups of bleach per day to keep it where it in range. Never has this substance been on the sides of the pool. I'm in Ohio. Do we just have that much pollen this year? If it was algae wouldn't it be using up chlorine?
 
brmommy said:
So what is the best way to get it out of the pool? Doesn't seem like the filter is keeping it out.
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I was about to cry after this.

I am in a similar boat. Friday night I saw yellow stuff all over the pool and stairs. I thought it was a massive algae growth. I wound up shocking my pool and then 2 hours later dumping in 2 bottle of algaecide. Next morning, SAME darn thing. I had my water tested and the TA was way low (this is my fault for making an assumption). So I brought my water to nominal levels, brushed again, reshocked, algaeicide, and let it sit over night. In the morning, it was all over my pool again. I checked the FC level and its way above 10ppm (my CYA was around 36). I even have a few tablets in the skimmer to keep the chlorine artificially high.

I will take a picture when I get home brmommy and maybe we can compare notes? I had thought that my FC would dip down significantly if it was algae.
 
mickey4paws said:
Probably the only way to get it out is to vacuum it out
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I don't think the filter is keeping it out when I vacuum. It comes right back in the pool. I'm thinking I will try to vacuum it with bypass to waste and see if that helps. May try the DE mentioned above as well.

pisymbol I fully understand your frustration. After all I read on this site, I felt it should be causing problems with my chlorine if it was algae. But the fact that vacuuming didn't get rid of it only for a few hours, it made me wonder. The sand filter just can't be catching it. I did buy a skimmer sock that turns a little the color of the pollen, but not as much as I had hoped. It must not be catching it all either.
 
brmommy said:
I don't think the filter is keeping it out when I vacuum. It comes right back in the pool. I'm thinking I will try to vacuum it with bypass to waste and see if that helps. May try the DE mentioned above as well.

pisymbol I fully understand your frustration. After all I read on this site, I felt it should be causing problems with my chlorine if it was algae. But the fact that vacuuming didn't get rid of it only for a few hours, it made me wonder. The sand filter just can't be catching it. I did buy a skimmer sock that turns a little the color of the pollen, but not as much as I had hoped. It must not be catching it all either.
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Yeah I have sand too and I don't see anything in the filter.

I think I have algae but I don't understand how it could be. I just shocked it again to be sure and dumped a little algaecide, and I still see it being formed slightly on the stairs after about an hour or so (That makes no sense, my CYA is again like 35 and my FC is at least 20ppm).

How fast is your growing/coming back?
 

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Pisymbol, my recommendation is to not put tablets in your skimmer, especially if you are not running the pump 24/7. Also keep in mind that using tablets is going to raise your CYA, and algaecide is probably unnecessary. The methods you have described are more along the lines of pool store methods than TFP methods.

As mentioned above, with a sand filter, you can increase effectiveness by adding a little DE to the filter.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter
 
I went out tonight and noticed there was too much water in the pool after the most recent rain. So I vacuumed the pool with it set to bypass to waste. Hopefully, much the pollen is now out of the pool. I will check it tomorrow to see if that worked. Hopefully if there is much left, it will settle over night.
 
RobbieH said:
Pisymbol, my recommendation is to not put tablets in your skimmer, especially if you are not running the pump 24/7. Also keep in mind that using tablets is going to raise your CYA, and algaecide is probably unnecessary. The methods you have described are more along the lines of pool store methods than TFP methods.

As mentioned above, with a sand filter, you can increase effectiveness by adding a little DE to the filter.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter
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I don't want to threadjack here. But I agree with you. I have taken out the tablets because of the CYA. Yes, I was following my local pool store recommendations which have not fixed the problem.

I am unfortunately on my third day fighting this and I still can't get rid of it completely. I am going to test the water tonight, make sure it's nominal for a shock, and shock it again. Is there any chance I might need to double shock or go a bit above the recommendation to kill everything off? The pool does have 40k gallons in it give or take.
 
pisymbol said:
I don't want to threadjack here. But I agree with you. I have taken out the tablets because of the CYA. Yes, I was following my local pool store recommendations which have not fixed the problem.

I am unfortunately on my third day fighting this and I still can't get rid of it completely. I am going to test the water tonight, make sure it's nominal for a shock, and shock it again. Is there any chance I might need to double shock or go a bit above the recommendation to kill everything off? The pool does have 40k gallons in it give or take.
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Have you read Pool School yet? They don't recommend "shocking" here, it's a SLAM, Shock Level And Maintain, until you meet the 3 criteria to stop.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl
 
BRMommy, my sand filter doesn't seem to catch this stuff either. So I've been vacuuming to waste all summer (but I had High CYA, so it's part of my water replacement plan). It's so nice to know it's gone, gone, gone! Have you considered a robotic cleaner?
 
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