The Battle for Sanity (Green / Mustard Algae / Other)

[fmartine]

Blessed to have to have recently purchased a home with a pool, but cursed with some sort of Algae or other problem.
I have been battling with a green ish tinted pool for quite some time, however I am slowly getting better and need some guidance to better understand the problem.
With the Taylor Test Kit I have the following results

FC = 5.5
CC = 0
Ph = 7.6
TA = 100
CA = 200
CYA = 40-50

The Greenish tint started to come in 2 days ago when I noticed Ph went to 7.8 and FC = 3, prior to that FC lingered in the 8 and Ph 7.4-7.6 and was clear.

1.5 Weeks ago I added about 3.5 Gallons of Chlorine and then received my Taylor k2006 kit, which is much more accurate then the Basic kit I was using. The pool cleared up after 2 days, where I changed filter and vac'd often.

Questions:
I think I have Algae but not sure if it is Green or Yellow-Mustard?
Recommendations for treating the problem?
At what levels should I keep my FC in my pool once I am over my problem (suggested maintenance values for FC, Ph,TA, CA)?

Thanks,
FM

 

[tim5055]

Assume green algae for now. How much Pool School have you read? Pool School will teach you how to care for your pool. Start with these:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

You should read the directions on SLAMing your pool in the How To section of Pool School and follow that procedure completely to the end to rid yourself of the algae.

You will want to stop using that puck chlorinator or your CYA is going to quickly go through the roof. I'm actually shocked that your CYA is 40 - 50 using it. Did you just do a water change? In any event, feed your pool liquid chlorine.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Greenish tint with otherwise clear water and no sliminess on the walls and floor could be metals. Iron, generally, but copper from algaecides will do it too. As the pH climbs, the stuff starts coming out of solution and you start seeing it.

The surefire way to be sure it's not an algae bloom is to run an overnight loss test. You don't want any additional chlorine being added, or it will skew the results, so no pucks.

There are plenty of articles in pool school that discuss levels. However, the simplest is to use poolmath and in the very last box, set up the pool surface and chlorine source and it will give you a suggested range. There is a caveat; those are suggested, and they are not absolute. Some people have such hard water that they will never be able to meet the CH suggestion. The TA suggestion is more for calculating how much when you need to add. Don't obsess on lowering TA to meet the suggested level.

 

[fmartine]

I'm actually shocked that your CYA is 40 - 50 using it. Did you just do a water change?

Thank you both for your advice and guidance. The CYA at 40-50 could be b/c I haven't been using the in-line chlorinator since I started the BBB method and measuring using the Taylor kit (k2006).
I have read the articles but re-reading has helped with my understanding of what the Chlorine levels should be based on my CYA, which I was not confident on.

I will be assuming the green algae and following the SLAMing directions.
Based on my data I first lowered the Ph to 7.2 and then SLAM'd it with Chlorine to 20ppm. I will be measuring it throughout the day to make sure it stays at 20ppm until sunset and then follow the 3 rules per the SLAMMING procedures.

Thanks again for the guidance!

 

[tim5055]

Great! Keep us posted on how it goes.

And where are my manners, welcome to TFP!

 

[fmartine]

At Sunset I measured
FC = 22.5 (45 drops)
CC = 0.5

At Sunrise the next day
FC = 22 (44 drops)
CC = 0

0.5 or less CC + OCLT pass. The Water no longer has a green tint and is blue but I would not say it is clear (cloudy and more so towards deep end).
I will brush it, vacuum it and clean the filter. My Ph is at 7.6 but from reading on these boards I have read that it can be a bit in-accurate with high FC. I will leave it for now unless I am guided differently.
Yesterday I order refill (16oz) of R-0871 as with all these test an large amount of drops i am going low.

Based on the above do I continue to keep my FC at above 20?

BTW Way Thanks for the welcoming I too need to work on my manner?

Thanks,
FM

 

[fmartine]

After the measurement above I swept the pool. All the areas with Steps had what looks like a small amount of dusting. Then I vacuumed the pool.
I needed to run some errands today which was not going to allow me to be on top of the pool so I adjusted Ph to 7.4 and added a Qt of Chlorine (not sure if this was wise, but wanted to keep my Chlorine as close to 20 as best I could)

The following are the measurements at dusk
FC = 17.5 (35 drops)
CC = 0

Thanks,
FM

 

[SunnyOptimism]

If you had a decent algae load, you might need to disassemble your cartridge filter and clean it if it hasn't been cleaned recently.

Also, are you running all of your pumps and making sure water is flowing throughout your system (including any solar heaters) during your SLAM? Algae can hide in the darnedest places.

Before you rule out metals, you should have your water tested. The test reagents for metals are expensive and sometimes tricky to perform so you might take a sample to your local pool store to see what you get. Just ignore them if they try to sell you chemicals. That's at least a starting point to see if there is a potential problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fmartine]

#SunnyOptimism, thanks for the advice. I enabled the Solar heat + our Arch Sheer.

So far so good, not sure when I would actually be able to claim victory, so no dancing yet. I have been maintaining the Chlorine to not go below 5ppm. Based on the Chlorine/CYA Chart by Chem Geek min FC = 3.7 and max is 5.7.

Question:
If I only add Chlorine at night on a daily basis what would you recommend I set the goal for? For Example let's say I measure 4ppm at night and will not measure again till the following night.


Thanks,
FM

 

[SunnyOptimism]

4ppm is your MINIMUM value that you should NEVER go below. Your maximum value is not 5.7ppm it's shock level for your CYA and it's perfectly ok to swim up to shock level. On a bright sunny warm day, you can easily lose 2-4ppm just from sunlight and organics.

Therefore what you need to do is dose your pool at night to some high level like 9-10ppm and then see where you are the next night. It's a trial and error process to learn how your pool consumes FC; every pool is different so there's no set formula for it. You just have to keep in mind that your min FC is a floor value you should not go below or else you give algae a foothold for growth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk