Over the last two months, I've been swimming almost daily care free and happy - apart from early problems with getting the pool level - and trying to convince my other half that we can use bleach in the pool to keep it clean and fresh.
This last week we had a big bush fire here in Adelaide, so I couldn't swim due to the smoke and ash - I covered the pool using my (rapidly deteriorating) blue cheap pool cover. During this time, I did the normal pool pumping but completely forgot to add chemicals for a couple of days - (I got out of my normal routine of swimming, adding chemicals and covering up) Anyhow, then it started raining and thundering, so again, no swimming. During a quiet spell, I uncovered it and got in only to be greeted by tiny little green things with white stems as I was using the net thingy to get bugs/stuff out.
Is this mustard algae? I have used the pool shop granules to shock the pool and also added buffer, got the pump running, invested in a (way too big - don't ask) silver and black heavy duty tarp and am now waiting for my test kit to arrive from the US.
I did buy two bottles of store brand bleach today which shows the following: Sodium Hypochlorite 35g/l, Available Chlorine 3.3% W?V. Sodium Hydroxide 4g/L - is this okay to use? Should I wait for my test kit to arrive before adding anything else?
Sorry for the long post - it's too wet (funny huh?) and a bit cooler to swim until later in the week - having to do boring housework until then.
This last week we had a big bush fire here in Adelaide, so I couldn't swim due to the smoke and ash - I covered the pool using my (rapidly deteriorating) blue cheap pool cover. During this time, I did the normal pool pumping but completely forgot to add chemicals for a couple of days - (I got out of my normal routine of swimming, adding chemicals and covering up) Anyhow, then it started raining and thundering, so again, no swimming. During a quiet spell, I uncovered it and got in only to be greeted by tiny little green things with white stems as I was using the net thingy to get bugs/stuff out.
Is this mustard algae? I have used the pool shop granules to shock the pool and also added buffer, got the pump running, invested in a (way too big - don't ask) silver and black heavy duty tarp and am now waiting for my test kit to arrive from the US.
I did buy two bottles of store brand bleach today which shows the following: Sodium Hypochlorite 35g/l, Available Chlorine 3.3% W?V. Sodium Hydroxide 4g/L - is this okay to use? Should I wait for my test kit to arrive before adding anything else?
Sorry for the long post - it's too wet (funny huh?) and a bit cooler to swim until later in the week - having to do boring housework until then.
I'm still waiting on the test kit and it has been too dull and wet to swim for nearly a week. The weather this year isn't our normal dry hot long summers, it's been all over the place. The cover is still on and I'm adding Granular Pool Chlorine when needed (still using the old test strips) There were a few more floaty things in the pool but I'm convinced it wasn't algae but seeds sprouting, I remembered over the weekend that last time I went in the pool I wore and old vest top after I'd been gardening - too lazy to change, so I probably contaminated the water. Big lesson learned there. I'll wait until I can get back in which hopefully will be tomorrow and give the whole thing a good vacuum, re do the bottom patch and swim.