pollen and OCLT

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L

ljjasper10

0
Aug 31, 2014
13
Clarksville, TN
First of all thanks to this site. Bought house last august and couldn't see the deep end of the pool. Found this site and about 2 weeks later perfect water.

Closed and opened (first time ever) all thru the knowledge shared on this site and the search function.

When I opened water temp was just above 50 degrees. took FC up to slam levels and passed OCLT. figured i was just gonna settle in to a super smooth full season.

this is my first spring and the pollen is just CRAZY. comparing my FC usage to the end of last year, I am losing about 3.5 per day compared to the 2.0 of last year. My pool gets absolute max sun every day, so i figured I would bump my CYA to the 50 level but overshot just a bit to 60. after a week at 60 i was still losing 3 - 3.5 per day. Thinking something may be going on, I bumped up to 26 for a night to see if I passed an OCLT. Lost 2.0 overnight. Have maintained the SLAM for now, but looking thru my numbers this year, I have never been below 5.5 FC, water is crystal clear, and swimming around inspecting all bottom of ladder, inside light niche, and any other possible hiding spot have not found any algae. I do have a ton of pollen and if I don't vacuum every day, it will collect on the bottom in a distinct swirl pattern. Also have brought some up from bottom and it is pollen.

Finally the question. If I have such large amounts of pollen would it cause me to not pass an OCLT.

My thoughts are that the constant addition of pollen each day/night it will be a constant battle but maintaining above MIN FC levels I should be good, but I can't find anything in the archives that someone else has already discussed.

Current #'s

FC-26
CC-0
PH-7.4 (prior to raising FC)
TA-90
CH-125
CYA-60

any thoughts out there in this vast collection of knowledge?
 
Nice first post. Good job taking care of your pool. My first thought is this is a terrible year for pollen! I'm having a hard time keeping up also. I think we are about done here. Have you tried skimmer socks or knee highs? That might help get more filtered out. Be careful, sometimes they clog up fast! I think I would keep it around 10 for now.
 
Pollen can certainly consume some FC as it's an organic material but I wouldn't think it would be on the order of 2 FC overnight, maybe 1 FC??? If you've never let it drop below 5.5 FC, then you shouldn't have an algae problem. I've read a few posts where folks are concerned they have algae but it turns out to be pollen as they pass the OCLT despite the deceiving appearance of the pollen.

I'd get the pool as clean as you can, try out some skimmer socks for the day and check another OCLT test out. If you don't have skimmer socks, a nylon stocking can work in a pinch too.
 
I have thought about the skimmer socks, but sitting watching the pool, there is a lot of pollen that doesn't make it into the skimmer. Socks would only work if pollen is getting sucked into the skimmer. If it makes it to the skimmer, then it is off to the filter. Even with the pump currently running 24/7 I still have pollen on the surface circling around.

I guess this is the $64,000 question... does the pollen once it makes it in the filter still consume FC?

If I get a positive reply back then I think I may have found the source of consumption, and will do a good backwash and put the skimmer socks on while I am home to keep on eye on them from clogging.

Negative reply, then I will simply keep FC at SLAM levels til OCLT pass.
 
I would say yes, that pollen in the filter will consume some FC but not a significant amount. Pollen is not a living, growing thing like algae or bacteria it's just made of organics. I think the backwash, skimmer socks is a good idea while SLAMing. Are you seeing a significant increase in filter pressure due to the pollen that would require a backwash?
 

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just want to say thanks to the forum and the structure of the TFPC method. Through the knowledge that I have gained reading all the posts, it allowed me to see that something was up with my pool thru daily testing. It taught me to raise my pool to SLAM levels just to check what was going on with a simple OCLT. When I didn't pass it, I knew I was suppose to ( and did ) keep SLAM levels even though pool was crystal clear. Even when I questioned the methods and tried to rationalize that maybe it was a strong pollen season, you guys kept me on the straight path. After my posts on Wed. I went back through my pool with a fine tooth comb and found algae in the foam that fits on the back of the skimmer door. ( I didn't even know the door came off). took that out and bleached the heck out of it and passed OCLT that night. As I have been letting FC come back down to normal levels, I again passed OCLT last night as confirmation.

Again a big thank you to all.
 
Wooohooo! Way to go. You can be proud that YOU stuck with it and got your pool to sparkling clean. It's those little things at the end that finish the OCLT and the reason why it's such a great test to see if your pool is harboring remaining issues.

Congrats. :goodjob:
 
I didnt know I should do an overnight Chlorine test. I just use the simple test kit each night to make sure I am above 3.0 and then I raise to 6. I might be losing chlorine and not know it. Should I get my T100 out and do a detailed overnight test?
 
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