Pollen is killing our brand new pool - HELP!

[BellaBuggy]

I believe I have a pollen disaster on my hands and I don't know how to fix it. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Pool installed about a month ago, followed TFP/Pool School/Pool Math to the letter and water looked perfect...for 3 weeks. Then we had several days of storms in a row, which dumped massive amounts of pollen into our tree-surrounded pool. The water still tests ok (results below) but the bottom of the pool looks yellow from the pollen. Skimmer socks work well and get full of yellow gunk every couple of hours. A skimmer sock while vacuuming does not seem to work though. We have tried vacuuming, but the pollen does not seem to get sucked up into the skimmer. ? This is true both of manual vac (we have also tried two different vac heads, neither with success) and the auto vac (Pentair 'Lil Shark with leaf canister). So I just run the filter 24 hours a day, setting my alarm for every 3 hours overnight and changing skimmer socks. I can see by the yellow socks that stuff is coming out, yet the pool still looks nasty.



Not the best pic, but you can see the yellow accumulation.

Current state of the water:

FC 4
CC .5
TC 4.5
TA 120
CYA 50
PH 7.5

22" sand filter 1.5hp ... do we need to switch to a DE filter? We are surrounded by trees and so this will be an ongoing issue.

HELP!

 

[wrems]

I don't know if I have the right answer but I'll toss out my .02.

I'd run your filter 24/7. You have high CC at 1 so you may need to do OCLT to verify if you've got more going on there... You might need to SLAM. You're cutting your FC pretty close to the bottom of your FC/CYA threshold. I personally wouldn't go below 5. I like to have the extra buffer, so me at 50 CYA I dose to 7 and use 2ppm per day and come down to 5, which puts me clearly in the safe margin. Plus, you obviously have some stuff consuming your FC. Bump it up. You can safely swim in a pool with FC up to shock level. If you're dipping below 4 you're asking for problems. Additionally, you can add DE to your sand filter. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter I've done that a few times when I thought the water could use a little finer screening and it works nicely!

What happens when you brush it vigorously?

 

[kimkats]

I like the DE idea. It is easy to do and should help some.

Have you tried vacuuming to waste to just get it OUT of the pool?

Kim

 

[kimkats]

I saw a reply and I also replied but it is gone

I will try again.

Here is a link to adding DE to your sand. It will help a LOT!

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter

Have you tried to vacuum to waste? Just get it OUT of your water.

Kim

 

[BellaBuggy]

I set Pool Math up to use TFP recommended levels, and it told me I should target 4. ? I've not vacuumed to waste simply because I wanted to see if it was working (skimmer sock) - since I didn't see it there I suspected it was getting stirred up instead of sucked up. ?

I did do the OCLT a few days ago (because I was afraid of mustard algae) and all was well. It doesn't have halos like I've seen in MA pics, isn't slimy, isn't restricted to the shade... Also after the rains our patio furniture, cars, etc were all covered in pollen as well, so I do think this is pollen.

When I brush it kind of billows up like dust. I thought I was having some success brushing it all to the center to make the vacuum easier, but it made the water cloudy - that's when I realized it was stirring up instead.

 

[BellaBuggy]

Sorry, my CC is actually .5 but I had issues with the forum today and could not get back to edit it. I will try that now.

Where can I buy DE? Lowe's? Wal-Mart? Kroger? Those are the only stores in my town. lol

 

[PAGirl]

Walmart has a smaller box of it. Or if you have a neighbor with a DE filter, beg a few cups off of them, since you probably don't need a whole box worth. (What I did last summer, lol.)

 

[wrems]

4 should be your bare minimum. 6 should be your target with 50 ppm cya. My other post is a ghost now... My point was every pool/situation is different. You need to know about how many ppm of fc you usually use per day. Then make your target dose to accommodate your consumption and still not go below your minimum. Don't be afraid to dose 1 or 2 above the suggested target if it keeps you from dipping below the minimum before your next test/dose.

 

[kimkats]

See to vacuum it up you have to "sneak" up on it using a manual vacuum. S-L-O-W as can be.

I got my DE from Lowes. It comes in a box. It looks big but it is very light weight.

Kim

 

[R.J.]

I battled the same problem last year. I ran the pump 24/7 and brushed hourly (when possible). Took a while but I finally defeated it.

 

[wrems]

Can't get to fc cya chart on my phone right now... But here's the breakdown:

CYA, Minimum FC, Target FC, Shock FC

30, 2 4 12
40, 3 5 16
50 , 4 6 20

So if you have 50 cya your fc target should be at least 6 with a minimum of 4. With shock level 20.

You need to determine your consumption rate. Let's say it's 2. If you dose to only 4 and burn through at least 2 you're going under your minimum every day. You need to make adjustments for your situation.

 

[BellaBuggy]

wrems thank you so much. That is definitely something I have been doing wrong, and so tonight I added more chlorine to compensate.

- - - Updated - - -

See to vacuum it up you have to "sneak" up on it using a manual vacuum. S-L-O-W as can be.

I got my DE from Lowes. It comes in a box. It looks big but it is very light weight.

Kim

Thanks! From what I read I wasn't sure if the stuff from Lowe's was acceptable (don't use 'Garden DE' ?) I will get that in the morning. Our vac heads have brushes on the bottom but I also read that an inground pool vac doesn't, so maybe that would be better to use?

 

[MarianParoo]

The DE should say POOL DE filter powder or some such depending on the brand.

 

[kimkats]

My vac head has brushes. I just tilt it so that the brushes are off the ground on one side. It is a pain but..........

At my Lowes all of the pool stuff is outside. The POOL DE is where all of the pool stuff is. It is marked as POOL DE.

Good luck sneaking up on that stuff.

Kim