Something is not right with these results. You could not have passed the OCLT and then lost 31 ppm of chlorine during the day if your CYA is 120.
A particularly challenging case of stuff growing...
- Thread starter flasherz
- Start date
flasherz said:
Then you're in for a water replacement to lower your CYA, it's the only way to do it and there is no other option. Even at half water replacement you're at 60-65 CYA, still on the high side.
Replace half your water, and then replace half again but do read about how to do it. As in don't drain your pool 50% and then fill.
So first step is replace 50% of your water, then we can go from there.
Donldson said:
Don't know what to tell you... Last night and this morning's tests both agreed with each other to the exact ppm (and were roughly correct given the amount of bleach that I added to the pool according to the pool calculator). This evening's tests (both DPD-FAS as well as a quick confirmation check on a dip-strip) show < 2 ppm FC.
I did the CYA test 3 times, once as a halved test, once last night, and twice today. It is where I would expect given the amount of dichlor shock.
I guarantee I did the tests right, so short of me receiving a test kit out of whack with bad reagents (highly unlikely), we have something else quite weird. So, I don't know what to tell you - tell me which tests you want me to re-run, I'll do it again.
Then again, this year's entire experience has been out of the norm. The jelly-like clear-and-white blobs were growing at the rate of 1/2" on every single surface in the pool in 2 days after each time we tried cleaning it. The laterals and sand were all clogged with gloppy Crud. It took 200 lbs. of Chlorine (47% CalHypo) to oxidize it all (upon which it released from the walls and floor), a filter sand change, a lateral flush, etc. Then hourly we had to clean the gloppy stuff out of the skimmers and pump basket, resulting in 5 gallons of the jellyfish-like substance extracted from the worst point, then it took another 50 lbs. of dichlor and ~50 gallons of bleach since to keep it at shock levels.
My pool store says that they've seen hundreds of cases of this stuff this year, and the worst case they treated to this point required 6 treatments of borate/supershock at 2 week intervals with manual scrubbing/cleaning. I was told that mine eclipsed it by at least an order of magnitude. Samples of it were sent off to the chemical company, who didn't really have much to suggest other than to continue an attack with a very high borate level and very high FC level.
I told you it was a particularly challenging case... I now have a clear pool, I passed the OCLT, but I'm concerned about the inability for Chlorine to hold. I guess I'll just have to watch and see whether we get a reinfestation.
I can't help but wonder if something the pool store regularly sells has caused this entire thing since they have seen hundreds of cases this year. My only guess, and it really truly is nothing but a guess, is that this stuff is highly photosynthetic and is multiplying like crazy during daylight causing the FC to be completely consumed.
Given that you might have to fight this again you are going to want to look in to reducing your CYA. If you can get it down to 50 or so you will be able to fight it much more efficiently if it comes around again. I think some minor tweaks to the process may be called for next time, but for now lowering CYA will set you up to be ready if it does return.
Given that you might have to fight this again you are going to want to look in to reducing your CYA. If you can get it down to 50 or so you will be able to fight it much more efficiently if it comes around again. I think some minor tweaks to the process may be called for next time, but for now lowering CYA will set you up to be ready if it does return.
Sounds like you need to drain some water to get you back into the 30-50 range.
A CYA of 130 is near impossible to manage. Almost all the FC will bind with the CYA and you will have little algae killing action without adding gallons of bleach.
Have you read the CYA/Chlorine section of Pool School?
A CYA of 130 is near impossible to manage. Almost all the FC will bind with the CYA and you will have little algae killing action without adding gallons of bleach.
Have you read the CYA/Chlorine section of Pool School?
I know the owner very well, she's been doing pool work all her life (her parents were in the business too), and we're cousins-in-law... She tells me it's happening across all of the pool treatment programs - SWG's, non-Chlorine, standard Chlorine, etc. They're looking for some type of pattern but are not finding any.
It first appeared in my pool last year before closing, as a clear, jelly-like "beard" on the skimmers. This year, we switched from SWG to standard tablet feeder setup with borates. It came back with a vengeance in mid-June. It seems to flourish particularly well in very warm pool waters..
Cases have steadily increased here (near St. Louis) since a couple of years after Katrina hit.
It first appeared in my pool last year before closing, as a clear, jelly-like "beard" on the skimmers. This year, we switched from SWG to standard tablet feeder setup with borates. It came back with a vengeance in mid-June. It seems to flourish particularly well in very warm pool waters..
Cases have steadily increased here (near St. Louis) since a couple of years after Katrina hit.
techguy said:
Yes, although controlling CYA really hasn't been my goal (yet)... I first needed to get the 1/2" layer of Crud that grew every 2 days to stop before I could deal with other things.
I came here to see if anyone had ever seen anything like this growth I was experiencing and see if there were any alternative treatment therapies I should consider. My pool store sent off samples to their chemical companies, but it seems to be stumping them too.
From what I read here, you haven't properly SLAMed the pool. SLAM means shock level and maintain. I don't think you've reached shock level, and don't seem to have maintained it either. Are you keeping the FC level at shock level as close to 24x7 as you can manage? Furthermore, shock FC level for 100 CYA is 39, your CYA is even higher, but it doesn't seem like you've even raised FC to 39, let alone /kept it there/.
If you have white blobs growing in the pool, it isn't clear, even if the water doesn't look green or cloudy, so you shouldn't stop the SLAM process. Are you brushing/scraping/vacuuming to waste as much of this gunk as possible? If it has a strong biofilm that's usually treated by attacking it mechanically with a pool brush. You may also need to shock at the higher mustard algae level.
I've never seen a properly SLAMed pool here fail to clear up. But I have seen lots of people try to shortcut the process, or who don't understand that it has to be followed rigorously.
As it was said, you really should replace water to get CYA down so you can shock at more sane FC levels.
If you have white blobs growing in the pool, it isn't clear, even if the water doesn't look green or cloudy, so you shouldn't stop the SLAM process. Are you brushing/scraping/vacuuming to waste as much of this gunk as possible? If it has a strong biofilm that's usually treated by attacking it mechanically with a pool brush. You may also need to shock at the higher mustard algae level.
I've never seen a properly SLAMed pool here fail to clear up. But I have seen lots of people try to shortcut the process, or who don't understand that it has to be followed rigorously.
As it was said, you really should replace water to get CYA down so you can shock at more sane FC levels.
Jeetyet
0
Any chance of getting a sample to a local school/university science lab for some testing? Just make sure you don't let IT loose in the sewer system! :clown:
One of principles we try to adhere to is we don't suggest mix and match of advice. You'd be better off EITHER going with your pool store's advice OR with ours.....but not both.
Trying to do both wastes your time, often gives you confusing results, makes it VERY difficult for us to help, and usually doesn't help your pool.
You are stuck in the middle of conflicting advice. You need to make a decision.
One other thing that I think is important........there is VERY. VERY little chance that you have some unique organism in your pool. Or there is some unique organism is spreading from around the St Louis area. Your issues are issues that the rest of us all have and your pool can be cleared with correct application of chlorine....it's really no more complex than that.
Trying to do both wastes your time, often gives you confusing results, makes it VERY difficult for us to help, and usually doesn't help your pool.
You are stuck in the middle of conflicting advice. You need to make a decision.
One other thing that I think is important........there is VERY. VERY little chance that you have some unique organism in your pool. Or there is some unique organism is spreading from around the St Louis area. Your issues are issues that the rest of us all have and your pool can be cleared with correct application of chlorine....it's really no more complex than that.