Fighting a losing battle

[Chelsay724]

This Friday will be two weeks since I started SLAMing my pool to get rid of what I think is mustard algae. I live in west Texas, so dirt is always an issue, but even more so now. The land beside my house that used to be full of Mesquite trees and cactus was cleared just a few days into the process and is now a huge (an acre) field of loose dirt. I've consistently vacuumed using a robotic vacuum 3 times a day and I brush the pool at least 5 times if not more. I've never been able to get all of it out, which make me worry that there is also algae (dead and alive) hiding in there. One of the issues is that there is wrinkles in my pool lining, so unless I'm able to stay out there the whole time, the vacuum gets stuck and not much is picked up. The other issue is that any time I get close to getting it all out, we'll have a windy day and then I'm back to where I started. The good news is that my water is more clear than it's ever been, so I know I'm making progress. I'm still losing a ton of chlorine through the day and my overnight loss seems to be 4 ppm. It was originally 8, so I think that's a good sign.
Today I spent several hours outside vacuuming and brushing and I was able to get quite a bit of dirt out and fortunately there was only a small amount of algae in the vacuum when I was done. I recently purchased a solar cover and I decided to go ahead and put it on today. It's supposed to be pretty windy for the rest of the week. But then I got to thinking that it might be a bad idea while SLAMing and got sort of mixed results about it while looking through the forums. So I guess this has been a very long winded way to ask if I should keep the cover on or just risk getting more dirt in the pool and not worrying about it?

 

[PoolStored]

Solar cover works to reduce evaporation and keep pool temps up. It will do little to keep the dirt out...don't worry about it.

 

[Chelsay724]

Solar cover works to reduce evaporation and keep pool temps up. It will do little to keep the dirt out...don't worry about it.

I guess i worry since the instructions on SLAMing say to vacuum the entire pool daily. But I'm not really able to do so effectively with all the dirt. Is that not something to worry about? Will it slow down or affect the SLAM process? Will the cover negatively affect it?

 

[PoolStored]

Great job on reading instructions. Most don't...

The cover will just be more work to clean and most of the dirt will end up in the pool anyway. I would vacuum what you can given your constraints. The OCLT is the "tail of the tape" with respect to killing algae.

 

[Chelsay724]

Great job on reading instructions. Most don't...

The cover will just be more work to clean and most of the dirt will end up in the pool anyway. I would vacuum what you can given your constraints. The OCLT is the "tail of the tape" with respect to killing algae.

Awesome, thank you for your help!

 

[Mdragger88]

I see in your signature that you have poly balls instead of sand.
That may be part of your issue.
Sand filters are designed to use sand.
If you need finer filtration you can add a little de or cellulose fiber after backwashing.
What kind of vac do you have? Does it have fine/pleated filter?
Can you manually vac to waste?

 

[PoolStored]

I see in your signature that you have poly balls instead of sand.

Outstanding catch Misty!!! Get rid of those balls and put in sand!

 

[Chelsay724]

I see in your signature that you have poly balls instead of sand.
That may be part of your issue.
Sand filters are designed to use sand.
If you need finer filtration you can add a little de or cellulose fiber after backwashing.
What kind of vac do you have? Does it have fine/pleated filter?
Can you manually vac to waste?

The filter I have says it's compatible with filter balls and sells them for my filter. Do you think it's not filtering the dirt?
The vacuum I have is a Seauto Roker Plus. I believe it does, but here's a link just in case I'm missing something. https://seautorobots.com/products/seauto-roker-plus-cordless-robotic-pool-clean
I don't currently have a way to vac to waste, but I'm looking into getting a different vacuum when the funds are available. Do you have one you would recommend?

 

[Chelsay724]

I have great news! I passed the OCLT. Now time to raise it to mustard level!

 

[Mdragger88]

I have great news! I passed the OCLT. Now time to raise it to mustard level!

You want to keep with regular slam until it is crystal clear with no recurring algae (dead or alive) before going to MA slam level.

 

[Chelsay724]

You want to keep with regular slam until it is crystal clear with no recurring algae (dead or alive) before going to MA slam level.

I'll wait until I vacuum today to make sure I don't get any algae out. I have high hopes though since I spent several hours vacuuming yesterday and got a very small amount of algae out.
Did you see my previous response? Sorry if I made it confusing by replying twice
Also, I'm having a hard time configuring my mustard algae FC level. My current CYA level is 45, but I rounded up to 50. Is that right?

Edit to add: my water is crystal clear, but there is dirt at the bottom.

 

[Mdragger88]

The filter I have says it's compatible with filter balls and sells them for my filter. Do you think it's not filtering the dirt?

The balls tend to get clogged & don’t backwash well then need to be replaced. Sand on the other hand lasts forever if cared for properly.

The vacuum I have is a Seauto Roker Plus. I believe it does, but here's a link just in case I'm missing something. https://seautorobots.com/products/seauto-roker-plus-cordless-robotic-pool-clean
I don't currently have a way to vac to waste, but I'm looking into getting a different vacuum when the funds are available. Do you have one you would recommend?

Looks like it just has a screen filter that doesn’t capture finer particles.
Every pool owner should have a manual vacuum even if they don’t use it very often. Something like this

Not sure if you already have a hose & a pole but you need those as well

Also, I'm having a hard time configuring my mustard algae FC level. My current CYA level is 45, but I rounded up to 50. Is that right?

Yes - cya of 45 counts as 50 for chlorination purposes so MA slam level is 29.4 (30)

 

[Chelsay724]

The balls tend to get clogged & don’t backwash well then need to be replaced. Sand on the other hand lasts forever if cared for properly.

Looks like it just has a screen filter that doesn’t capture finer particles.
Every pool owner should have a manual vacuum even if they don’t use it very often. Something like this
View attachment 524738
Not sure if you already have a hose & a pole but you need those as well

Yes - cya of 45 counts as 50 for chlorination purposes so MA slam level is 29.4 (30)
View attachment 524739

Thank you for all your great advice! I'll look into getting a manuel vacuum asap.

 

[Chelsay724]

The balls tend to get clogged & don’t backwash well then need to be replaced. Sand on the other hand lasts forever if cared for properly.

Looks like it just has a screen filter that doesn’t capture finer particles.
Every pool owner should have a manual vacuum even if they don’t use it very often. Something like this
View attachment 524738
Not sure if you already have a hose & a pole but you need those as well

Yes - cya of 45 counts as 50 for chlorination purposes so MA slam level is 29.4 (30)
View attachment 524739

Does this look like dead algae? I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's a brownish color that poofs up when I brush it. I bought the manuel vacuum you recommended and it works great! Thank you for the recommendation. I've vacuumed one to two times a day since Saturday but a layer of whatever this is keeps reappearing within hours of vacuuming. Does it look like mustard algae?

 

[PoolStored]

Does it look like mustard algae?

Not mustard...just algae...looks dead.

 

[Chelsay724]

Not mustard...just algae...looks dead.

Thank you!

I suppose I have to just continue vacuuming until it no longer shows up. I've been brushing like crazy and found more algae hiding under a small flap at the seam where the pool floor meets the pool walls. I found that Sunday evening and thought I had taken care of it, but then I found a small, maybe 3 in section last night that looked alive (green). It just seems like a lot of dead algae for the amount of alive algae I'm finding.. if that makes sense. I passed my OCLT last night, I didn't lose any FC at all, but my CC is 2.

 

[PoolStored]

^^This.

Keep going with CC=2 and visible algae, keep slamming.

Do you have a ladder? Did you remove that and scrub inside?

 

[Chelsay724]

^^This.

Keep going with CC=2 and visible algae, keep slamming.

Do you have a ladder? Did you remove that and scrub inside?

I do have a ladder but I took it out of the pool before I started to slam. I started 3 weeks ago this Friday. I did put it in on Saturday so that could get in the pool and scrub hard to reach areas. But I scrubbed the ladder with bleach water before putting it in and then took it back out when I was done scrubbing.

 

[Mdragger88]

Looks like dead stuff to me.
Keep with SLAM Process & scrub all those seam flaps! You may need to use a small brush to get underneath them. I used to use an angled plastic house broom & my toe.

 

[Chelsay724]

Looks like dead stuff to me.
Keep with SLAM Process & scrub all those seam flaps! You may need to use a small brush to get underneath them. I used to use an angled plastic house broom & my toe.

I'm getting ready to hop in and scrub! I have two ladders, one was super easy to clean, but I'm having a hard time getting all the algae off of the other ladder. I'd say to heck with that ladder, but my disabled mother uses that one because it's sturdier and hooks to the deck which makes it easier for her to get in. I'm thinking about just buying a new one, but I wanted to see if you have any recommendations as far as what sort of material I should get? Plastic, metal, etc? I'm not sure if one is easier to clean than the other if I (God forbid) get algae again.