From installation to SLAM and beyond (previously Future Pool Location)

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Yeah, we have some wacked strain of algae STUCK in something...might be his sand and might be my cover.

Or else we have an outbreak that survives the traditional SLAM process...if I had time I am sure we could find a common thread, until then best of luck!

We have three things at least in common:

1) Both pools subject to super deep freeze in winter
2) Sand Filters
3) 2 speed pumps that we most likely run on low most of the time
 
I finished mustard algae slam level at 7:00 tonight. I scrubbed walls and steps and ran my shark for 4 hours. I'm about to go out and take my last reading of the night. I have little hope that I'll pass OCLT. My biofilm destroying stuff won't be here until the 29th at the earliest. Until then, I'll keep up slam level of 17. If Aah-some doesn't work, then I'll replace the sand.

Getting up early is starting too be a real drag.
 
What does this mean?

No...I didn't pass OCLT, but there was a 50% improvement over previous days. My FC loss was 2 instead of 4 and CC dropped from 1 to .5.

Do I need to hold mustard shock level for more than 24 hours? I haven't dosed my water with enough bleach for FC 24 since 6pm yesterday. If I need to maintain mustard slam for longer do I need to start all over? My FC was 21 at 5am, haven't tested again since I was going to let it return to 17 after the normal 24 hour mustard slam.

What to do? What to do?
 
Since you have similar issues the only advice I have is I think you need to try and hold SLAM until you pass OCLT - there is SOMETHING EVIL lurking in our water or in our system that continues to contaminate our water.

Nothing really worked for me, other than all of a sudden, magically I am starting to hold FC. I have not done the math yet to figure where I am, but I will later on today.

I DOUBT it is mustard algae, but that HIGH LEVELS might knock out whatever is lurking nearby....

Bring it back up to SLAM for Mustard...then retest for OCLT and keep it at SLAM until you pass and then go from there.
 
I don't think it's mustard algae either. I just tested the water and added bleach to bring it up to 24 from 21. I doubt I'll fit on10 test today like I did yesterday, but I'm sure I'll test at least 5 times. Maybe this will do it. Who knows. Off to buy about 20 more gallons of bleach today...
 
This post is really windy...so if you're not into reading thoughts and conjecture and daily stuff, you might want to skip this post. :)

Yes, it was from Amazon. It was quite a surprise. The good kind!

I got back from running errands and had to put 191 oz bleach in the water to bring it back up to 24ppm. Now that I'm home for the rest of the day, I can test more frequently.

I realized that I may not have enough water in the pool to do a really good backwash with Aah-some. If I lose another 1 1/2" of water, I get a vortex in my skimmer and my pump starts sucking air. Right now my husband is spraying soybeans, so the water tanks are tied up filling the sprayers. He said he might be able to get me some water tonight. So, Aah-some may have to wait until tomorrow morning. Since I know the water coming into the pool may be questionable, I want to make sure it gets treated with the stuff too. My husband can't find the filter for his 2" inch hose (Surprise- not the good kind) so I will be getting the full on nasty water that I was attempting to avoid.

Maybe chem geek can chime in on these questions. What are the conditions that are necessary for biofilms to develop? Is it possible to conquer biofilms with bleach at mustard slam levels or higher? What substance/chemical can eat away at the protective coating? Nothing is on the label for Aah-some, so I don't know what's in it.

The only other thing, I've been thinking about is that if I treat with Aah-some BEFORE trying to pass OCLT at mustard slam level, and I pass, we may all never know if it was biofilm or not. So...if I see even more improvement in the OCLT after day two of mustard slam what can we deduce? Algae growing in the dark of the filter? The tubing from pump to filter is clear so there would be sunlight there. Also, let's say that what ever is causing my problems was already present in the water when it was put into the pool. The filter is going to be most similar to the underground well environment that it came from. Too much thinking...:geek:
 
I have an update. My husband brought the tanker and I filled the pool. I could be wrong, but I believe this may be the main suspect with the filter at a close second.

I turned the filter on high to make sure things got mixed up as fast as possible. The water is no longer sparkling and I saw sediment collecting in wrinkles. I understand now what the bad pool smell is. I could smell it from 2 paces away. It DID NOT smell the way it usually does. In one hour, I lost 6.5 ppm FC. Problem anyone? Geez!

I collected some of the sediment with this contraption.

I know the picture isn't the best, but in the circled areas you might detect a slight discoloration. I found some of this stuff floating on the surface too. To me, it looks MUSTARD YELLOW!!!!! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!! I don't know if it is, I'm just saying'.

I've put my shark in to hopefully pick up as much of whatever this is and as quick as possible. Stuff isn't getting skimmed off the top, but I can't do both at the same time unless I do it manually. I added Zeofiber to the filter hoping that will collect the particles better than the sand alone.

This tank is dark on the inside obviously, water can sit it in for a few days at a time. There is no circulation except when water is added or removed. Do you all think this is mustard algae after all?
 

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The tanker gets it's water from a well. Since the source is groundwater and not surface water, I can only guess that the algae is growing in the tanker. It's unfortunate, but that tanker is my only way to get large quantities of water since I'm not supposed to use the well water at home and fill with the hose.

The pool is looking clearer. I scrubbed everything down again tonight just so the algae knows it's not welcome to attach itself. FC is holding better. The water has stayed at 24 for the last 2 hours.

So if this is mustard algae, looking like it is, do I just slam at mustard level until I pass oclt? The directions in pool school say to do a regular slam, pass OCLT then up FC to mustard slam levels for 24 hours. My problem is that I can't pass OCLT at my normal slam level.

I've been at mustard level for 48 hours, but with the addition of water, I'm sure I'll need to keep it up longer. I hope this is coming to an end soon. My husband says we can get out of town next week for 2-3 days. That makes me pretty nervous. I was gone for 2 days last week and nothing terrible happened.
 
S1ngram said:
Maybe chem geek can chime in on these questions. What are the conditions that are necessary for biofilms to develop? Is it possible to conquer biofilms with bleach at mustard slam levels or higher? What substance/chemical can eat away at the protective coating? Nothing is on the label for Aah-some, so I don't know what's in it.

The only other thing, I've been thinking about is that if I treat with Aah-some BEFORE trying to pass OCLT at mustard slam level, and I pass, we may all never know if it was biofilm or not. So...if I see even more improvement in the OCLT after day two of mustard slam what can we deduce? Algae growing in the dark of the filter? The tubing from pump to filter is clear so there would be sunlight there. Also, let's say that what ever is causing my problems was already present in the water when it was put into the pool. The filter is going to be most similar to the underground well environment that it came from. Too much thinking...:geek:
Click to expand...
Sand filters in particular are prone to getting biofilms if they get accumulated organics and the chlorine is too low for too long so that bacteria start forming biofilms. Once they form, channeling occurs and there's even less chlorine getting to them then before. This is much more of an issue in commercial/public pools because they have high bather loads. It's very rare in residential pools, but not unheard of -- we've had a few people open up their filters to clumpy channeled sand and that only happens from biofilm (even gunky chemicals don't tend to clump the sand that same way).

Up to you on the timing. You can certainly see if you get rid of algae first and see how the chlorine demand is after that and if its still high then use the Ahh-Some.
 
Can you update the thread with a full set of test results please? Thank you.
 
Not surprisingly, I didn't pass OCLT. I did it because I was curious and I'm automatically waking up at 5 am now. My morning results were FC 22.5, CC 1.

My husband wants to get away starting Sunday, so I'm not going to mess around. I'm washing the filter today and keeping it at mustard slam. Hopefully, I'll pass OCLT by Sunday morning.
 
The filter has been washed with Aah-some. It's an opaque aqua blue color with an odd consistency. It reminded me somewhat of Airhead candy. It's sort of smushy, waxy and plasticy. Don't smell the stuff, it's pretty gross. It was easy to measure and not sticky at all. The website had somewhat different directions than the package, so I went with what was on the internet. It's difficult to mix with the water, and the surface foams so it's hard to see if it has completely mixed.

When I felt like it was mixed, I poured it slowly into the skimmer with the filter set to backwash. When it looked like all the suds made it through, I rinsed for 30 seconds. I didn't notice anything spectacular during the process. Maybe it helped, I'm sure it didn't hurt. I was really hoping to see some nasty water exiting the filter, but maybe the biofilm it cleans up is colorless. I don't know.
 
On 5/13/08, JasonLion made this comment

"Mustard algae usually vanishes at the first sign of shock levels of chlorine, only to reappear when the chlorine level goes down. Pollen can look and behave almost identically if you don't have a microscope and pollen remains even at high FC levels."

What I have does not vanish. I don't believe it is pollen since the water came from a well. I manually vacuumed yesterday and cleaned it all up off the floor. Just a few hours later, more had settled out of the water. Should I just turn my pump off to let it settle faster? The color of the stuff has not changed at all despite having maintained a mustard slam shock level for over 24 hours now. I read somewhere that 72 hours is better than 24, so I'll continue on that path. It's easy to vacuum, it doesn't turn into a poof of dust or anything like that.

I don't have a microscope or access to one. If I can collect some with a turkey baster and strain it through a coffee filter, then maybe I'll have a picture to show you. I have a camera that takes decent close up shots.

I did not pass OCLT. I lost 3 ppm FC. I forgot to measure CC last night, but it didn't matter with the FC loss anyway.
 

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