Is TFP truly cutting the mustard?

[JamesW]

In my opinion, algae does not lie.

If you have algae, you are not maintaining the FC as well as you think you are.

All pool chemistry is the same.

There are no strains of super algae that are going to be in a single pool.

If you have a strain of super algae, then you need to maintain higher levels of fc than the rest of the world.

 

[Katygreys]

With regard to super algae, isn’t mustard algae super by definition since normal slam levels will not kill it, and hence the very existence of a TFP-recommended “Mustard Algae SLAM Level”? If yes, then my question was and is: Does it naturally follow then that TFP-recommended target/min levels may not actually be high enough to prevent mustard algae from forming? And, I think the answer to that appears to be yes because as someone pointed out to me above, there exists a TFP-recommended “Mustard Algae FC Min” which is higher indeed than the normal FC Min.

Believe me, I have no motivation to claim super algae status. I’d rather have the typical, boring, run of the mill, non-super kind.

 

[Newdude]

Whatever is going on is no doubt less than it would have been, by being cautious with a healthy FC level and properly brushing. It may even require a more elevated FC level and more brushing at times, but TFP-ers know to listen to their pool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Labeling any algae as “super” is simply wrong. There are just different species of algae (it is a HUGE class of organisms that comprise both single cells organisms as well as giant mats of seaweed). Mustard algae is not “super” … it’s simply a species of algae that produces higher levels of beta-carotene which acts as an anti-oxidant against chlorine and other oxidizers making it harder to kill. Other than that, it is no different. There are varieties of red algae that excrete calcium carbonate and form hard shells (looks like scale in a pool). They are not super, they simply have an adaption that makes them more hardy.

The vast majority of pools owners never get mustard algae or black algae. Most swimming pool algae is the very mundane blue-green type. Easy to kill with chlorine. So TFP’s recommendations certainly do “cut the mustard” for the vast majority of pool owners … you just happen to be in that small unlucky minority that requires a special treatment regimen to clear out a pool.

Mustard algae, once eradicated, should not easily return unless you have a source of it inoculating your pool. It could be environmental in origin in which case maintaining the higher mustard algae FC levels is advisable.

As I posted above, if this continues to be an ongoing problem, then you should consider adding adjunct sanitation chemicals to your pool in the form of algaecide, borates, or phosphate reduction.

 

[Katygreys]

Thanks for the e excellent reply, joyful. Very helpful.