New Member with Algae

[34mvp]

Waiting on my new test kit (tft100) to come in the mail so I’m relying on Leslie’s at the moment.

My pool has been relatively clear all summer. I’ve been using LC and leftover granules to keep the chlorine up. Even with the high chlorine and clear water, last week I kept getting algae and couldn’t understand why.

That led me to TFT and I’m going all in. Pool was green and is turning teal. Running filter 24/7. Backwashing and brushing daily.
Using LC (I have 10 bottles on hand) and took out the chlorinator float.

I’ve finally come to understand water chemistry and looking forward to testing my water with my kit and making adjustments as needed.

Currently my numbers are:
FC 8.67
TC 8.67
Ph 7.9
TA 47
CH 59
Ca 24

 

[Bperry]

Waiting on my new test kit (tft100) to come in the mail so I’m relying on Leslie’s at the moment.

My pool has been relatively clear all summer. I’ve been using LC and leftover granules to keep the chlorine up. Even with the high chlorine and clear water, last week I kept getting algae and couldn’t understand why.

That led me to TFT and I’m going all in. Pool was green and is turning teal. Running filter 24/7. Backwashing and brushing daily.
Using LC (I have 10 bottles on hand) and took out the chlorinator float.

I’ve finally come to understand water chemistry and looking forward to testing my water with my kit and making adjustments as needed.

Currently my numbers are:
FC 8.67
TC 8.67
Ph 7.9
TA 47
CH 59
Ca 24

Welcome, you’ll never need to go back to Leslie’s once you get going.

 

[34mvp]

Welcome, you’ll never need to go back to Leslie’s once you get going.

Thanks!

I have some very good friends who used to live at Knoxville. They live in Cleveland, TN now…love visiting TN.

Any suggestions based on my Chlorine numbers?

 

[Newdude]

Any suggestions based on my Chlorine numbers?

Not without having an accurate CYA level. It's the key to the whole shebang because it dictates where sanitary is for you.

Add 3 to 5 ppm FC daily until the kit comes per PoolMath. We ride together when it does.

The FC will keep things from getting worse in the meantime.

 

[Bperry]

Thanks!

I have some very good friends who used to live at Knoxville. They live in Cleveland, TN now…love visiting TN.

Any suggestions based on my Chlorine numbers?

An accurate CYA number prevents you from performing a proper SLAM process. The issue with giving advice based on those numbers is that if they’re wrong, the advice would be wrong and possible damage something. That’s why the recommendation to just add 3-5ppm of chlorinating liquid each day with the pump running is kind of a holding pattern that won’t do any harm but should also prevent things from getting worse while you wait for a test kit to arrive.

Check out some of the threads where someone brought the same water sample to multiple pool stores and got wildly different results. Hard to believe but the experiences bear it out.

I’m not a native Knox’villian but enjoy it. Have some friends in Peach Tree City.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Has your test kit arrived? We need to see these numbers:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
SALT if applicable

Good to have another Georgian join us here at TFP.

 

[34mvp]

Yesterday we had a light film of green algae
So I poured 1 gallon of LC before going to bed.
Tested this morning 20k gallon pool
FC 3.5
CC .05
TA 50
PH 7-7.2
Cya 60

Planning on vacuuming waste then starting slam. Any advice?

 

[Texas Splash]

Any advice?

Increase the FC to 20 and SLAM away! Good luck.

 

[34mvp]

Yesterday we had a light film of green algae
So I poured 1 gallon of LC before going to bed.
Tested this morning 20k gallon pool
FC 3.5
CC .05
TA 50
PH 7-7.2
Cya 60
No salt

Planning on vacuuming to waste then starting slam. Any advice?

 

[34mvp]

I plan on vacuuming now and wait till the evening to slam. Thoughts?

 

[mknauss]

I plan on vacuuming now and wait till the evening to slam. Thoughts?

Add bleach. Time is of the essence.

 

[Bperry]

Yesterday we had a light film of green algae
So I poured 1 gallon of LC before going to bed.
Tested this morning 20k gallon pool
FC 3.5
CC .05
TA 50
PH 7-7.2
Cya 60
No salt

Planning on vacuuming to waste then starting slam. Any advice?

Check your CC measurement again. The decimal point locations are important . No reason to delay starting a SLAM process if you see algae.

 

[34mvp]

ok. Vacuum or no?

 

[34mvp]

You’re right. Lol. Typo.

 

[koffey]

The sooner you start, the sooner it will be over. That's all I can say outside of, with CYA at 60, why did you let FC drop so far outside recommended range?

 

[mknauss]

ok. Vacuum or no?

Sure. Once a day if you can. But chlorine is paramount. Get it started.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Brushing is better than vacuuming as the bristles disrupt any algae hiding behind biofilm. You should brush daily both walls and floor while fighting algae.
Your FC needs to be raised to 24 ppm to fight algae properly while algae is still present. If you go less, the algae can still reproduce and will extend your SLAM process. This is all based on how high your CYA is.

You should test your FC as often during the day as you can fit in.... every 2-3 hours is ideal, and as you're killing the algae you'll notice your chlorine disappearing so will bring that SLAM level back up again to continue the battle.

Have you discovered PoolMath yet? THat's your guide to tell you how much liquid chlorine to add each time based on the test you just performed. No need to do the CC portion at the beginning.

SLAM Process
PoolMath

Maddie