OH NO! Is it dirt or MUSTARD ALGAE

[macgas]

I recently added borates with Borax and Muriatic acid in a pool of 17000 gal. The most time consuming part was finding the Borax. I had to go to a couple of stores to get enough. Once home though it took about an hour to add in everthing according to the instructions. I spent about $50. Now my pool looks like liquid glass.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I would target 50. The 5 lb bucket is probably find - what is the active ingredient? 4 lbs would raise your CYA by 20 so I'd go ahead and keep it if it's at least 90% CYA.

It sounds like you passed the overnight test. From your description - the CC is around .5 or less. Your FC loss was 1, so you should be good. I would repeat the test tonight tho just to be sure, a loss of less than one would be better...

The proteam is fine - expensive but 1 step as opposed to trying to find enough Borax to do the Borax/acid route, up to you. Testing for Borates first is an excellent idea.

 

[J_L_D]

Mustard Algae - Gone

Last night:
FC - 8.5
CC - 0
PH - 7.5

This morning
FC - 8.5
CC - 0
PH - 7.9 - 8.0

Added 45 lbs. of Proteam Supreme Plus ($99.00 + tax). Before I was half way through adding it, I noticed I didn't see the same type of 'roil' from my return jets - thought the pump might be off but it wasn't. I guess it's like someone said that it changes the surface tension and the light transmission properties. I could see it when I looked but it was different somehow. The pool is clear like glass. It does appear to have brought my PH up a bit, but not much considering how much I added. I'll get some acid for that.
ps. That stuff is not something you just scoop and dump - you have to sort of scrape it - I used a plastic measuring cup - It's compacted so you scrape it loose like and it's really light like snow or something afterwards. I did the whole thing in one dose (it says wait a couple hours after doing half). It was going slow so I didn't think it would matter.

 

[cubbybeave08]

Morning Numbers:

FC: 10.5
CC: 0.5 (best I can tell)
PH: 7.5

Still having a little difficulty with the drop test. Added the 5 drops to check for CC and it appeared to slightly change from clear - so added 1 drop then another of the first reagent - it did seem to turn back to more clear - but couldn't tell difference in adding one drop or 2. It didn't really turn 'pink' with the 5 drops, just seemed to add a little color to it.

Visible - not much left to be seen. The normal crevices where I find grass, sand, debris had a small amount - but when I brushed it I didn't see any of the cloud puffs, so I think it's just sand/dirt. I'll try to vacuum it up tonight and look for it again tomorrow.

I plan to continue to let the Free Chlorine burn off to around 4 and try to keep it there. Will verify CYA once again in sunlight and use Pool Calulator for FC levels. If under 30, I'll probably use some Tri-Chlor pucks for a few days to try to bring it up a bit. Taking sample to pool store today at lunch and buying 45lb. bucket Proteam Supreme Plus - Any comments on that? It IS proven to be safe and effective - right? I will post the results from pool store - I want them to check for borates just in case someone had already added them in a previous incarnation of the restored pool.

Thanks and let me know what I'm missing. The one thing I'm not sure is how much I should raise Cyanuric Acid level. I actually bought a 5 lb jug at Home Depot but thought I'd return it and get something smaller (that was all they had), or just use the pucks I already have for a week or two. But being in full sun all day maybe it needs to be well above 30?

Gonna weigh in...It is more than likely tree pollen or if you have lots of flowers...you will get pollen...it goes right through the filter even cartridge filters. What I have done to keep it from piling up in my crevices and dimples on the bottom is to put a nylon stocking on my skimer basket...This catches all that pollen and dust like a lint trap in a drier and then I just peel it off and throw it away. It reduces the amount of dust on the bottom almost 75% or better. My FC holds over night and I have had this problem for more than 3 summers. It is just dust in my opinion.