Sand or Algae?

[adadof3]

Good point Kes, apologies for the lack of info.

Didn't take a reading by the time that I had finished last night, but it was between 15 and 20 at 6am today.

Interesting that you suggest not allowing dust to settle on the floor; my thinking here was that vacuuming algae to waste would prevent me having to fight it, and thus I would require less shock for the residual algae. Is my thinking flawed here?

I should have added that I backwashed yesterday for a couple of minutes or so, after vacuuming, and the water appeared to my naked eye to be running clear.

 

[Kes]

I'm sure there are others with a different opinion. I would certainly vacuum first when dealing with a freshly opened or badly maintained/polluted pool. It gets rid of the heavy detritus. But as you have vacuumed several times already I would go for the brush and filter procedure. It gets the maximum gunge passing through the filter. It also keeps the chlorine circulating to all parts of the pool for maximum kill rates. But like all forums read what everyone says then choose your own methods.

Do you have a see-through dome on your sand filter? If so you should see the greyish stuff being backwashed out. It's a glorious sight to behold.

 

[teapot]

Providing the sand isn't chanelled, in which case it just keeps going around and around, hence vac to waste should see it decrease.

 

[adadof3]

Hi Kes,

There is a dome on the filter backwash, and the water passing through it last night was constantly clear. This is what makes me believe that the filter is not picking up the 'dust' and thus it is recirculating constantly.

Also, after vacuuming last night, when I reactivated the pump, it could clearly be seen to be emitting the sand coloured 'dust' that must have been going through the flow when it was stopped.

My wife is currently adding more shock; am not back until late tonight, so not sure if I will get a changce to vacuum again, or just add more shock.

DE certainly seems worth a try; any idea where to get it in the UK?


Thanks in advance

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

The description that it went up the sides does sound like mustard algae. It is also possible that you have a combination of pollen and algae.

True mustard algae will dissappear when the pool is at shock level, and then re-appear when the FC drops to normal.

To shock properly, a good test kit is essential - you have to know if you are reaching your shock level, and thus you need to confirm your CYA level.

When shocking for mustard algae, we recommend maintaining 'normal' shock levels until the FC holds overnight, and then for about 24 hours or so raise it up to the mustard/yellow levels shown on this chart. Be sure to treat any pool toys, the cover, floats, suits etc that have been exposed to the algae so that you don't reintroduce it.

We advise shocking with liquid chlorine because it doesn't add anything unwanted to your water. IF your CH is high, you don't want to use granular cal-hypo. Dichlor/trichlor granular raises CYA. There are other forms of granular shock that are not chlorine at all - so we need to know the active ingredients in the products you are using.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kes]

DE doesn't seem to be widely available in the UK. I could only find one supplier on Google, www.1st-direct.com who are selling 7.5 kg for 43.50 gbp plus carriage.

There are floc tabs, or clarifiers, which are aluminium sulphate. I use the tabs occasionally and they don't seem to be all they are cracked up to be. Clarifiers are widely available but not particularly venerated on this forum.

 

[Miranda]

The green turning to milkiness is a VERY good sign. That sounds like dead algae. Everyone here has told me that it will filter out, given enough time, but I haven't had much luck getting my sand filter to take out the milky white dead algae. Your results may vary. What HAS worked for me in that milky situation is the blue clarifier. I call it blue clarifier, and I don't know what is in it, but it is the generic cheap stuff you can get almost anywhere (Walmart, hardware store, etc). Regardless of the brand name, it is blue and looks like shampoo, about $10 US for a 32 oz bottle.

 

[ShockerLU3]

I too am fighting the algae battle at the moment. One thing I didn't hear mentioned is the filter sock. You can, from what I understand, make one out of the foot portion of an old pair of pantyhose. I bought mine from the pool store because my wife partially thinks I'm crazy and didn't have a pair of pantyhose she was willing to part with. Mine is doing wonders to help the filter pull the dead algae out.

Just be persistent with the shocking and brushing and one day you'll come home from work to a surprising advance in pool clarity.

 

[teapot]

DE doesn't seem to be widely available in the UK. I could only find one supplier on Google, http://www.1st-direct.com who are selling 7.5 kg for 43.50 gbp plus carriage.

There are floc tabs, or clarifiers, which are aluminium sulphate. I use the tabs occasionally and they don't seem to be all they are cracked up to be. Clarifiers are widely available but not particularly venerated on this forum.

Sorry Kes but just like the water testing equipment you are wrong.

£60 for 20 kg of DE powder inc vat and delivery!

Adadof3, before spending any money on any additions I would open the top of your sand filter get in with the garden hose and give the whole sand a good stir up to break up any "pebbles" of sand and remove any channelling, sand filters need attention too they do a lot of work and especially yours after trying to clean your swamp last year.

 

[adadof3]

At last, some good news to report!

Kept shocking the pool until yesterday morning. Milky cloud got no better from one day to the next, but slowly stated to clear as the shock level reduced. Could just about see the bottom of the deep end last night. Added some clarifer, and it was even better this morning. Hoovered the pool, took the readings, and we are now up & running again. Here are a couple of pics:

That was taken last Sunday, before vacuuming. You can see the algae on the bottom, and for comparison a blue space where I swept the floor of the pool.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics while the pool was at its worst, but here is a pic of it his morning:

Great that I seem to have turned it round this time, but can't say that I fancy doing this for a living!

Very big thanks to everyone who offered their advice, I dont think I could have done it without you.

 

[adadof3]

Adadof3, before spending any money on any additions I would open the top of your sand filter get in with the garden hose and give the whole sand a good stir up to break up any "pebbles" of sand and remove any channelling, sand filters need attention too they do a lot of work and especially yours after trying to clean your swamp last year

Thanks for the advice Teapot, but would like to think that the filter is ok. Part of the deal with the cleaning of the pool was to service the pump & filter, topping up the latter with sand, so would like to think there are no problems here. Wouldn't hurt to check though, so will have a look maybe tomorrow.

Cheers

 

[Kes]

Sorry Kes but just like the water testing equipment you are wrong.

Well, Teapot, you have me slightly bemused. In what way were my comments on the Palintest kits 'wrong'? In what way was my rather cursory Google search for DE, which found only one supplier, 'wrong'?

I'm sure there are other UK DE suppliers, and cheaper too. Possibly the OP would appreciate it if you posted a source.

 

[Miranda]

Great that I seem to have turned it round this time, but can't say that I fancy doing this for a living!

Very big thanks to everyone who offered their advice, I dont think I could have done it without you.

Wonderfu!l You shouldn't have to go through it again if you stay on top of things. It is MUCH easier to maintain water quality than it is to fix it once it goes awry. Now that your water is clear, get a complete set of test results and fix anything that is still out of range. After that, everyday maintenance is easy....just keep your chlorine levels up and keep an eye on your pH.

 

[adadof3]

Wonderfu!l You shouldn't have to go through it again if you stay on top of things. It is MUCH easier to maintain water quality than it is to fix it once it goes awry. Now that your water is clear, get a complete set of test results and fix anything that is still out of range. After that, everyday maintenance is easy....just keep your chlorine levels up and keep an eye on your pH

Fully agree with you Miranda, and in fact we chose to shock the pool again last night (not with such a high dosage this time though). Interesting to look at it again this morning, and see that it was clearer still. Definitely will try to keep on top of it this summer, although we are away for the best part of a fortninght shortly, so are a bit worried at what it might turn into during our absence.

 

[teapot]

Sorry Kes but just like the water testing equipment you are wrong.

Well, Teapot, you have me slightly bemused. In what way were my comments on the Palintest kits 'wrong'? In what way was my rather cursory Google search for DE, which found only one supplier, 'wrong'?

I'm sure there are other UK DE suppliers, and cheaper too. Possibly the OP would appreciate it if you posted a source.

Sorry Kes, it's the sweeping statements you make, "Bear in mind that we don't have such sophisticated test kits here in the UK".
As I stated Palintest is a UK company.

"DE doesn't seem to be widely available in the UK. I could only find one supplier on Google",

Is very different to; I couldn't find it, or only had a quick look on google and found one supplier......

You are painting a bad picture, glass half empty?

On a good note: very happy for you Adadof3 about time you got to enjoy your pool! well done for fighting the fight.

 

[anonapersona]

I would be interested in seeing a water report on the water used to fill this pool. I ask because when I was a fish-keeper, doing planted fish tanks, the forum I visited had a lot of overseas members. We noticed that water in many parts of Europe and the UK had much much higher nitrate and phosphate concentrations than water in the US, although some midwestern states did have nitrates, not that high. For planted tanks, it meant that while in the US we would change water frequently and add fertilizers to grow plants, in those countries folks would not add water until they need fertilizers, thus adding fertilizers by adding water.

That would mean that a just refilled pool, like this one, would tend to grow algae very easily. I'd guess that mustard algae, which prefers shade, as well as green algae, which requires sunlight, would both occur as water temperatures got to their liking. What I don't know, is whether without some living thing to use up the nitrates, if they eventually decay or if they stay in the water, or if chlorine eventually breaks that down somehow.

Now, all that said, understand that I am really "reaching" with this, that is theorizing without much fact, so I hope that someone who can shed more light on these ideas can comment.