New Salt Water Pool Owner with some Algae

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W

whitlecj

0
Jul 12, 2016
35
Prosperity, SC
Put my pool in at the end of last summer and followed TFP and everything has gone great up to this point. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a little bit of algae on one side of the pool, brushed it off and thought nothing else of it. I work out of town during the week so big changes can happen from Sunday to Friday. Anyway, fast forward to yesterday, I got home and algae was pretty much all over the pool. Not really bad but noticeable. Here is a link to some pics.

Shared album - Chris W - Google Photos


Here were my water test results from last week.

Ph - 7.6
Ta - 70
Ch - 50
Cya - 90
Fc - 1
Combined - chlorine -1

I noticed the the FC was low so I cranked up the SWG and the FC today was at 3. I have cranked the SWG up a bit more to try and get it to 4 which I believe is recommended.

I am assuming now I need to shock the pool. Does that mean I need to add bleach to get the FC to 35? That would be about 10 gallons of bleach according to PoolMath. Is bleach the best way to go or should I just go buy some shock at Lowes? My daughter has some friends coming over tonight so I am planning to wait until at least tomorrow before I shock it but then I leave to go out of town again on Monday, is that a problem? Next week I can be home Thursday night through Sunday so I may be better off waiting until then but don't know? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
whitlecj said:
But it is going to take few days correct? So I shouldn't start it until I have 3- 4 days at home right?
Click to expand...
Yes. I think the fastest I've ever seen a green pool get cleared was three days, but that guy was obsessed and set his alarm and got up every two hours through the night to brush, bleach, and backwash. Most take roughly a week. Less if it's just a few patches with otherwise clear water, more if it's opaque green. Total sludge takes a lot longer, as you can probably guess.

That being said, don't just turn your back on things until you can do it right. The algae will continue to grow while you wait, especially as the water warms and the days get longer. So if you're home even a few minutes, bring it up to shock level to hold things at bay. To paraphrase Ben Franklin: a jug in time saves nine.
 
Yeah, I totally agree with 320. I would brush up that algae into the pool water and have the FC up around 35 (according to the FC/CYA charts in Pool School).

Doing that when you can will give you a good head start on SLAMing the pool on Thursday when you can be around.
 
I would get to work on it immediately, even if you are only going to be home a day or two. You should get some bleach in, the FC up to shock level and brush the pool thoroughly. Under the right conditions things can go south very fast. Something that might only take a couple days right now can turn into a job that will take a couple weeks practically overnight.

Is your SWG working correctly and has the FC level came up a little? Has the cell been cleaned and the salinity confirmed? Maybe you need to increase pump run time? Your FC was extremely low at 1 and you have a CYA of 90. You should have been maintaining continually up in the range of about 6-7.

Is FC low because the SWG isn't working right, or is the algae consumption beginning to outpace the SWG?

Only testing and monitoring the condition can help you decide.

The pool is safe to swim all the way up to shock level, I would definitely get it there today.
 
whitlecj said:
Put my pool in at the end of last summer and followed TFP and everything has gone great up to this point. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a little bit of algae on one side of the pool, brushed it off and thought nothing else of it. I work out of town during the week so big changes can happen from Sunday to Friday. Anyway, fast forward to yesterday, I got home and algae was pretty much all over the pool. Not really bad but noticeable. Here is a link to some pics.

Shared album - Chris W - Google Photos
Click to expand...

Any chance that could be pollen instead of algae? I had similar stuff i just brushed off a few days ago...FC 4.5, CYA 60, and CC 0 now. I just assumed it was pollen which has gotten so bad outside that it chokes you.

Edit...after actually reading the rest i guess it is algae :(
 
Thanks for all the comments. I am going to slam it this evening. Went and picked up the chlorine today.

SWG is working correctly. I think what happened was I had turned it down some over the winter and was only running it 4 to 5 hours a day to maintain FC levels. It warmed up real fast in SC and I never increased the runtime or SWG to the appropriate levels. Totally my fault. I cranked it up to 100% yesterday and ran it about 8 hours and my FC was at 7 this morning. I also rechecked my CYA and it is really in the 50 to 60 range.

Going to slam this evening when it cools off and check in the morning and tomorrow afternoon before you out of town.

I don't think it is pollen because most of our pollen is done here.

Ultimately I see I am too to need to pay more attention during the changing of the seasons in terms of runtime and SWG %. The pool was on cruise control last summer and fall so I didn't monitor it as well as I should have.
 

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