Is this algae or ?

[Erinhatesfun]

Hello! my boyfriend and I moved into a house with an indoor pool and we have no knowledge about pools (so I’m not sure if this is the right thread as opposed to “new to pools”). As it would turn out, our small small town doesn’t even have a gat dang pool service place we can call, so I’m looking for a little help. The previous owners didn’t really do too much in the way of pool maintenance other than running the pump and getting the levels normal every so often.


The pool originally just looked like it needed a new paint job (cement walls and floor) looked scuzzy, but didn’t look like algae and wasn’t slimy (cleaner looking pic)
We chlorinated it and thought we had the levels ok, but inevitably needed to “shock” the pool after the chlorine levels wouldn’t come to a normal level.
Then we ended up with “chlorine lock” and the levels wouldn’t go back down.
So we drained 1/4 of the pool and filled it back up.
After we did this we noticed that a bunch of brown grime appeared in the deep end (gross looking picture) I’m thinking it’s mustard algae that got rustled by all the chlorine and new water?
Other picture is our levels now.

Any suggestions would be great. Internet is saying don’t vacuum it (we bought a new vacuum) because it could contaminate our vacuum.

 

[Trevor916]

Invest in a full water chemistry testing kit ASAP, I personally use a TF-100 and it helped answer many questions I had when we became first time pool owners this year. I'm not experienced enough to give advice on your possible algae situation, but the members who are will need to know your current levels to give the best possible guidance.

Good luck

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
Please fill our your signature. Be sure to state Indoor Pool in it. That fact effects your chemistry levels. Focus on getting us all the equipment names, model numbers, etc.
Could be mustard algae. But there is a process to eliminate it.
Get your TF100, Speedstir, XL upgrade and we can go from there.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Erinhatesfun]

Welcome to the forum!
Please fill our your signature. Be sure to state Indoor Pool in it. That fact effects your chemistry levels. Focus on getting us all the equipment names, model numbers, etc.
Could be mustard algae. But there is a process to eliminate it.
Get your TF100, Speedstir, XL upgrade and we can go from there.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Thanks! I will work on getting all of the above info. So far all I know about it is that it is an indoor pool ahaha.

 

[mknauss]

I also just modified your Location realizing you are in Canada. That makes getting a proper test kit more problematic.
See this for ideas on getting a test kit.

Yet another, Test Kits in Canada Thread

Oh yes... another thread for all us Canadians! Long winded post here. After spending a lot of time reading how important it is to test your own water (no test strips....and not pool store testing), I decided it was time to get myself a test kit. This is my third summer owning the pool. I wanna...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Erinhatesfun]

I also just modified your Location realizing you are in Canada. That makes getting a proper test kit more problematic.
See this for ideas on getting a test kit.

Yet another, Test Kits in Canada Thread

Oh yes... another thread for all us Canadians! Long winded post here. After spending a lot of time reading how important it is to test your own water (no test strips....and not pool store testing), I decided it was time to get myself a test kit. This is my third summer owning the pool. I wanna...

www.troublefreepool.com

thank you and even more so in the city I’m in. Takes two ferries to get to my town and it’s not a very big city, so there really isn’t much in the way of help that a big city would have!