Is This Live Algae or Dead?

[Ricke]

Been fighting yellow algae. I will confess I wasn’t following SLAM. I used YollowOut. Trying to figure out if this is alive! Only lost .5 FC overnight and this stuff seems to accumulate faster than the algae was growing.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Looks live to me, but either way you have a chemistry problem if you've even had algae that looks dying. That stuff often can reproduce faster than you can kill it with pool store potions. YellowOut is a horrible thing to add as it usually contains aluminum which will eat up your chlorine, or it may contain Bromine which you don't want to use in a *chlorine* pool.

Lets talk about how you sanitize your pool... got some test results?
We need to know:
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Salt Level if applicable

Maddie

 

[Ricke]

Thanks for the advice! My chemistry is: FC-8 CC-0 PH-7.6 TA-80(when I checked a few weeks ago) CH-need to recheck CYA-50 (maybe a little lower, reading TFP instructions for testing with Sun at my back would probably lower the number)

I’m going to follow SLAM. I’m trying to decide if I should move to shock FC levels.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Well,. a SLAM Process is that you take it to Shock Level and *MAINTAIN* that level until 3 elements can be passed:
1) Pool water entirely clear
2) CC's are 0.5 or less
3) You pass an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test (OCLT) which proves no living algae remains
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

You will need to test the pool water at least 3x/day and using PoolMath to guide you, you will add liquid chlorine as needed to return the FC up to Shock Level.

Assume your CYA is 50 just to be on the safe side.

 

[PoolStored]

reading TFP instructions for testing with Sun at my back would probably lower the number)

Test outside, sun at your back, vial at your waist in the shade of your body. Your number will likely be HIGHER. The sunlight enhances the turbidity...

Confirm this as your SLAM level FC may in fact be higher than you think...

 

[Ricke]

Following up on this. First, thank you all for the help! The algae was most certainly alive! I think I was tricked by the color. Algae was a light tan color with no real yellow or green hue. I followed SLAM for about a week with FC above 20 and finally passed all three tests. I got really practiced at scrubbing. 1ppm overnight FC loss was the last to go. Then I did the super shock up to 30ppm suggested in the mustard algae post. Seems to be clear now 3days later. FC is still coming down to earth. I’m going to do another overnight FC loss test to be sure we’re good.