The dusty piles return again…

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pfitz4

pfitz4

Bronze Supporter
Feb 26, 2018
85
North Alabama
This seems to happen every spring when I open the pool. I remove the cover, the water is green, I start the SLAM process, the water clears, and no matter what I have dusty patches on the floor of the pool for weeks. I’ve never been able to tell if it’s algae, dead algae, pollen, dirt etc.

I took the cover off April 1 so I’ve been working on this for a few weeks, but really tried to hit it hard for the past week. It is pollen season here, but the yellow pollen has passed it’s peak, and I’m still getting the sediment on the bottom of the pool. I’ve maintained SLAM level (FC of 12 or higher, CYA 30) for the past week and I’ve been running the pump 24 hrs a day, brushing and running my Polaris for a few hours a day. I’ve never had much luck manually vacuuming the dusty piles - they seem to poof and disappear rather than actually get vacuumed up. I also use hairnets in the skimmer baskets to try and catch the finer sediment. But the sediment returns every day in patches on the bottom of the pool and along the seams of the liner.

I plan to continue the SLAM process in hopes of seeing improvement. But I don't want to delay adding CYA too much longer now that the days are sunnier. What am I missing?

FC 12
CYA 30
CC 0
TA 70
Ph 7.5
temp 64
 

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To me that looks like dead algae. Have you done an OCLT? Have you removed any ladders and scrubbed those out? What about lights? Can any of those be removed and cleaned?
 
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I plan on doing an OCLT tonight. I'll post the results in the morning.

My pool is very open, so there's not really any places for algae to hide. No lights, haven't installed the ladder yet, and I've checked the skimmers.

There's quite a lot of this sediment. When I first check the pool each morning, there are scattered piles all over the shallow end and along the creases of the deep end. The water is incredibly clear otherwise, so this amount of dead algae would seem very strange. But I agree that it looks and poofs like you'd expect dead algae to do.
 
Passed OCLT. FC reading was 12 at 9pm last night and 11.5 at 6:30 am this morning. Dusty piles returned again this morning after brushing and using the Polaris yesterday. (The dusty sediment begins re-settling within hours of brushing, and by the next morning they are back fully.) I attached a closeup of the sediment on the steps. It forms dusty piles in the shallow end floor and the corners/seams on the deep end. Brushes away immediately. The water looks sparkly clear otherwise. I’ve been at SLAM level for about 5 days.

Do I keep going with the SLAM or let the FC drift down and see what happens?
 

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Ok, so OCLT passed - great! and 0 CC.
As it sits like that, it looks like dirt. I should go outside and take a picture of my steps and you'll see the same dirt!! And it's not sand from your filter, is it? Can you touch it on the steps?

I am curious though about your CYA level at 30. Did you drain and refill to get CYA down to that level for SLAM? With a SWG, CYA should be between 70-90

1650565090570.png
 
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Thanks for your input! Yes, it feels gritty but it poofs away so it's likely not sand. I've had the same problem every spring so I am going to assume it is a combination of pollen, dirt, and leftover dead algae. There's quite a bit of sediment in the pool - in the mornings there's usually what looks to be 1/4 cup (or more) piled up in the lowest corner of the deep end, and then piles scattered across the bottom of the pool. Hopefully continual brushing, Polaris, and filtering will get rid of it.

My CYA is so low because I opened the pool April 1 and haven't adjusted it yet. We got a lot of rain over the winter. My salt level went from 3000 at pool closing in November, to 1500 at opening in April! I wanted to wait and see how the SLAM process went after opening before adding more CYA. Do you think it's fine to go ahead and start adding the CYA now?
 
I'm not sure about your pool setup but we have boring old concrete around the pool and even just walking on it in bare feet I can feel the grit so I imagine that's what in my pool normally but the robot usually gets it. These are my pool steps currently - I brush it off and on to the floor every day so the robot can get it but it's always back. FWIW, I think you're ok to start bumping up CYA but I'm sure others will be along if there's a differing opinion!

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