new guy trying to balance his water chemistry

[brroyle]

I just recently decided to start taking care of my own pool and have spent some time looking over the TFP site. Hopefully I have followed the directions for posting correctly so I can get some good feed back without looking like to much of a newbie. Here goes,...... A few days ago I noticed that some small patches of "green fuzz" were collecting in the corners of my pool on the grout between tiles just above the water line. Additionally, There are two water fountains which are platter shaped and filled with loose stones. The platters fill will water and overflow back into the pool. Around the loose stones in the fountains a green film has built up. When I brush the pool I do not notice any algae in pool but there does seem to be a light later of dust/dirt. I also notice some calcium deposits (white barnacle looking stuff) on the metal copings in the pool. My question is this, do I need to SLAM my pool? Where do I start to balance the water, get rid of the Ca+ deposits and the say bye bye to the algae????? Details about my pool below.

25,000 gallon IG pebble tech pool with DE filter and variable speed pump built 2.5 years ago. According to Taylor Test kit K-2006 chemicals are as follows:
FC= 4.5 ppm
pH= 7.4
TA= 60
CH= 210
CYA= 60

 

[needsajet]

Great first post. Welcome to TFP! Good to have you here

Sounds like you know you'll need to kill those little algae farms. It would bleach the rocks and/or sides/bottom, and I don't know what other fixtures are in with those stones, but I would dribble some strong bleach solution in there, maybe 1/2 cup of 1%.

An OCLT can tell you if you need to SLAM as well. Kill algae. Kill it real good.
Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)

Thanks for doing your research! It's great that you've gotten up to speed from the well-written and concise articles. I bet the authors who put the time into them really appreciate it too.

In terms of chemistry, your water doesn't look currently scaly to me. Does it look like any of the pictures in this thread?
Calcium Nodules in pools

 

[brroyle]

Thanks for the advice, I performed the OCLT last night and no FC was lost. The calcium build up that I have doesnt look like anything in those pics. It looks like rock salt but it has only formed on the little metal copings on outside corners of the pool.

 

[needsajet]

You have seen algae in the pool, which is one of the other triggers for a SLAM. Also the source from the water features.

Maybe post pictures of the scale on the metal coping.

Also, please add a signature with your pool details. There's instructions for how to do it in "read before posting", linked in my signature.