Torrential Downpour and Mustard Algae

[Cherie]

Can rain deliver mustard algae? If not, then I'm now 100% convinced that what we have had since last summer is not MA. We just had some really nasty storms last night and a this morning. I went out to drain and bleach the pool (didn't have any bleach last night for regular treatment) just now and found the exact poofy stuff on our newly installed solar cover :-D . It poofs away just by swishing the water, just like in the pool. And there's a TON of it all over our cover now.

 

[reebok]

is it pollen? pictures?

 

[257WbyMag]

Without hearing what your testing numbers are, I am putting my money on that it is pollen and west central Texas dust that was hauled in by those storms from the last 24 hours. I've got it in my pool over here in Flower Mound and I know for a fact that what I am seeing in my pool is not algae.

We got 6 inches of rain at my house. Pool looked like a blue diamond yesterday at 1:00 p.m. Now, it looks like a mess.

 

[Cherie]

My numbers at the END of each day prior to bleach/brush maintenance are:

FC: 2
CC: 0
pH: 7.4 - 7.5
TA: 60
CYA: 20
TH: (I don't test for)

I add 1qt of 10% each evening after sundown and run my pump 24/7 (low speed) and rarely need to add anything else - occasionally a cup or less of muriatic acid.

I can't get good pictures of it, but if you'll look at all the pictures folks have posted on this site of what they perceive to be MA, that's exactly what we have in our pool - and now on top of our solar cover. We've never had a cover on our pool until this week. We've tusseled with the idea of a MA shock, but don't really want to to it unless it's really MA - and we're not convinced yet that it is. It's not nearly so bothersome now that we have an Aquabot Turbo that picks it up and retains it in the botbag.

Hopefully, the picture I've attached will come out a little better.

 

[JasonLion]

What you describe sounds like pollen. Pollen is often mistaken for mustard algae.

 

[Cherie]

Yeh, that's what I'm thinking now too. I did the microscope thing on it last summer and it didn't appear to be MA. And when I would vacuum (last summer) and turn the pump off overnight, the pool stayed nice and clean for as long as I left the pump off and when I turned it back on, the stuff was right back in there. But with the robotic, it stays in the bag. There's stuff floating on the water and sure enough, after a few days, it shows back up on the pool floor. So I think we'll go with the pollen theory and just keep using Roscoe and eventually get a cover on it except for when we want to swim!

Problem solved! Thanks all...