Black Algae, Wire Brush, New Plaster

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Thanks Yak!!! That's excellent info!
edjanowsky said:
This afternoon I added a quart of muriatic and installed the new IC60. It appears to be functioning properly.

This evening's readings are as follows.

FC 7
CC 0
pH 7.0

I set it to 60%. We'll see what the FC reading is in the morning.
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This morning's readings are as follows.

FC 8.5
CC 0
pH 7.3

I didn't add a darn thing. YEEHAW!!!:D I'll check it again after lunch and report.
 
Reminder SWG are great at maintaining FC, but not so great at increasing FC. If you find that your FC is running low, increase FC using liquid chlorine and then increase the % and/or run time of the SWG. You may find with a that your weekend FC consumption is higher than the weekday FC consumption, so you might be supplementing more on the weekends.
 
Thanks kcindc! FC went up overnight, but of course that was without any sun or bathing load. However I did get the IC60 for my 15,000 gallon pool, and I only had it set to 60%. So I'm hoping that extra 40% will be enough to keep up as necessary. We shall see. I'll be watching it carefully for awhile though.
 
Things are looking up! If your CYA is still 90 (by the way, did you confirm that via step 8) what FC are you using as your target? If you still have actively visible black algae, you may need to keep your target FC higher than what the best guess charts suggest or risk the problem getting worse - I'm not an expert on that, and others would know better and/or perhaps there are threads about it - just sharing a thought at the moment.
 
I've been aiming for FC10,however I still don't have enough experience to trust my eyes on that CYA test. I'm not seeing any algae but there we are with the eyes again.Though I definitely didn't have any trouble seeing the BA when this thread started. Maybe I'll try the CYA test again this afternoon. It's so subjective to how closely you want to look for that darn dot. I mean I can see it if I look as opposed to the glancing recommendation.
 
edjanowsky said:
I've been aiming for FC10,however I still don't have enough experience to trust my eyes on that CYA test. I'm not seeing any algae but there we are with the eyes again.Though I definitely didn't have any trouble seeing the BA when this thread started. Maybe I'll try the CYA test again this afternoon. It's so subjective to how closely you want to look for that darn dot. I mean I can see it if I look as opposed to the glancing recommendation.
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If you have having trouble, you can buy a solution that is the equivalent of CYA=50. You can pour this solution back and forth, just below 50, right at 50 and just above 50 to see how the dot looks. You can even put it pour it back into the original bottle for future use. TFTestkits.net
 
Standard solution is something I was initially skeptical about, but have read many success stories where it was well worth their small investment in it - and if anyone is unsure of their CYA testing abilities, it is a great option in my opinion!

Another option is to recruit another pair of eyes (not a tenant) to the CYA test that knows nothing about the test and just ask them if they see the black dot clearly still or not anymore.
 
edjanowsky said:
Thanks Yak!!! That's excellent info!

This morning's readings are as follows.

FC 8.5
CC 0
pH 7.3

I didn't add a darn thing. YEEHAW!!!:D I'll check it again after lunch and report.
Click to expand...

This afternoon's readings are as follows.

FC 7
CC 0
pH 7.35
CYA 70? - I can barely see the dot at 80 but I can not see it at 70.

So far today, there's been an extremely light bathing load so I'm bumping it up to 100% for now since the FC dropped. I'm curious to see if the IC60 can raise the FC.

Afterthought edit: Well I already know the IC60 can raise the FC. It went from 7 to 8.5 overnight at 60%. I think I'll cut it back from 100% to 80% and check the reading in the morning. Hopefully I'll be back to or above 8.5.
 
Reminder - there are two factors in play - run time and %. Depending on energy cost and cell cost - it can often be more advantageous to increase run time rather than %.

Also, do you have a way to check your salt level other than SWG reading? If not, I've heard good things about the strips (Yes, strips that work, who knew?) and drop test sold here.
 

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I've been running the pump 24/7, because the pool is considered commercial. So my only option to increase without chlorine is %.

A couple mornings ago, after a considerable amount of rain, the add salt light was red on the 4.5 month old IC20. I added a bag of salt yesterday morning and the light was green by afternoon. I installed the IC60 yesterday afternoon and the salt light remains green. I have been relying on the idiot lights and the PS to measure salt.

Considering the commercial factor, does it seem right to be aiming for FC 10 with CYA at 70? Should I be raising the CYA to perhaps 90 to help the SWG keep up?
 
CYA test (oh how I hate this test)..................GLANCE in to see the dot.....do NOT look for it or you will end up seeing it :roll: I pour from line to line.....Pour to 100, GLANCE in. If you see the dot move to next line, GLANCE in, keep doing this until you cannot see the dot at a GLANCE!!! I have found doing this saves my sanity!

Kim:kim:
 
chem geek said:
Definitely keep a minimum of 3 ppm FC. Most users with SWG systems even with a CYA of 70-80 ppm are able to keep clear pools with 3 ppm FC. Some SWG users got green algae when their FC was only at 1-2 ppm. The extra superchlorination in the cell helps to kill free-floating algae. That won't help algae stuck on surfaces, but with regular brushing 3 ppm FC should be fine. If it's not, you can always move up to 5-6 ppm FC which should be enough to keep away even mustard/yellow algae in an SWG pool.
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TLDR: Don't go above CYA 80. Benefits would be far less than the disadvantages.

Scientific wording aside, as I understand it, your IC60's goal isn't to raise FC for you, it is to be exceptional at maintaining FC (by covering average losses plus .5 or 1FC). Your goal is to bleach up to target then adjust % to the value that keeps it there. I suppose you could instead shoot for a daily surplus, say raises 1FC per average day, to give yourself a buffer. Out of my expertise. I know you're in the getting to know you phase, and that's totally cool, and kudos for dropping to 80% first.

Looking forward to seeing where you end up, given 24 hour filter run time, could be a pretty low percent.
 
This morning's readings are as follows.

FC 5.5 (up from last night's 5.0, but down from yesterday morning's 7.5)
CC 0
pH 7.6

- - - Updated - - -

Caution is good with me and I don't see the drawback of maintaining a higher FC level. 5 seems right. A little surplus buffer can't hurt, and especially considering the commercial aspect.

However, it's starting to appear as if 80% can't keep up. I'll let it run at that level for one more day before considering a change to 100%.
 
I'm not sure why some have issues keeping FC up with their SWG? We have an IC40 on our 26000 gallon pool and it will keep FC at 8+ while only being on the 3rd setting. Turn it all the way up and it will stay over 10ppm. Makes me wonder if people's salt level is on the lower side or the SWG need a good acid soaking. Or maybe people are not running it long enough? We run ours at 2000rpm 24/7. We absolutely hate a dirty pool and if we don't run it all the time we go to get in and the water surface is full of pollen and bugs so we keep it running at a low setting 24/7 and our FC stays up and the water is always clean. It's using less energy at 2000rpm than my PC uses. I will gladly pay a little more for electricity to keep the pool spotless. Actually I was in last night (super hot here right now) to test out the lights. The lights attract a ton of beetles!

https://youtu.be/1CBeJI1w-1k
 

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