My first year with a pool, everything went great during the peak summer when we used it almost daily. Now the weather is cooling and I cannot seem to get rid of some kind of algae, it formed around the edges on the bottom mostly and when I would brush it it seemed like a mushroom cloud, a faint poof, and then it would go away and eventually come back in a week or so, I have been keeping my chlorine up higher this week and running the pump 24 ,7 and I seen a small amount come back but not nearly as much. ....so I have that problem and I also see these little black dots on the pool bottom in certain places, they will not brush off , at least not with the long handle brush and they are about the size of maybe 1/8 inch round, I am attaching zoomed in pics of these, I am not sure if this is algae or not, nor am I quite sure how to get rid of the other algae problem I was having and still am to an extent, I would love for it to be completely gone. Thanks in advance
I need help! Not sure what's going on
- Thread starter titocash
- Start date
Hi titocash— I am not the one to answer your question but I do know before anyone can help they will need a full list of your chemistry results obtained with a good test kit like the TF-100 that you can purchase from the TFP website. They will need results for Free Chlorine (FC) Combined Chlorine (CC) pH, Total Alkalinity (TA) , Calcium Hardness(CH) and Cyanuric Acid (CYA). This is my first season with TFP and the protocols worked if you do all they recommend—it will save you money too. They will likely want information about your pool too, like the size/depth, inground or above ground, vinyl or plaster, filter type etc. it will save you some time if they have all this info (hopefully I didn’t forget anything!)
I do have the size, depth, etc. On my signature above, I have a taylor fas dpd test kit, recent results are
Fc 9
Cc .5 or less
Alkalinity 100
I checked cya about a month ago, it was not even 30 so I added some pucks to try and raise it some. ....I honestly do not know the calcium numbers, I would have to get back with that one
Fc 9
Cc .5 or less
Alkalinity 100
I checked cya about a month ago, it was not even 30 so I added some pucks to try and raise it some. ....I honestly do not know the calcium numbers, I would have to get back with that one
- May 3, 2014
- 58,276
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Welcome to the forum!
The black dots look really uniform. Can you get in the pool and see if you can remove them with your finger? Definitely do not look organic.
For what sounds like dead algae, I would suggest doing a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test tonight. Your FC of 9 is good for that.
If your CYA is that low, how are you keeping a high FC? Adding bleach every day? If you have been using pucks for awhile, it is likely your CYA is higher. Do you test pH?
Take care.
The black dots look really uniform. Can you get in the pool and see if you can remove them with your finger? Definitely do not look organic.
For what sounds like dead algae, I would suggest doing a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test tonight. Your FC of 9 is good for that.
If your CYA is that low, how are you keeping a high FC? Adding bleach every day? If you have been using pucks for awhile, it is likely your CYA is higher. Do you test pH?
Take care.
I did an edit on your siggy to make it easier for us to know your pool info at a glance.
When you test please do the PH test as well as that is a very important one for pools.
CH is not really important with you having a vinyl pool unless you have a heater. Some heaters have a requirement of ?? CH for warranty purposes.
I would like to see you do a OCLT as seen here:
Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
That will help rule out somethings.
You can also use a turkey baster to suck up some of the stuff on the bottom. Squirt it out into a colander with a paper towel on the bottom and let it dry. Take and share a pic of it.
Kim
When you test please do the PH test as well as that is a very important one for pools.
CH is not really important with you having a vinyl pool unless you have a heater. Some heaters have a requirement of ?? CH for warranty purposes.
I would like to see you do a OCLT as seen here:
Pool School - Perform the Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)
That will help rule out somethings.
You can also use a turkey baster to suck up some of the stuff on the bottom. Squirt it out into a colander with a paper towel on the bottom and let it dry. Take and share a pic of it.
Kim
Thanks guys, while this had been going on I did an overnight test at one time about 3 days ago, it went down 1 ppm
My Ph is pretty consistent at 7.6, I can recheck that tomorrow as I will be back in town
My Ph is pretty consistent at 7.6, I can recheck that tomorrow as I will be back in town
I also agree on the uniformity of the fits, I well have to see if I can remove one with my finger nail maybe that will help me to know what that part of the equation is, then hourly I can stop the other algae from coming back, it seems if I clean it, it come back around the edges and works is way toward the middle. .....maybe a circulation thing? I adjusted my jet a little more downward
- May 3, 2014
- 58,276
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Remember, algae is not a filtering problem, it is a chemistry problem. It can be enhanced by poor circulation.
With a OCLT right at one ppm drop, you could have a low level algae issue. A quick run to FC shock levels with maintaining that FC for a few days with frequent brushing should solve things. You do need a new, accurate, CYA test.
Take care.
With a OCLT right at one ppm drop, you could have a low level algae issue. A quick run to FC shock levels with maintaining that FC for a few days with frequent brushing should solve things. You do need a new, accurate, CYA test.
Take care.
Thank you so much, I am back in town now, I will try and get the cya results up, and then try to keep the fc up if we think that will help, I wad kind of doing that for the last week, but I was only up to around 12 at the highest