My pool has had a persistent mustard algae infestation for over a year. I've tried many treatments, including Yellow Out, Yellow Treat, phosphate remover, and shocking to no avail. I was even hopeful that it might die off over the winter under an opaque cover, but no luck there. Every time I used a 'Yellow' treatment it would make it go away for a few days only to return again. I even tried multiple concurrent treatments to try to finish it off. Eventually, I gave up trying to eradicate it and I would brush and vacuum frequently to keep it from getting out of control. I have not had a steady FC level in a long time.
So far this year I have done one yellow treatment, and 3 rounds of phosphate remover to get that level down. I even took a sample in last week for a chlorine demand test. They recommended 37 lbs of Burn Out 3 shock. I did not follow that advice because I was afraid the resultant 73 FC level could cause problems. But I have heavily shocked the last 3 evenings. From reading posts on this forum I recently purchased a TFT-100 test kit and it arrived yesterday. The first evening I put in 20 182-oz.bottles of bleach. The second evening I did the same. Both times the FC was back to zero by late afternoon. Last night I put in 6 bottles (running out of bleach) and its back down to zero FC now. I have also been brushing or vacuuming daily. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed - how much to shock and how often. Plus any other advice for a semi-desperate pool owner who thinks the light at the end of the tunnel is most likely an oncoming train.
Here are my vitals:
FC 0
CC 0.5
CYA 50
TA 130
pH 7.5
CH 220
So far this year I have done one yellow treatment, and 3 rounds of phosphate remover to get that level down. I even took a sample in last week for a chlorine demand test. They recommended 37 lbs of Burn Out 3 shock. I did not follow that advice because I was afraid the resultant 73 FC level could cause problems. But I have heavily shocked the last 3 evenings. From reading posts on this forum I recently purchased a TFT-100 test kit and it arrived yesterday. The first evening I put in 20 182-oz.bottles of bleach. The second evening I did the same. Both times the FC was back to zero by late afternoon. Last night I put in 6 bottles (running out of bleach) and its back down to zero FC now. I have also been brushing or vacuuming daily. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed - how much to shock and how often. Plus any other advice for a semi-desperate pool owner who thinks the light at the end of the tunnel is most likely an oncoming train.
Here are my vitals:
FC 0
CC 0.5
CYA 50
TA 130
pH 7.5
CH 220