Every morning I go out to my pool and find what looks like dirt lying in puddles on the bopttom of the pool. Seems to collect more near the filter end of the pool. I left my pool open all winter (we really had no winter in South Carolina) and ran my rover weekly. At the end of the swimming season last year I noticed this problem and vacuumed/scrubbed daily, and even vacuumed to waste but did not solve my problem. So here we are back to the puddles of what lloks like brown dirt. I have added a sock around the rim of my fliter basket in hopes that this may help. Any suggestions u all may provide would be greatly appreciated. Last water test was FC/5, PH/7.4, TA/100 CYA/90.
HELP! Dirt Problem?
- Thread starter kmgambino11
- Start date
Your chlorine is too low for a CYA of 90ppm, so you are constantly seeing dead algae on the bottom. Raise your FCC to 10ppm and keep it there and you should find the pool stays a lot cleaner.
Chlorine CYA Chart
Chlorine CYA Chart
A frequently posted problem, your issue could easily be you are killing algae in your pool and what you see are the dead "bodies".
A good indicator is if you can pick up some of the dirt between your thumb and forfinger and roll it to see if it is slimey or gritty.
Gritty is dirt but slimey is dead algae.
With your CYA being too high, (it should be around 50ppm) the chlorine in your pool is not nearly as effective and may be letting some algae slip in there.
Solutions?
Gritty = Mechanical removal. Brush it up into suspension, manually vacuum it into your filter, etc.
Slimey = You need to start the shock process and consider lowering your CYA first.
A good indicator is if you can pick up some of the dirt between your thumb and forfinger and roll it to see if it is slimey or gritty.
Gritty is dirt but slimey is dead algae.
With your CYA being too high, (it should be around 50ppm) the chlorine in your pool is not nearly as effective and may be letting some algae slip in there.
Solutions?
Gritty = Mechanical removal. Brush it up into suspension, manually vacuum it into your filter, etc.
Slimey = You need to start the shock process and consider lowering your CYA first.
Thanks for the advice. I will try raising my FC to 10 for a couple of weeks, vacuum and brush often and see if this helps. As far as lowering CYA this can only be done with partial drain, is this correct? I have had lots of fresh water added to the pool with a partial drain and lots of rain. Just would hate to perform another 1/2 pool drain to fight this never ending problem.
Sounds like you are chlorinating with pucks or Cal Hypo. Use Liquid chlorine instead and it will end your high CYA issues as you replace water.
I used pucks last year and been using bleach since Feb when the partial drain was done. I am only going to use bleach and m/acid when needed to treat my pool. As I have learned from the pool gods on this site stay away from the money horders at the pool store 