Algae problems

[Concho]

Hi all,

I've been trying to help my dad out with his pool....his water was constantly cloudy...so I had him shock several weeks ago until we passed all the steps. Talked to him last night and he said water is cloudy again and small areas of algae forming on the walls. I looked at the records he has been keeping...his chlorine was normally between 3-6....I did see a couple of times where it dropped into that 1.5-2 range. PH is usually in the 7.2-7.3 range. CH was 350. CYA was 30-35. TA was 120. He uses trichlor in his skimmer....and throws in about 7-8 pounds of Cal-hypo every couple of weeks. He also throws in some algae inhibitor( some Bioguard product) every week. His pool is about 35,000 gallons plaster surface, sand filter, 4 returns. I t seems like he is always getting the patches of algae on the walls and cloudy water. I've tried to steer him to TFP but he's kind of stubborn. I told him to keep his FC above 5 for awhile. The circulation in his pool seems to be rather low. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[Richard320]

Low circulation could be a clogged filter. Which wouldn't be surprising if he keeps growing algae. You might also see about re-aiming the return jets to eliminate the dead spots where the algae grows.

Otherwise it's just a waiting game. He'll see your clear pool and his swamp and decide to try your way.

And I feel weird even suggesting this, but if he's a pool-store-strategy kind of guy with the weekly shock treatment, maybe phosphate remover would be a good idea for him. If he won't keep the FC up high enough to kill the algae, maybe you can starve it out.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I hate to contridict Richard but I don't believe adding phosphate remover is going to help his problem. If he ever starts that he'll spend a fortune in remover and still won't have taken control of his pool. I'd try real hard to convince him the correct way to maintain his pool. That's the best thing you can do for him.

 

[rjproulx]

Does it seem odd to anyone else that his CYA is only 30-35 yet he's been using Trichlor for who knows how many years?

Concho, does he remove water annually to offset the CYA buildup? Any idea how he came up with that 30-35 number? I wonder if maybe his CYA is super high and as a result, his chlorine just isn't as effective. According to pool school, too much Cal Hypo can increase calcium which can cause cloudiness as well.

Maybe show him this: pool-school/types_chlorine_pool

 

[frogabog]

Dads can be the most difficult of difficult to impress things like TFP on sometimes... There's no good answer to convincing a parent of much of anything, just like kids... probably do the opposite for a long time till they decide to give in and allow their kid might know a better way.

Sigh... Oh, and it's very likely that falling below minimum is what set him back and allowed algae to re-grow.

 

[RobbieH]

I can't get my dad to fix his pool. He says some algae on the steps is normal. As long as the water is clear...

 

[Vette]

If he won't change, Phosphate remover is the way to go. It's either that or he'll end up using algaecides, and probably copper based ones at that.

 

[frogabog]

You can always try the Grandpa quick fix route...

"My children will not be swimming in your pool until it's clean and safe Dad. Sorry, but that's my rule."

 

[Vette]

Print out some of the essential parts of Pool School such as ABCs of Pool Chemistry. Paste into Word and do some editing to make it shorter and leave a copy somewhere noticeable in his house. The reason you want to make it shorter is he may ignore it if he sees a big wall of text. I'd only give him the part about chlorine.

 

[Concho]

I bought him his own test kit....which he is actually trying to use....so he is giving it a little effort....I thought the same thing about the CYA several weeks ago, but I tested it myself several times and it was in the 20-30 range....he said he tested it last night and got around 60....I tested to about 30 yesterday morning.....I'm gonna test it again today....I suppose if it's closer to 60 and he's keeping his FC at 3-6...that could be part of the problem. Not sure when he's gonna give up on the algae preventative...you'd think he'd figure out that it's not doing what he thinks it does.