Had a present when I got back from 1 week vacation

[Rick Lohr]

High water level over top of the skimmer.
Green algae mucky enough I can't see bottom.

I expected that my chemicals were off a bit due to the rain, but they are pretty close:

FC 5 ( a bit higher than norm, but I turned up my SWG a bit to be safe while I was gone)
CC 0
TC 5
pH 7.8 (up from 7.5 when I left)
TA 80
CH 90
CYA 57 ( a bit low, I normally shoot for 75, it was a bit low before I left as well )
SALT 3200
TEMP 85

I lowered my pH and put in bleach to get the FC up to 18 which is my shock level.

My question is why did I get the algae? Did the high water over the skimmer allow water to stagnate or something? What am I missing? This is my first year on chlorine so I'm a bit new to this.

Thanks
Rick

 

[linen]

Your test numbers look okay. All I can think of is at some point while you were gone the swg did not keep up and your FC dropped below the minimum.

Having water over the top of the skimmer opening only messes up surface skimming (debris, leaves, etc. on surface), it should not have caused your algae.

 

[Richard320]

Is there any way that a planter or the lawn could overflow into the pool in a severe downpour? A load of organic debris perhaps spiced with lawn fertilizer could overwhelm things.

 

[J20832]

Power outage? Wondering if the pool was stagnant for some extended period of time? Seems like every time it rains around here (DC area) someone loses power...

 

[Rick Lohr]

Your test numbers look okay. All I can think of is at some point while you were gone the swg did not keep up and your FC dropped below the minimum.

Having water over the top of the skimmer opening only messes up surface skimming (debris, leaves, etc. on surface), it should not have caused your algae.

Possibly rain dropped in something during the night and ate up the FC prior to the SWG coming in at 8AM. Wow, I would have never guessed Algae could start that fast.

Rick

 

[Rick Lohr]

Is there any way that a planter or the lawn could overflow into the pool in a severe downpour? A load of organic debris perhaps spiced with lawn fertilizer could overwhelm things.

Good thought, but the pool is above ground and away from everything that could overflow.
Rick

 

[Rick Lohr]

Power outage? Wondering if the pool was stagnant for some extended period of time? Seems like every time it rains around here (DC area) someone loses power...

No power outage. PC was still on and clocks were ok.

 

[J20832]

High water level over top of the skimmer.
Green algae mucky enough I can't see bottom.

Okay, I will bet you have a pool bottom full of organic debris like leaves, twigs and junk. You can still have a decent FC (particularly when you are constantly feeding the pool chlorine like with a SWG), and maybe it is not algae but just organic debris clouding up the pool?

 

[Rick Lohr]

High water level over top of the skimmer.
Green algae mucky enough I can't see bottom.

Okay, I will bet you have a pool bottom full of organic debris like leaves, twigs and junk. You can still have a decent FC (particularly when you are constantly feeding the pool chlorine like with a SWG), and maybe it is not algae but just organic debris clouding up the pool?

That is very possible. I should be able to tell that tomorrow. I also had a bubble wrap solar cover on the whole time I was gone if that makes a difference. There was no debris on top of it.

Rick

 

[Leebo]

Could your cover have been dirty and had algae living in it? We've put ours away this year as we always fought with it to keep clean. Every time we put it on the water would turn cloudy.

 

[duraleigh]

Possibly rain dropped in something during the night and ate up the FC prior to the SWG coming in at 8AM

There is nothing in rain that has any appreciable affect on FC.

 

[J20832]

Possibly rain dropped in something during the night and ate up the FC prior to the SWG coming in at 8AM

There is nothing in rain that has any appreciable affect on FC.

I think the thought was more that with rain, there is often leaves and other debris. I know I get branches, twigs, sometimes worms...

Okay, this is gross, but maybe there is a dead animal on the bottom?

 

[Rick Lohr]

Still cloudy but I brushed the bottom with the long pole and didn't notice any debris.
Still not sure what has happened. Been shocking since yesterday evening. Still has a greenish tint but I think it is getting better.

Rick

 

[Rick Lohr]

Possibly rain dropped in something during the night and ate up the FC prior to the SWG coming in at 8AM

There is nothing in rain that has any appreciable affect on FC.

I think the thought was more that with rain, there is often leaves and other debris. I know I get branches, twigs, sometimes worms...

Okay, this is gross, but maybe there is a dead animal on the bottom?

:-D Haven't noticed any deceased creatures or bad smell.

 

[Rick Lohr]

Could your cover have been dirty and had algae living in it? We've put ours away this year as we always fought with it to keep clean. Every time we put it on the water would turn cloudy.

Nope. Same cover I have been using all season.
I do notice the chlorine is deteriorating the bubble wrap. It tears easily if I am not careful. I never noticed that the baquacil had any affect on it.

Rick

 

[Rick Lohr]

Water still murky but I can see bottom.
No debris.
Still shocking.

Still no idea why this happened.

Rick

 

[chem geek]

I do notice the chlorine is deteriorating the bubble wrap. It tears easily if I am not careful. I never noticed that the baquacil had any affect on it.

Chlorine will oxidize pool cover material so they usually don't last more than about 3 years. However, one determinant of their life is whether they are covered when rolled up; otherwise they can deteriorate from the heat from the sun even more quickly. Baquacil is a sanitizer, but not an oxidizer whereas the hydrogen peroxide used in Baquacil pools is an oxidizer but not as strong as chlorine.

 

[Rick Lohr]

[quote="Rick Lohr":2c8hhrv8]I do notice the chlorine is deteriorating the bubble wrap. It tears easily if I am not careful. I never noticed that the baquacil had any affect on it.

Chlorine will oxidize pool cover material so they usually don't last more than about 3 years. However, one determinant of their life is whether they are covered when rolled up; otherwise they can deteriorate from the heat from the sun even more quickly. Baquacil is a sanitizer, but not an oxidizer whereas the hydrogen peroxide used in Baquacil pools is an oxidizer but not as strong as chlorine.[/quote:2c8hhrv8]
Thanks
Rick

 

[Rick Lohr]

Closeout from last year. There was nothing in the pool that I could see that would explain why I had the bloom. It's possible there was some small particulate that I would not have noticed. My pool has been prone to algae blooms late in the year when the water temp is in the upper 80s. The may be something from the nearby row of hemlocks that kicks it off. I had traditionally followed the rules in this forum but I will probably add some algaecide regularly this year to be safe. Its no fun bringing the pool back to health and we lose precious days in the pool which are all too few anyhow in the Northeast.



Another pool year starting. Uncovered the pool and it was sparkling clean. The only drama so far is that I have some dripping around my pump motor or impeller. Tough to see exactly where it is coming from. Are these fixable or is it time for a new pump? This one has about 12 years on it.

 

[Rick Lohr]

Here it is, another trouble free pool year. To close out last year, I ran with my FC between 3 & 5 and I put in a algaecide weekly. I'm happy to say it was the first year in many years that I didn't have an algae bloom. Since that formula worked I will probably follow the same course this year.

Opening the pool this year had no drama. Had to add about 1/3 of the water back in after winter losses. The pump/filter system is bone dry this year. I installed a new pump/impeller last year which solved my leakage problem. Had to add 5 40 Lb bags of salt to get my salt level up to 3100. I threw in two jugs of bleach to kick start the FC till I got the salt level up far enough. So far, so good.