Red/Purple Algae?

[Craig]

On Sunday I noticed a reddish/purpleish residue on the white trim of my pool light. Upon further investigation, I noticed this residue to be on one of my floor drains in the 6 foot section as well. Additionally, I noticed the liner to start feeling a little slimy.

For the life of me, I cannot think of anything this color that was mistakingly or purposefully placed in the pool.

Is there an algae that is is red/purple?

My numbers are:
FC 3.0
CC <.5
PH 7.6
TA 110
CYA 50

I do not seem to be eating up unusual amounts of chlorine.

My next course of action will be to bring the chlorine up to shock levels to fight this phenmenon and break down the combined chlorine. Just curious to see if anyone knew what I about to fight.

 

[waste]

I've seen it!! I believe it's more a bacterial biofilm than algae, but the treatment is the same - shock to algae killing levels and hold there until there is no cc the next morning. You may want to think about raising your normal fc level, with what you describe, you may want to treat the pool as if it has black or yellow algae.

Good luck and let us know how it works out!

 

[duraleigh]

In addition to shocking, I'd physically remove as much as I could by brushing, scrubbing, etc. Expose more of it to the chlorine for a faster kill. I imagine there are thousand of types of algae and organic nasties that love to grow in your pool.....the answer is always the same.......chlorine.

 

[Craig]

I didn't notice any Red/Purple residue last night but shocked anyway. As of this morning the Combined Chlorine is 0 and I lost about 1PPM overnight. I think I am in the clear. Thanks guys!

BTW I have a solar cover and left it off since shocking to see what type of chlorine loss, if any I would have overnight. My question now is; should I leave the cover off during the day when super chlorinating? Does it matter? I can only guess that such high chlorine levels can cause damage to the cover????

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I shock with my cover in place, I see no harm has come to it. My first cover lasted 5 seasons. I do think putting it on when shocking actually makes sure if theres anything trapped in the air bubbles it gets treated too.