Guess this stain

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hlemon

hlemon

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May 22, 2008
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I thought that what I had were mineral stains, because after placing a puck on them, they didn't budge. But now I'm starting to wonder because they have gotten a TAD lighter since I increased my chlorine level. The previous owners didn't cover the pool during the winter and it was a MESS this year when we started out.

Does this look organic?
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Ugg...they're so ugly! There are so many of them that they really keep our water from looking its best.
 
Hate to say it but ... kind of looks like black algae :( The way to test this is to scrape some of the suspect area with a fingernail and rub what you collect on the back of a white business card - if the 'smear' is greenish, it's black algae. Not the best news I could give you, but at least you'll know what you are dealing with :mrgreen:

Let me know how this test goes, I wish you well with this Heather :)

Ted
 
Will do Ted!

Oh man, I was afraid of that so I tested my cl levels TWICE overnight and didn't have a great loss. Does the black algea just not drain the chlorine like regular algea does!!! AARRRGGG!! :rant:
 
If it was black algae I would expect a trichlor puck left sitting on a stained spot for an hour or two to cause a visible improvement in that one spot.

Also, try placing a Vitamin C tablet on a different spot of stain for 30 seconds and see if that does anything.
 
I will leave one sitting on it longer to see if it makes a difference.

The other day I would sink it to the bottom and then put my foot on it and twist it around for a few minutes to see little, if any, difference.

Going to take a sample per Ted's instructions and then going to search on how to beat black algae. :cry:
 
It may be algae growing under the liner - which is not good. I know that when there is high levels of chlorine in the water it sometimes lightens these stains, but not for long. There is no way to get rid of it except for getting something under the liner to kill it. I know there are some treatments, but I am not familiar with them.
 
OK, now I don't know what to think.


I definitely DO think its on the inside of the pool (at least some of it) since we just recently (2 months ago) had the liner pulled completely out and put back in. Not only that, but the liner feels more rough on the spots that have the stains...not really rough, just not as slick.

I picked out two of the darkest spots and did the scratch test.

It scratched off, but it didn't leave very much to go under my fingernail (does that make ANY sense???) and when I smeared it on white card stock, it was a brown color....no green. But, like I said....I didn't ever get very much gunk under my fingernail even when it looked like it was scratching away.

Right now, I have my chlorine at 8. I am going to try to take it up to about 12 this evening after sunset and see if there is any change in the darkness of the stains tomorrow morning.

I am also going to place some vitamin C tabs on the stains and see what happens.

You guys are SO helpful!
 
Heather, I sincerely hope that the Vit C helps, but I believe it's an organic stain :( If I'm right, raising the cl to shock level and brushing the spots should take care of it. (FTW - I wouldn't leave a trichlor puck on a liner :!: ) Perhaps it's not black algae, but I think this is some form of persistent algae and the best course of action is to raise your CL to CYA ratio as you would if you had mustard or black algae :)

I hope that you can get this under control quickly and easily :-D
 
Ditto on Waste's advice....keep your FC up, to shock level for a couple of days... If your FC holds overnight, then I would keep it at the "mustard- minimum target", and brush daily. I had a stain in my pool for 4 years. Was told it was black algae, but it didn't look like pics of BA I saw. I thought it was a mold/fungus growing under the liner. The thing is, the longer I held higher FC levels, the more it faded. Now, 15 months into BBB and ensuring a FC target, I no longer see it. The trick I think is maintaining higher FC levels, at the top end of the "target" scale, and brushing daily.
 

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Rereading the OP's first post,
The previous owners didn't cover the pool during the winter and it was a MESS this year when we started out.
Click to expand...
That's a very revealing statement.

My bet is the stains are tannic acid from deteriorating organic material left laying on the bottom of the pool. If the OP will keep high levels of chlorine (about double what you normally use) in the pool for an extended period (as long as it takes), I believe the stains will disappear completely.

Black algae is incredibly over-diagnosed and is pretty unusual in a vinyl pool. Anything is possible but black algae is not likely the cause.
 
I don't think it's black aglae. I got out my scuba equipment a few days ago and really got down there and studied it for a while and it doesn't look like the pictures I found. Those looked kind of raised. This honestly looks like organic staining that won't come off. I can scratch it off with my fingernail and see what I believe is the normal vinyl color underneath but my pool brush doesn't do much to it. I wish now that I had paid extra to have them replace the liner altogether.

I suppose that something could be going on under the liner, but I didn't notice anything that unusual when they removed it. A lot of dirt, but that was about it. Since I can scratch some of it away, that must mean that something is in the pool.

Here's the latest:

I raised my shock up to 20. The stains are noticibly lighter and it seems like I can finally get some of it to budge with my pool brush. However, now...my water is back to cloudy and I can't get it to filter out. :cry:

I have people coming over this evening, and then we are going to bring the shock level back up and test overnight. I wasn't getting a CL loss overnight a few days ago, but I hadn't been stirring this stuff up either.

I bought 12 bottles of 174 oz. bleach at walmart and I'm NOT afraid of using them! :goodjob:
 
Some months ago I had a similar problem in our fiberglass pool. I tried to attack it with a hand brush...it would not come off at all! My water also started going green so I started pouring 174oz bottles in..ran pump 24/7..brushed and cleaned filter daily. After about 3 days, pool looked great! The dark spots took a few days longer to go away.
Harry

PS..I won't go into what the pool store wanted me to do...
 
Honestly those stains are alot like what I experienced, seems to react the same too. Like I said, 15 months into properly maintaining the FC and I don't see them anymore.

They would be more pronounced in hot sunny spells. Less noticible if I kept the solar cover on. If I left the cover off and the FC dropped below 2 the always returned. Now I keep my FC about 5 and I don't see them.

Mine never budged with brushing or fingernail. It seemed like a staining, not something growing.

Wierd stuff eh?

Don't worry about the cloudiness, most people don't know the difference, LOL only us folk on TFP worry about it being "crystal".....
 
You know, when all else fails..........shock! haha I really think that's what it is. It almost looks tea colored when you get down there close to it.

I shudder to think what the told you Harry. I have a whole other thread about my local pool fool!

poolmom- I think you're right. We have had four or so days of 100+ degree heat here and right about the time the heat spell started, the stains started buggin me more.
 
Sometimes there are little spots on my liner, mostly in the deep end (8'). Doesn't want to come off easily with the brush. I think it's mustard algae, yellow-brown. Water's clear and sparkly and water tests fine. Rather than risk scraping the vinyl by brushing hard, I've been diving down deep with a wash cloth and rubbing the spots. They quickly disappear.

there's some photos about 2/3 of the way down the page here:
another-baq-to-chlorine-conversion-with-de-questions-t6708.html
 

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