Algae

[Divin Dave]

Hi Dave,
Borax is not required for proper water balance. We dont recommend to add any until you have learned how to balance your pool and understand the pool chemistry a little better. What Borax does is just buffer the Ph drift a little better.

The CH is irrelevent in in a vinyl liner pool (uless its way way way high). No need to add any Calcium Chloride to your pool.

With water that cold, algae doesnt muliply quickly at all, so it wont take long to clear up your pool.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes I've tried Pool Math. Didn't see these last few posts yesterday so I only put the two gallons of bleach in and the stabilizer is in process in the skimmer so the CYA will come up over the next week.. Since the CYA is near zero I think the 2 gallons was enough yesterday. Will test again this morning. Pool Math is telling me to add 71oz of Borax and 198 oz of calcium chloride. Had rain yesterday and cold front came through last night. 49 degrees now so pool water temp has dropped some. Water is still pretty clear. There is not alot of algae so maybe I'm getting it early.

That's good, and my suggestion was getting your FC up to where your Cya, should soon be. All good for now, and it doesn't sound like it's too bad a bloom then. Great!

As this week passes, and you continue SLAM, you'll want to make sure you get the FC up to the suggested range for where the Cya target is going to wind up.

You're doing great so far, Keep up the good work.

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Hi Dave,
Borax is not required for proper water balance. We dont recommend to add any until you have learned how to balance your pool and understand the pool chemistry a little better. What Borax does is just buffer the Ph drift a little better.

The CH is irrelevent in in a vinyl liner pool (uless its way way way high). No need to add any Calcium Chloride to your pool.

With water that cold, algae doesnt muliply quickly at all, so it wont take long to clear up your pool.

Many of us don't use Borax, myself included.

 

[Dave2590]

FC still at 16. Vacuuming now. No stabilizer left in the sock. Will retest CYA in a week.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

You da man !!

Any photos of how it looks presently ??

 

[Dave2590]

Hi Dave,
Borax is not required for proper water balance. We dont recommend to add any until you have learned how to balance your pool and understand the pool chemistry a little better. What Borax does is just buffer the Ph drift a little better.

The CH is irrelevent in in a vinyl liner pool (uless its way way way high). No need to add any Calcium Chloride to your pool.

With water that cold, algae doesnt muliply quickly at all, so it wont take long to clear up your pool.

Thanks Dave. I thought I read somewhere on TFP that calcium was irrelevant in a vinyl liner pool and you've confirmed that. Appreciate the tip about Borax too. PH is 7.2 and I would like to bring it up a little. How about the recommended 36oz of washing soda or soda ash? A good idea or not?

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That's good, and my suggestion was getting your FC up to where your Cya, should soon be. All good for now, and it doesn't sound like it's too bad a bloom then. Great!

As this week passes, and you continue SLAM, you'll want to make sure you get the FC up to the suggested range for where the Cya target is going to wind up.

You're doing great so far, Keep up the good work.

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Many of us don't use Borax, myself included.

Thanks Patrick. This site is great especially for newbies like me. Still learning !

 

[Patrick_B]

Thanks Dave. I thought I read somewhere on TFP that calcium was irrelevant in a vinyl liner pool and you've confirmed that. Appreciate the tip about Borax too. PH is 7.2 and I would like to bring it up a little. How about the recommended 36oz of washing soda or soda ash? A good idea or not?
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Thanks Patrick. This site is great especially for newbies like me. Still learning !

No, your pH at 7.2 is fine. With your TA, it will work it's way up sooner than you think, and before you know it, it will need adjustment down with MA again. Why do you want it increased?

 

[Dave2590]

You da man !!

Any photos of how it looks presently ??

Thanks Kiss. Wife just finished vacuuming so the water looks pretty good. The before picture would have showed several (maybe 50) dark spots on the bottom. Pressure up a few pounds in the filter but stabilizer instructions say not to backwash. Tried to upload some pics but failed.

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No, your pH at 7.2 is fine. With your TA, it will work it's way up sooner than you think, and before you know it, it will need adjustment down with MA again. Why do you want it increased?

I thought recommended was 7.5 to 7.8.

 

[Patrick_B]

Thanks Kiss. Wife just finished vacuuming so the water looks pretty good. The before picture would have showed several (maybe 50) dark spots on the bottom. Pressure up a few pounds in the filter but stabilizer instructions say not to backwash. Tried to upload some pics but failed.

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I thought recommended was 7.5 to 7.8.

In The SLAM procedure it tells you to adjust your pH to the 7.2-7.5 range.

 

[Dave2590]

Hey guys I'm back. As you know my battle with algae started about a week ago. I thought I had it licked but its back. Kept the FC around 16 except for one day it dropped to 12 and I added 2 gallons of bleach which was too much because FC went up to 19. I repeated the FC test 1 week after adding 3 lbs of stabilizer and it came up to 20% from zero. With CYA at 20% and FC 16-19 what should I do? Am I missing something?

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Ok then. CYA is measured in PPM or just by posting the number just like chlorine (FC). When you say it's 20% it's rather confusing as I'm not sure if YOU understand. If you were at 0 for CYA than 3lbs (48oz) should bring you to 20-25ppm so I'm guessing that's what you are trying to say.

Were you following the directions for a SLAM and how often per day were you testing ?? Did you run the pump 24/7 and were you brushing daily ??
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl

Did the pool pass the OCLT ??
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt

 

[Patrick_B]

Ok, did you add the cya via the sock method, and is it all dissolved? You should have added a bit more Cya too, perhaps a pound, and you may have a little more volume. Point being, that you don't have enough Cya to keep from losing a lot of FC to the Sun.

Are you certain the FC hasnt dropped below shock level some? I suspect it has because if you had never dipped low or had very little, you should only be seeing improvement.

 

[Dave2590]

Sorry Kiss, brain cramp. Meant to say CYA was 20% so your guess was right on. I was running the pump 24/7 probably the first 4 days until everything looked fine. Testing once a day since CYA was so low chlorine was not diminishing at all. Part of the reason for that I guess is because I had the solar cover on so no sun on the water. I don't know what OCLT is so gonna have to read that now. So many abbreviations here....

 

[Dave2590]

Ok, did you add the cya via the sock method, and is it all dissolved? You should have added a bit more Cya too, perhaps a pound, and you may have a little more volume. Point being, that you don't have enough Cya to keep from losing a lot of FC to the Sun.

Are you certain the FC hasnt dropped below shock level some? I suspect it has because if you had never dipped low or had very little, you should only be seeing improvement.

Yes Patrick I used the sock method and it all dissolved. I have a pound of stabilizer left should I add that? I am certain FC hasn't dropped. I will test it again now. FC is 13 now.

 

[Patrick_B]

Yes go ahead an add it. Raise your FC Target accordingly and don't let the FC drop below it. It won't hurt if you're a few or so PPM higher than target. Do that until it's clear, no green, and you pass all SLAM criteria.

It won't fail to work if you keep the FC up high enough and long enough. It never does, I promise.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Hold on now Patrick, aren't you the guy who promised me that . . . opps, sorry that was the pool store.

You might want to check the bottom of that solar cover to make sure it's not holding on to anything green and or slimy and transferring it back to your pool water. Doesn't hurt to brush and rinse down the cover with your pool water.
Same thing with a ladder if you have one in the pool. Some times you'll see some pretty nasty stuff hiding under the rungs the high FC just doesn't get to.

 

[Dave2590]

Hold on now Patrick, aren't you the guy who promised me that . . . opps, sorry that was the pool store.

You might want to check the bottom of that solar cover to make sure it's not holding on to anything green and or slimy and transferring it back to your pool water. Doesn't hurt to brush and rinse down the cover with your pool water.
Same thing with a ladder if you have one in the pool. Some times you'll see some pretty nasty stuff hiding under the rungs the high FC just doesn't get to.

Should I use soap and water to clean the cover? If not then what? Do I need to remove the ladder to clean it? Its bolted to the top ledge.

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Yes go ahead an add it. Raise your FC Target accordingly and don't let the FC drop below it. It won't hurt if you're a few or so PPM higher than target. Do that until it's clear, no green, and you pass all SLAM criteria.

It won't fail to work if you keep the FC up high enough and long enough. It never does, I promise.

Ok I'll do it. I'm leaving the solar cover off for now so I expect some drop in FC.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

If you followed the SLAM and passed the OCLT and the green came back then it's hiding someplace and it's possible it's under the rungs of that ladder.
If you . . . ah . . . were a little sloppy about following the SLAM procedures and maybe didn't do an OCLT because it looked good to go, then it depends on how hard it is to unbolt. If you leave it in I'd take the time to make sure you get a brush under the rungs and scrub the underside. Might be all you need to do.
Your cover is on a reel so it's a bit more difficult. I'd use a bucket and your long brush to toss water on top of the cover, brush it and rinse. Then pull back the cover and do the underside of one half and then you'll likely need to move the reel or disconnect the cover to do the other underside half. Just use the pool water while you're still at a high FC and that should kill anything hiding there. It's a pain but if you've had algae come back then you need to take your cleaning a step further.

 

[Dave2590]

Yes go ahead an add it. Raise your FC Target accordingly and don't let the FC drop below it. It won't hurt if you're a few or so PPM higher than target. Do that until it's clear, no green, and you pass all SLAM criteria.

It won't fail to work if you keep the FC up high enough and long enough. It never does, I promise.

Sock's in the skimmer. Stabilizer should be dissolved by morning. Back to running 24/7. Still have algae. Vacuumed again. FC at 13. Wiped off the ladder, had to get in the pool to do it. Now my central air isn't working. Geez, what next? Starting to get discouraged.

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If you followed the SLAM and passed the OCLT and the green came back then it's hiding someplace and it's possible it's under the rungs of that ladder.
If you . . . ah . . . were a little sloppy about following the SLAM procedures and maybe didn't do an OCLT because it looked good to go, then it depends on how hard it is to unbolt. If you leave it in I'd take the time to make sure you get a brush under the rungs and scrub the underside. Might be all you need to do.
Your cover is on a reel so it's a bit more difficult. I'd use a bucket and your long brush to toss water on top of the cover, brush it and rinse. Then pull back the cover and do the underside of one half and then you'll likely need to move the reel or disconnect the cover to do the other underside half. Just use the pool water while you're still at a high FC and that should kill anything hiding there. It's a pain but if you've had algae come back then you need to take your cleaning a step further.

Will try to do it tomorrow. Spent today working on my central air conditioning unit. Temp in the high 80's here so we're not too comfortable. Fc is 13.

 

[Patrick_B]

Keep the FC at 16 until all cirumstances indicate you pass. All signs of Algae are gone including dead algae removed, water is clear, OCLT Pass. If you do this without fail, it will come back to normal and be perfect.

 

[Dave2590]

Keep the FC at 16 until all cirumstances indicate you pass. All signs of Algae are gone including dead algae removed, water is clear, OCLT Pass. If you do this without fail, it will come back to normal and be perfect.

I'm starting to wonder Patrick. It seems as if the water is not improving. What am I doing wrong? Must be something ! I am vacuuming (manually) every day and that is getting REALLY OLD. FC is 17. Sunday I will test CYA, one week after adding more stabilizer. I doubt it will reach 50. Every morning there are a couple small algae spots and a thin film on the bottom of the pool. And every day I vacuum and brush. New Mamba vac just arrived (whew ! ) and I'm going to install it today.