Aglae or Pollen

[Psuarmy]

So I had a light covering of yellowy sediment on bottom of pool. The water was crystal clear. This was 2 days after a heavy storm with no swimming. We live in a high pollen area of south western Pennsylvania. The kids swam in the pool. A huge cloud of green formed throughout the pool, the just became hazy. I have had the filter (intex with 40lbs of glass) running 24/7. I kept the chlorine at shock level for two days. Last night I raised it to about 22 (what bleach I had left). Every day I have a coating on anything flat but nothing up the sides. Last night Chlorine went from 22 to 18. combined Chlorine is 0 with Taylor test kit when doing test though. The sediment does clump in areas as well (such as seams and low circulation areas). You can see almost a reflective film on top of water as well. ( I have skimmer to collect it best I can). I know that FC of 22 won't kill mustard algae but shouldn't it keep it from growing? I have also done a good job of keeping chlorine levels up through the year so far. Any guidance?

Last normal test:
FC 7 DPD
Combined 0
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 8
CYA 35

 

[BadDogPSD]

Do you have pollen on other surfaces, like your car, outside furniture, etc?
Maybe do an OLCT?

 

[mariane]

We had yellow powder but it did not sink to the bottom of the pool. Pollen floats (I'm pretty sure).
As BadDogPSD said is there pollen on any other surfaces outside the pool?
I'm guessing no.
From what you wrote, you are having an algae bloom and you need to SLAM - take to Shock Level And Maintain it until the stuff stops accumulating on the bottom of the pool. Vacuum the stuff off the bottom veeeery slooowly and then brush the sides and bottom. You'll have to do this several times. Your filter will take a long time to clear it, but it will clear. As long as you maintain the SLAM.

 

[carnivalday]

I had a week of pollen this spring, but it floated and caused a yellow ring on my tiles. I had to brush the tiles to get it back in the water to get to the skimmer. Water was always crystal clear, tested well, and was gone in a week.

 

[Psuarmy]

Do you have pollen on other surfaces, like your car, outside furniture, etc?
Maybe do an OLCT?

We have a yellow dusting over everything. All Spring into the early summer. If this helps this is the 3rd time this summer that we have had this problem with the pool. All three times came after 3 or more days without swimming and a heavy storm. So I can't tell if it is the storm dumping pollen into the pool instead of laying on the pool cover or algae building because we are days without the cover off.

 

[Psuarmy]

We had yellow powder but it did not sink to the bottom of the pool. Pollen floats (I'm pretty sure).
As BadDogPSD said is there pollen on any other surfaces outside the pool?
I'm guessing no.
From what you wrote, you are having an algae bloom and you need to SLAM - take to Shock Level And Maintain it until the stuff stops accumulating on the bottom of the pool. Vacuum the stuff off the bottom veeeery slooowly and then brush the sides and bottom. You'll have to do this several times. Your filter will take a long time to clear it, but it will clear. As long as you maintain the SLAM.

We do have pollen everywhere, it just seems to be so much more in the pool, but as I have been thinking about it, the pollen might be collecting on the solar cover, and with the storm all dumping into the pool. I have been at SLAM level or higher for over 2 days now. I have been vacuuming daily. Today there only seems to be a few spot areas of accumulation. We will see where it goes. Thanks.

 

[mariane]

Accumulation on the bottom is not pollen. Slowly vacuum the accumulation.

 

[Psuarmy]

Do you have pollen on other surfaces, like your car, outside furniture, etc?
Maybe do an OLCT?

would an abundance of pollen cause a high chlorine use? I add about 2-3 cups of bleach in a day. It does drop over night but not a lot. 7,000 gallon pool.

 

[Psuarmy]

Yellow dusting on the car, the deck, the chairs?

We have it all spring into the summer over everything.

 

[mariane]

See my edited post.