Algae Help!

Just left Home Depot. Bought HDX LC. I’m kicking myself in the butt for how much I purchased 8 gallons over the weekend at a mom and pop pool store. Just irks me how much they are gouging customers for LC. I bought 2 gallons at HD 10% strength for $9 with tax and the pool store sells them for double. Ughh lesson learned stop shopping at pool stores.
In your PM app there is a selection in the pull down menu called Bleach $ Calculator. This adjusts the price based on % strength & volume.
Just plug in the total price (I use $ including tax), the amount you purchase it in i.e. 4 gals and the % strength. It gives a cost per oz ($/oz) so then just pick the lowest unit cost and that helps sorting out 10% vs 12.5% and buying 3 gals vs 4 gal packs, etc.
 
I bought 2 gallons at HD 10% strength for $9 with tax and the pool store sells them for double. Ughh lesson learned stop shopping at pool stores.
Somebody just today got fleeced like $461 or something. $9 extra is AWESOME!!! :ROFLMAO:

Pool stores serve a purpose. Many times you’ll need a small part on a weekend and you won’t mind it’s $6 more when Amazon won’t arrive until Thursday. Some other times $10 might not be a biggie if they have the few things you have to go shop around for at 3 stores and they are on the way home. Know what you need. Know what it will do. Decide from there.

If you walk in there all Doe eyed and confused asking for anything, well, you might as just well hand over your wallet. 😁
 
In your PM app there is a selection in the pull down menu called Bleach $ Calculator. This adjusts the price based on % strength & volume.
Just plug in the total price (I use $ including tax), the amount you purchase it in i.e. 4 gals and the % strength. It gives a cost per oz ($/oz) so then just pick the lowest unit cost and that helps sorting out 10% vs 12.5% and buying 3 gals vs 4 gal packs,
I think you should keep slam and forget about OCLT as I'm positive you'll fail big time. Your poolmath shows 9ppm drop and it can't be all blamed on UV. Your not there yet and need POP.
Im sorry what is POP?
 
Pool owner patience :eek:
Well you definitely killed my hopes of being done tomorrow. It’s windy that May go against me. My husband is ready to cut me off from continuing this tomorrow. He sees all the scrubbing, testing, buying the supplies etc, testing, note taking etc to get our pool on tip top shape. It’s very mild mild algae in my opinion but decided to use this method.
 
Well you definitely killed my hopes of being done tomorrow. It’s windy that May go against me. My husband is ready to cut me off from continuing this tomorrow. He sees all the scrubbing, testing, buying the supplies etc, testing, note taking etc to get our pool on tip top shape. It’s very mild mild algae in my opinion but decided to use this method.
Don't get down. I was like you in June. The method works. It is very well founded in the chemistry. I spend less than 5 minutes a day to maintain my pool now. I'm confident I will NEVER have an algae problem again. Please, have confidence in yourself, and all the people who are giving their free time to support you. Again, if you need confidence, show him this --> How clear is TFP clear? Pics.
Just want to to confirm I am suppose to leave the pool pump on for the overnight test or do I turn it off?
Yes, leaving the pump on is fine.
 
This may not apply to you, it did to me. We, as a culture are impatient and want a quick fix. You CANNOT change the chemistry. My pool cleared and sat at 2.5ppm loss for 3 days. I too was ready to give up. Walking around the pool, I looked at the ladder and realized, that the tubes were hollow. Pulled the ladder, sure enough, Algae in the tubes. Passed OCLT the next night. Have you scrubbed EVERYTHING? Hollow ladder tubes, lights (remove and scrub the back)...etc. I will look at the whole thread again...do you have a picture of the whole pool you can post? Or from various angles? Do you have a water feature? Anywhere where you might not be scrubbing?
 

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Apologies if I missed this, but in these situations I’ve seen algae linger due to umbrellas, ladders, light niches, or small rock decorations near the water line (among other things).

Have you pulled everything out of the pool, scrubbed behind all the lights, and checked to see if algae could hide in some of the facade?

If you’re scrubbing everyday, and you’ve pulled everything out of the pool, and you’ve backwashed your filter every couple of days (when the pressure gets higher), there isn’t much else the algae can do but be exposed to very high levels of chlorine (and die, quickly) 😀.
 
Apologies if I missed this, but in these situations I’ve seen algae linger due to umbrellas, ladders, light niches, or small rock decorations near the water line (among other things).

Have you pulled everything out of the pool, scrubbed behind all the lights, and checked to see if algae could hide in some of the facade?

If you’re scrubbing everyday, and you’ve pulled everything out of the pool, and you’ve backwashed your filter every couple of days (when the pressure gets higher), there isn’t much else the algae can do but be exposed to very high levels of chlorine (and die, quickly) 😀.
I have not gone in the pool and put on goggles to really check. I don’t want my hair falling out from all the chlorine in the pool, I’m told it’s safe but just want to confirm again? So it’s safe to go in during SLAM? I didn’t think of removing the umbrella in the tanning entrance🤦🏻‍♀️ I have been scrubbing around it. Yes, we have a waterfall. And I have been scrubbing the waterfall.I’ve been scrubbing around lights but haven’t removed them, is that safe? I’ll post pics when sunlight comes up. It’s going to be a windy day. I’ll turn on the chlorinator again to 100% today and supplement with LC.
 
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Why is your chlorine so high? What is your CYA? The SLAM chart doesn’t go over 30 until CYA is 80 (very high). Maybe you should recheck your CYA. If your CYA is say, for example, 50, then I’d let the chlorine come down to the recommended amount (20) and then do an OCLT.

 
If you show pics of the lights, people here can give you the right guidance as to how to inspect behind them. And yes, please pull and scrub the umbrella.

I don’t think you need to get into the pool and dive with a mask (yet). Again, I may have missed this, but I haven’t seen detailed pics of your pool. If you have a waterfall, you may need to get a concentrated chlorine solution to spray it down before you keep scrubbing (I am not the expert on cleaning them). If you have uneven rocks on the pool edges, algae can hide there.

Detailed pics will help this crew give you more pool-specific advice at that point.
 
Why is your chlorine so high? What is your CYA? The SLAM chart doesn’t go over 30 until CYA is 80 (very high). Maybe you should recheck your CYA. If your CYA is say, for example, 50, then I’d let the chlorine come down to the recommended amount (20) and then do an OCLT.

What PB4 is saying if you actually have a lower CYA then you say you have and are doing a higher slam due to it, your loss can be a cause in effect that the extra FC not supported by the CYA will burn off and can't last. Recheck the CYA to be sure it's what you say it is otherwise you can be going forever where you can't pass OCLT.
 

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