algae on walls advancing to green pool the next day after brushing walls

[primuspaul]

I noticed my pool had algae on the walls, but water was not cloudy two weeks ago. Tested water a week and a half ago and got 12 CL and 45 CYA.

Kept my chemical adding habits the same and got 11.5 CL and 50 CYA 3 days ago.

Yesterday I brushed the walls. Today the water is still highly green/non-transparent. Does it take a while for the filter to clean out the algae? Set filter to work 24/7 today and will shock (cal hypo)/add two trichlor tablets.

I should add that I am testing with replacement https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QRI2UCA kit after my old powder went bad. Not sure if it's OK to still use the old system of getting 10ml of water, adding a heaping spoon of the powder, and then dividing the number of drops by 2 until it clears to get the CL?

 

[reggiehammond]

Correct on test method, but surprising that you are seeing algae if your FC is above minimum for your CYA levels. Would be wise to use pool math and log your results; only costs $7 a year and provides heaps of data for us to help. Chlorine levels should be reported as FC (free chlorine) and CC (combined chloramines), not as total chlorine or CL.
FC/CYA Levels

How are you chlorinating? How often are you testing? If you'd said only the water was green, we could perhaps look at iron content in water. But algae on walls is a tell-tale that your FC has been too low previously.

SLAM Process is necessary to eliminate the algae. The filter has nothing to do with sanitation, but will pick up the dead cells once eliminated.

 

[primuspaul]

Correct on test method, but surprising that you are seeing algae if your FC is above minimum for your CYA levels. Would be wise to use pool math and log your results; only costs $7 a year and provides heaps of data for us to help. Chlorine levels should be reported as FC (free chlorine) and CC (combined chloramines), not as total chlorine or CL.
FC/CYA Levels

How are you chlorinating? How often are you testing? If you'd said only the water was green, we could perhaps look at iron content in water. But algae on walls is a tell-tale that your FC has been too low previously.

SLAM Process is necessary to eliminate the algae. The filter has nothing to do with sanitation, but will pick up the dead cells once eliminated.

I will add another cal hypo lb and test tomorrow since today the results will be skewed due to recent addition of chemicals. I was initially chlorinating with cal hypo but water turned cloudy (though not green) due to calcium and also it was getting expensive and the chlorine levels were much lower. I switched to trichlor and fc levels rocketed, water turned clear, but revealed green walls. Have been using trichlor for about a month this season.

 

[reggiehammond]

Each tab is 50% CYA, so be careful with usage. You're just increasing your CYA, which requires a higher FC level to avoid algae.
The SLAM Process is the only way out of the mess; just dumping more chlorine without the testing and the process isn't wise.

TFP doesn't recommend either tabs or CalHypo; both are expensive and are comprised of other items you do not need in abundance (calcium or stabilizer.)

 

[primuspaul]

Each tab is 50% CYA, so be careful with usage. You're just increasing your CYA, which requires a higher FC level to avoid algae.
The SLAM Process is the only way out of the mess; just dumping more chlorine without the testing and the process isn't wise.

TFP doesn't recommend either tabs or CalHypo; both are expensive and are comprised of other items you do not need in abundance (calcium or stabilizer.)

What's cheaper than cal hypo besides trichlor/dichlor?

 

[TinFoilHat]

Liquid chlorine, my friend.

 

[reggiehammond]

Even cheaper than liquid chlorine is a salt water chlorine generator!

 

[primuspaul]

Even cheaper than liquid chlorine is a salt water chlorine generator!

I was looking into LC and doing the math and I recall coming to the conclusion that it was more expensive to increase FC via $X in LC than $X in TC.

 

[primuspaul]

Tested today got 26 FC and about 60 CYA (I did not add any chemicals since yesterday evening - 24 hours). Water is not so much green as it is teal and cloudy.

 

[reggiehammond]

I was looking into LC and doing the math and I recall coming to the conclusion that it was more expensive to increase FC via $X in LC than $X in TC.

Not sure I'm following what you're saying..

@Newdude has done the math on other posts, but while a SWCG is 100% upfront cost, it still works out to be at least 2x cheaper than buying liquid chlorine. But I'd tell you, I wouldn't own a pool without a SWCG. We can teach you trouble-free methods, but a SWCG then makes a pool almost worry-free. No trips to the store, no worrying on vacation... the SWCG just sits there plugging along...

 

[Newdude]

The intangible is the 1000 jugs my 60k unit saves me from lugging. There's some rounding errors upscaling production for 10k hours, but whether it's 982 or 1041, it's a frickton of jugs I *won't* be lugging.

Just waltz out back and press a button, once, for more FC. Or one click for less. On the rare occasion it needs a bigger correction, it's *sigh* TWO clicks. Can you imagine???? It's best to keep tabs on it and only need 1 click.