Algae or pollen or something else?

[Jwagner3]

Hi,

I keep getting these streaks on the bottom of my pool I’ve been thinking it’s algae so I started a slam again after passing my OCLT test a few days before. I vacuumed it away to waste after it appeared again and passed the OCLT test again the next day. A few days later it’s back again. Yesterday I vacuumed to filter and it’s full of the streaks again. I saw another post on here about pollen on the bottom of the pool so I’m wondering if that’s what it could be. I do have a tree above my pool with leaves that fall in the pool that I’m sure doesn’t help. My pools the clearest it’s ever been thanks to TFP! This is my 3rd season with my pool and this is the first time I can see the bottom of my floor so I dunno if it’s been like this in years passed but it’s just been too cloudy to see it or what. I’m just wondering if it’s algae, pollen, or something else. I’m hoping it’s something I don’t have to keep slamming I’m tired of slamming and it’s getting kinda costly to slam I know it’s worth it though.

Thanks!

 

[Richard320]

I'd be very suspicious of that ladder. And if you have a skimmer. check the back side of it. Check these threads.

DARN Ladder!! Algae Culprit

Pardon my French, but this ladder we have has, I believe, kept us from ever getting rid of algae, regardless of the SLAMs or scrubbing we do. Here are some photos of all the nooks and crannies. How do I clean this sucker?! I have poured bleach in each hole and scrubbed with a bottle scrubber...

www.troublefreepool.com

Water problems

I've been slamming my pool for about a week now and although I have cleared the water up my water is still cloudy. Cya is at 40 so I'm using 16 as my chlorine shock level according to the cya/chlorine chart. When I started slamming I had a combined chlorine of 1 and I did get that down to 0. Any...

www.troublefreepool.com

Problem Found and Ideas needed

I began SLAMing my pool 4 days ago (84 hours). My CYA is somewhere between 25-40 so I used the SLAM values for Mustard at 30-40 CYA, which is about FC 22 or mustard and 14 for a normal SLAM. I checked the FC every 3-4 hours and after the first couple of checks where the FC drop was 5-8 the...

www.troublefreepool.com

One more place to look for algae.

Just when you think you looked everywhere, BAM, the weir door foam. Never imagined i had to look there. Never had dull water just FC loss of 4-5ppm with cool weather and low UV index. Started cleaning the skimmer for a complete brushing and found this. I would recommend finding a higher density...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jwagner3]

Thanks for the links! I’ve scrubbed the ladder while brushing the pool, maybe I need to take it out and clean it better and maybe keep it out of the pool for a while to see if the streaks go away without it in it, then I’ll know if that’s the problem.

 

[thebrez1]

I'd be very suspicious of that ladder. And if you have a skimmer. check the back side of it. Check these threads.

DARN Ladder!! Algae Culprit

Pardon my French, but this ladder we have has, I believe, kept us from ever getting rid of algae, regardless of the SLAMs or scrubbing we do. Here are some photos of all the nooks and crannies. How do I clean this sucker?! I have poured bleach in each hole and scrubbed with a bottle scrubber...

www.troublefreepool.com

Water problems

I've been slamming my pool for about a week now and although I have cleared the water up my water is still cloudy. Cya is at 40 so I'm using 16 as my chlorine shock level according to the cya/chlorine chart. When I started slamming I had a combined chlorine of 1 and I did get that down to 0. Any...

www.troublefreepool.com

Problem Found and Ideas needed

I began SLAMing my pool 4 days ago (84 hours). My CYA is somewhere between 25-40 so I used the SLAM values for Mustard at 30-40 CYA, which is about FC 22 or mustard and 14 for a normal SLAM. I checked the FC every 3-4 hours and after the first couple of checks where the FC drop was 5-8 the...

www.troublefreepool.com

One more place to look for algae.

Just when you think you looked everywhere, BAM, the weir door foam. Never imagined i had to look there. Never had dull water just FC loss of 4-5ppm with cool weather and low UV index. Started cleaning the skimmer for a complete brushing and found this. I would recommend finding a higher density...

www.troublefreepool.com

Just as a point of general knowledge, if chlorine levels/CYA are consistently maintained, along with all other chemistry, would the stairs still be a problem for algae? I have Wedding Cake stairs and I have worried about them, but if I am at 50% borates, 7 ppm chlorine, 35-40 CYA, 100 TA, etc, if my levels are correct algae should not ever be present even behind/underneath the stairs? pH & chlorine checked daily, but water temps are high at 88-91

 

[Newdude]

if my levels are correct algae should not ever be present even behind/underneath the stairs

The problem isn't the water being correct. Its the less or complete lack of circulation through the stairs. If you could get a sample from most stairs/ladders, it would not match the open water sample.

 

[Jwagner3]

Ok pulled ladder out defiantly has algae in some little spots behind it I guess I missing with the brush. Also the water that came out of the ladder didn’t look too clean. Will I keep having this problem or once I get it cleaned it should be ok? Also on that post Richard shared about the ladder I saw someone that drilled holes in their ladder for better circulation of water through the ladder, should I do that also, would it help with my ladder?

 

[Richard320]

Ok pulled ladder out defiantly has algae in some little spots behind it I guess I missing with the brush. Also the water that came out of the ladder didn’t look too clean. Will I keep having this problem or once I get it cleaned it should be ok? Also on that post Richard shared about the ladder I saw someone that drilled holes in their ladder for better circulation of water through the ladder, should I do that also, would it help with my ladder?

Sorry, no first-hand experience with that stuff. I didn't write the threads, I just saved the links.

 

[Newdude]

Some ladders can be modified, others get too weak. It’s tricky and generally the modifications are to wedding cake like stairs. Even if you increase the circulation it still won’t be great. Some people have success filling part of ladder with bleach, others just make removing it to clean part of their maintenance schedule.