Algae, pollen, or something else?

[Poolnoobbuddy]

Hello i recently opened my pool and had a bunch of junk in it from winter and waterr was really cloudy .
Within a few days i had the water sparkling and everything was looking good.

That until i noticed that some junk that looks like brownish dirt kept accuumulating on parts of the pool floor. I was trying to determine what this was and decided to vacuum it up with my dolphin.

After vacuuming with the dolphin and leaving the pump off there was no junk on the floor for hours.

Within 15 minutes of turning pump on i had the junk back on the bottom of the pool. I then retested and vacuumed it all up had it spotless and left my pool pump off for 2 days and was still spotless.

I thought some alagae might have grown on my de filter so took that apart and there looked like some junk on it but could have been standard dirt mixed in the de so couldnt tell.

However after cleaning the filter and within 15 min after 2 days having it unhooked and no junk on the bottom of the pool it is back again.

I did one last test last night and completely unhooked my flter and have my pump directly feeding my pool with no filter. I again vacuumed all the junk up and left it for an hour before turning the pump on overnight and still see all the junk this morning with no filter.

Some notes about this. It poofs up immediately if touched. it gathers in the same spots of thr pool liner pretty consistently.
I believe i have had similar issue last year although i am still new to owning pool and that is why i bought the de filter.

I havent done a full slam due to test chemicals being ordered although i did best i could with adding 2 gallons of chloirne a day for 3/4 days.

Pool is 15k gallon round above ground pool.

Pic of pool sock showinf what it looks like.

 

[MITBeta]

When you turn the pump on, it's concentrating all the stuff that already settled evenly on the floor in the seams and crevices of the liner.

What's in your filter sock looks like pollen - dead algae tends not to float.

What's on the floor could be either or a combination of both.

The best thing to do is to run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test using a FAS-DPD chlorine test kit (I don't see one in your signature Test Kits Compared) and see what you get.

 

[Poolnoobbuddy]

When you turn the pump on, it's concentrating all the stuff that already settled evenly on the floor in the seams and crevices of the liner.

What's in your filter sock looks like pollen - dead algae tends not to float.

What's on the floor could be either or a combination of both.

The best thing to do is to run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test using a FAS-DPD chlorine test kit (I don't see one in your signature Test Kits Compared) and see what you get.

Thanks i will do an oclt tonight if possible. I finally got the missing reagent today to test.

As for fas-dpd i have the lamotte colorq7. Is that not good for this type of test? I am very bad at telling colors apart myself so bought that which says dpd. (Not sure if there is a difference between that and fas-dpd)

Also dont know if it helps but attached some more photos of what the stuff on bottom looks like in the dolphin vacuum filter.

 

[Orion7319]

Thanks i will do an oclt tonight if possible. I finally got the missing reagent today to test.

As for fas-dpd i have the lamotte colorq7. Is that not good for this type of test? I am very bad at telling colors apart myself so bought that which says dpd. (Not sure if there is a difference between that and fas-dpd)

Also dont know if it helps but attached some more photos of what the stuff on bottom looks like in the dolphin vacuum filter.

The stuff in your dolphin looks just like the pollen mine picks up. The Lamonte color q 7 isn’t accurate at all. I have one, so I am speaking from my own experience. The kits we use are one of the TF-100 variety or the Taylor 20006c. The majority of tests in this kit you add drops until you get a major color change. It’s obvious even for my color blind son. The one exception is the PH test where color blind folks will struggle. There are ph meters for that, but they need to be calibrated with special solutions you have to buy and the cheap ones don’t seem to stay calibrated for very long. However the one test that in my experience the color q seems to get right consistently is the PH test.

TF-100 Test Kit

tftestkits.net

 

[Poolnoobbuddy]

The stuff in your dolphin looks just like the pollen mine picks up. The Lamonte color q 7 isn’t accurate at all. I have one, so I am speaking from my own experience. The kits we use are one of the TF-100 variety or the Taylor 20006c. The majority of tests in this kit you add drops until you get a major color change. It’s obvious even for my color blind son. The one exception is the PH test where color blind folks will struggle. There are ph meters for that, but they need to be calibrated with special solutions you have to buy and the cheap ones don’t seem to stay calibrated for very long. However the one test that in my experience the color q seems to get right consistently is the PH test.

TF-100 Test Kit

tftestkits.net

Thanks. That helps alot and eases my mind a bit that it isnt algae and just pollen getting pushed into the seams of the liner. I just wish it would stay out if that was it or atleast not continue sinking to the bottom for me to think there is an issue.

As far as tests I will have to get one of those ordered.

Appreciate the response

 

[Orion7319]

Thanks. That helps alot and eases my mind a bit that it isnt algae and just pollen getting pushed into the seams of the liner. I just wish it would stay out if that was it or atleast not continue sinking to the bottom for me to think there is an issue.

As far as tests I will have to get one of those ordered.

Appreciate the response

When you get the test kit do the overnight chlorine loss test just to confirm, but that looks like pollen to me. Eventually it will all settle and your robot will get it. The other thing to do is to add skimmer socks into your skimmer. That will keep most of it from getting into your DE filter. Do you have a lot of trees around?

 

[Poolnoobbuddy]

When you get the test kit do the overnight chlorine loss test just to confirm, but that looks like pollen to me. Eventually it will all settle and your robot will get it. The other thing to do is to add skimmer socks into your skimmer. That will keep most of it from getting into your DE filter. Do you have a lot of trees around?

I do use pool skimmer socks. It just seems like no matter what that it is on the bottom of the floor and i will make sure to test as soon as i can.

As for trees there is only 1 tree really near my house although it is fairly large sweet gum tree. So it may make sense on how it continues to reappear.

 

[Poolnoobbuddy]

When you get the test kit do the overnight chlorine loss test just to confirm, but that looks like pollen to me. Eventually it will all settle and your robot will get it. The other thing to do is to add skimmer socks into your skimmer. That will keep most of it from getting into your DE filter. Do you have a lot of trees around?

I know you said the lamotte colorq isnt accurate but used that as a just until i get my fas-dpd kit.

Last night a little after 8 pm along with midnight and 7 AM this morning. Based on the results with the multiple examples I am starting to believe the pollen theory.

Again thanks for the info.

Time	Free Chlorine	Total Chlorine
8 PM	4.28	4.29
12 AM (test 1)	3.98	3.99
12 am (test 2)	4.06	4.06
7 am (test 1)	3.79	3.80
7 am (test 2)	3.88	3.9

 

[MITBeta]

Hopefully it's consistent, if not absolutely correct. That's one of the main advantages of Taylor/TFT kits.

 

[Orion7319]

I know you said the lamotte colorq isnt accurate but used that as a just until i get my fas-dpd kit.

Last night a little after 8 pm along with midnight and 7 AM this morning. Based on the results with the multiple examples I am starting to believe the pollen theory.

Again thanks for the info.

Time	Free Chlorine	Total Chlorine
8 PM	4.28	4.29
12 AM (test 1)	3.98	3.99
12 am (test 2)	4.06	4.06
7 am (test 1)	3.79	3.80
7 am (test 2)	3.88	3.9

My color q pro is neither accurate or consistent, however other users claim there’s is consistent. I’m not sure what’s up with mine. When you get your T-f100 (or Taylor 20006c) in you will know for sure, but that really does look like pollen.