Are water boatmen a good indicator of algae?

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vec

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Bronze Supporter
May 16, 2016
17
Belleville, Ontario
A few days ago, my pool water turned cloudy and some extra 'dirt' began appearing on the pool floor.. I just kept up my usual routine and vacuumed and kept my LQ topped up, till about 2 days ago when it began to have a green tint to the water.. so I started investigating.. :confused:
I wasn't completely convinced it was algae, and thought it was maybe pollen.. Last evening I started a super shock (basically the yellow mustard shock levels) and added a bioguard skim mor sock to the skimmer basket. I also brushed the floor and walls and did the ladder as best I could. (very hard to get into the under parts of the steel ladder - any recommendations on how to do this with shock levels of chlorine in the pool would be appreciated!) left the pump running.. This morning, it was back to blue but not super clear. I checked my OCLT i had dropped about 3ppm so I added more LQ and brushed again. I went and checked the skimmer and noticed a whole tonne of these bugs in the skimmer.. There were full sized ones and many, many smaller ones (like a mm sized). Googled them and sure enough they are water boatmen, and from what I've read they feed on algae.
Sooo, is this a good sign that I do have algae and am not just dealing with some pollen?
 
Water going from clear to cloudy to green and 3ppm loss in the OCLT are sure signs you have algae. Pollen doesn't really affect FC as far as I've noticed, it just clogs filters and sometimes if really bad or pump isn't running will accumulate on the bottom causing some greenish stuff at the bottom, but not cloudy water.

You also might want to review the SLAM procedure, the mustard algae shock level isn't normally used until after the SLAM is complete and only for 24 hours and only if you have a mustard algae problem.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/125-slam-shock-level-and-maintain-shockingl
https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/148-mustard-algae
 
dfahrion, thank you.. I was just reading the information now that I should have done the normal SLAM first, then done the mustard algae shock process.. I have been at those shock levels now for almost 24 hrs, so I hope I haven't done anything too unfixable! :-(
I guess I will let it drop to the proper SLAM levels and keep it there until I'm not losing an FC during my OCLT tests, then go back to the higher mustard algae levels? If that's not the best plan, pls let me know.
Also, how do I know for sure if it's mustard algae? Based on what I saw in images and how the stuff looked during brushing etc. I felt if it was algae it was most likely the mustard algae type..

AftonJeeper, very interesting! I wish I had've known those bugs were an indicator!
 
vec said:
Thanks everyone. I have been holding at the ma slam levels
Click to expand...

You did read the article in Pool School on Mustard Algae, yes? You are only supposed to hold the high FC for 24 hours. You are at risk of bleaching out your liner if you hold it for longer than that.

Take care.
 
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