Backswimmer Infestation

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We received our TF-100 on Saturday. We've been trying to bring the CYA up for a more effective SLAM. Finally had it up to what we thought was 30 so we started our SLAM last night with a target of 14 FC. Then this afternoon we tested CYA again and thought we were closer to 35. So we rounded up to 40 and targeted 17 FC to be on the safe side. Now this evening our CYA is showing barely over 20. Could this be correct? If so, how is this possible?

We also had a massive boatman infestation this evening. More than we've ever seen. Hundreds. Thankfully they weren't followed but too many backswimmers, but enough to make us nervous. We have been very diligent about scrubbing and vacuuming up dead algae. Now I know we shouldn't expect our algae problem to be cleared up on day 1 of the SLAM, but what would be the explanation for a massive increase in boatman during a SLAM? The optimistic side of me wants to think they are seeing one last lunch as the algae is dying off.
 
Congrats on getting the TF 100, really love this kit..

The CYA test is the hardest test to get right.. try pouring it back and forth about 10 to 20 times and get good idea of what it is at, that is what I do all the time.. say you get 30 to 40 12 times and under 30 8 times go with 40, if it was under 30 15 times and over 30 5 times go with 30... also do the test when the sun is bright during the day with the sun at your back.. :)

A SLAM takes time, it took time when it went green and will take more time to get clear but it will.. You have the temps with you as when the temp of the water goes down the algae grows WAY slower.. my water is in the 70 already..

the boatman coming into your pool is interesting, I think between your pond and eggs in your pool your seeing waves of them hatching that should go away soon as your killing them off before they can lay more eggs..
 
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cowboycasey said:
Congrats on getting the TF 100, really love this kit..

The CYA test is the hardest test to get right.. try pouring it back and forth about 10 to 20 times and get good idea of what it is at, that is what I do all the time.. say you get 30 to 40 12 times and under 30 8 times go with 40, if it was under 30 15 times and over 30 5 times go with 30... also do the test when the sun is bright during the day with the sun at your back.. :)

A SLAM takes time, it took time when it went green and will take more time to get clear but it will.. You have the temps with you as when the temp of the water goes down the algae grows WAY slower.. my water is in the 70 already..

the boatman coming into your pool is interesting, I think between your pond and eggs in your pool your seeing waves of them hatching that should go away soon as your killing them off before they can lay more eggs..
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Thanks. We've been doing our testing inside with good lighting. Should the CYA test be done outside?
 
CYA test is best done in bright sunlight with the sun to your back and your belly shaded by your body at waist hight, and just glancing at it. Fill the tube one full increment at a time till the last one satisfies the look your after. If not sure pour it back into the mixing bottle and do it again. Once you have what you can call your CYA level you are done. No reason to keep checking unless your bringing it up. It can take 1 to 2 days to completely mix into the water so don't test too soon or the results aren't necessarily accurate.
 
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When we first bought our home in July 2019 (20 yr old home & pool) we had these little critters! Had to SLAM a few times in the first year of ownership. Learned the hard way to keep CYA at about 40ppm and FC ABOVE the target. Keeping the FC at target still allowed for algae to grow (poor circulation in our pool due to broken return jets). The past few months we have been keeping FC @ 9ppm. No algea since the spring and no litttle extra swimmers!! Hmm...guess they don’t like chlorine! Best of luck!
 
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Agreed that the CYA test can be challenging. It should be done outside, standing in the sun, but with the sun at your back.

I ended up buying a 50 CYA solution to practice with. You can get it from the same place as the TF100 kit. It’s a ‘calibrated’ solution of 50 CYA water so that you can do the test and know exactly how much of the dot you should see.

As it turns out, I was reading the CYA test a little too high (I was reading the result when the dot was *barely* visible, which wasn’t quite correct after I practiced with the 50 CYA standard solution). I’ve been keeping my CYA at 70-80 (I have a SWCG) but turns out I’ve been at 80-90. Fortunately a big downpour recently diluted the CYA down back to a good range.
 
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Kenai said:
When we first bought our home in July 2019 (20 yr old home & pool) we had these little critters! Had to SLAM a few times in the first year of ownership. Learned the hard way to keep CYA at about 40ppm and FC ABOVE the target. Keeping the FC at target still allowed for algae to grow (poor circulation in our pool due to broken return jets). The past few months we have been keeping FC @ 9ppm. No algea since the spring and no litttle extra swimmers!! Hmm...guess they don’t like chlorine! Best of luck!
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This is reassuring to know. Thanks for reaching out. Finding this site has eased our stress quite a bit but we're still very in edge thinking we'll have a never ending bug issue. I'm hoping the timing of our install is the main issue. Filled late August followed by a lot of heat. Had no idea what we were doing with chemicals so didn't get off to a good start. With high heat and no chlorine to start, maybe the algae took hold and we weren't informed enough to stay on top of it. So hopefully we can learn a lot before we open next spring and be more prepared.
 
When we first moved into our house we had HUGE infestation of stink bugs and lady bugs inside the house. Learning about the property has been our biggest defense. Sealing drafty old windows, lots of bug spray...Fast forward to today...I see the stink bugs but they are in the outside thankfully! I have found with the pool that there are “seasons”...such as one week it will be acorns, the next week caterpillars, and the next spiders. All according to what is going on with nature at the time as to what we find in the pool. Kinda fun really...just never know what you will find next! Right now it’s the cute green frogs! Just keep reading the TFP articles and posts...and in no time at all you will be a pro!! I learn something new almost daily!!
 
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Ugh. We started our SLAM on Tuesday night of this week. Still do not have a great handle on our CYA but we've been seeing readings from lows 20s to mid 30s. We've tried to err on the side of caution with FC and have been trying to keep it at 15 the last couple of days. Wednesday night we saw a huge infestation on Boatman. There were not many backswimmers that showed up with them so that was a positive. Our go-to has been Dawn dish soap to kill anything in pool and re-concentrate on the SLAM to hopefully avoid the next invasion. Last night only saw 1 boatman and nothing else so thought we were getting ahead of the algae. Now this afternoon another infestation of boatman and a few backswimmers. We've been vacuuming every afternoon and brushing every evening and the water is as crystal clear as its been since we filled. The next day there is usually some brown powdery substance on the floor that we assume is dead algae. The amounts of the dead algae has been getting lesser and lesser every day. This morning was just a few spots up against some winkles on the floor of our vinyl liner so we thought we were about done with the SLAM. OCLT has passed every night we have performed it during the SLAM. CC ranging from 0.0 - 0.5. A few other things I'd like to mention...

Pool is not currently covered so quite a few leaves falling into pool throughout day and overnight. Skimmer takes care of most of them but some are falling to the floor and turning black. They get vacuumed out every day though.

Also a lot of mosquitoes falling into pool and dying. And also some beetles. Again, skimmer takes care of majority of them.

Is there anything else we can do? Or are we just not patient enough with the SLAM?

Is our low CYA making our SLAM ineffective?

Is there a chance we are dealing with Mustard Algae and need to up our FC even more?

Any help is appreciated. Just really frustrated right now.
 
Make sure to scrub all areas where algae could be hiding. Check areas such as the ladder and skimmer box. Clean all pool toys and floats with bleach water to disinfect them.

Your CYA should be rounded up to 20 if you’re test revealed a level of 15. Always round up to nearest whole number. Then use the FC/CYA chart to see your SLAM target. Try to stay as close to the SLAM level as possible. Generally I test about four times in a day during the first few days of a SLAM. Has generally taken me 5-7 days to totally complete my SLAM. Brushing and vacuuming daily is very important ...keep up the good work. The brown on the floor is most likely dead algae. I have read posts that say a sand filter sometimes takes a bit longer. You might read some of the articles from people who have sand filters.
If you could ...post the most current test records. Helps the readers to help you along.
Make sure you have read the articles in pool school to understand what is going on in the water...extremely important to understand what is going on in the chemistry of the water.
 
No ladder, toys or floats in the water. Trying to keep skimmer as clean as possible. But even if we miss a spot, shouldn't the chlorine be killing it?

Latest test was late morning today.

FC: 15
CC: 0.0

We have not been testing pH as we understand it to be unreliable at SLAM levels of chlorine.

Last CYA test was over a day ago but we're not good at testing that yet so we've seen low 20s to mid 30s. An earlier reply said we should just assume we are at 30 and go ahead and SLAM. The corresponding SLAM level would be 12. We have been trying to stay around 15 just in case our CYA is actually higher. Is that a problem?
 
Last CYA test was 25
pH before SLAM was 7.2
TA before SLAM was 140
these were using TF-100

Since filling the pool, the pool store test has showed really high phosphates. One pool store guy said we can just address that next spring. Other recommended PhosFree which we've used a few times. Any time we did, the next day the pool floor was covered with white powdery substance and our filter got really dirty. Since finding this site, we've understood PhosFree to be unnecessary. Should mention that the pool guy that recommended it, does not sell it. He told me to find it on Amazon. Also says his boss would kill him if he knew he told me about it. I'm not saying that makes it any more effective but wanted to make it clear he was not making anything off it.
 
Good morning! Rereading all you’re thread...
I would stop testing the CYA...treat assuming the level is 30...Remember the CYA is there to bind with the chlorine to allow for it not to get burned off as quickly...similar to sunscreen. I have read that the correct results can take up to a week after adding CYA (have you been using 100% Cyanuric acid?).
Is there a ladder in the pool? The ladder has been a big source of algae for a lot of people. Yes in theory the chlorine should kill any algae that is present. But in my own experience until I got rid of all sources of algae I did not gain any ground. Once I had scrubbed every little spot..only then was I able to win the war. In August the high water temps and blazing sun allowed for algae bloom...this I learned to keep the FC above the target. This time of year I imagine your temps have got to be dropping.

As far as pool stores...we don’t recommend them. Adding potions from them generally gets us in more trouble. Using them for a source to purchase chlorine and CYA is ok. There are only a handful of recommended chemicals for a TFP pool. Knowing those chemicals is pertinent. Reading labels for yourself and knowing key ingredients in the item is the best route.
I have no knowledge of phosphates. Sorry.
Wondering about your TA level...seems a bit high. Read ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry to understand TA levels.
Patience is the key during a SLAM....:)
 
Thanks for the reply. We never actually installed our ladder this year as our deck is still being built around he pool. We've only swum in it a few times so no toys or anything has remained in the pool. So the algae can only be on walls, floor, skimmer and jet.

We had no idea about CYA til a few weeks ago when we found this site. We were at probably 20 and then tried bringing it up before SLAMing. Didn't get it very far though and will be one of the first things we address next spring. And yes, we are using 100% CYA. Should we continue adding it at this point?

Regarding TA, our initial testing at pool store showed 250+. We've been bringing that down slowly but quit once we started the SLAM. Another thing to add to the list for next spring.

Temps are dropping here into mid 30s at night. We've been seeing less and less dead algae everyday to the point of almost nothing his morning or yesterday morning. That makes us think we've reached the light at the end of the tunnel but then we get another invasion. We will try to be more patient and thanks again for the response.
 
How much stabilizer have you added? If you add 5 lbs, it adds right at 40 ppm CYA. So what you have added is in the pool water. Knowing how much you added and what level of CYA ppm that gives you in the pool can help you with your test results.
How have you been adding the stabilizer product to the pool water?
 
mknauss said:
How much stabilizer have you added? If you add 5 lbs, it adds right at 40 ppm CYA. So what you have added is in the pool water. Knowing how much you added and what level of CYA ppm that gives you in the pool can help you with your test results.
How have you been adding the stabilizer product to the pool water?
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We added about 4lbs earlier through sock in skimmer and hanging in front of skimmer. We finished that sock as SLAM was starting. We also broadcast some over the top. It mostly just pooled on the floor and most of it was sucked up during vacuuming and removed through backwash process.
 

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