Baquacil’s Effectiveness for Tough Mustard Algae

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Sunny Sue

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May 2, 2017
42
Northern Iowa
Please forgive me if this is commonly known, but after trying all of last year to beat mustard algae which is considered to be resistant to chlorine, I started wondering if anyone knew how effective some of the other forms of sanitation might be against resistant mustard algae. Does anyone have any experience with Baquacil and getting rid of mustard algae?

Why I’m wondering this question is that Baquacil pools seem to suffer from different types of problems, like pink slime, than chlorine pools do. My question then is what if resistant mustard algae has some sort of an Achilles heel with Baquacil? I’m just putting my “what if” thinking cap on here...any comments from our experts? Would a residential ozone unit kill resistant mustard algae?
 
Last summer I had nothing in the pool and passed the cc, oclt, and clear sparkling water test continually. But...there was always a brown grayish silt looking debris on the floor only that wasn’t slimy and wasn’t sand. If I came off of slam levels,of chlorine it would spread. It settles in any divets and on all of the seams. I isolated some of it in a white bucket and it acts the same way there...crystal clear water with debris at the bottom and kind of a clumping effect. I purged my lines with aah-some, tried nuking the water with chlorine bleach until it wouldn’t register and bleached my liner; still didn’t kill this stuff. And yes, I was brushing and monitoring all of my levels with the test kit and speed stir. This spring I tried draining,the pool down to just having 12 inches of water and refilled with city water, slammed, backwashed etc. same deal as last year...crystal clear gorgeous water with that familiar stuff growing on the bottom... is chlorine the strongest of all the residentially available sanitizers? What kills algae spores? Also, do you know what size a mustard algae spore is? I can’t find the answer on the internet so far.
Thanks for any suggestions you may have. I really believe in the tfp method for 99% of cases and love this forum.
 
Another question for you ??. What if I tried using the Seaklear 1 and 2 Clarifiers after slamming the pool? Seaklear claims that it’s clarifiers will pick up anything down to a .05 micron, including crypto. If I have a sand filter and vac to waste option, would that hurt my sand filter or pump in any way? I have a little robot that supposedly filters down to 2 microns but the “stuff” is able to be seen within 1/2 an hour or so collecting on the seams, etc. I’m wondering if I flocked or clarified it down to a tiny size maybe it could then be vacced to waste and wouldn’t reappear so quickly.
 
First off.... could it just be dust and pollen you're seeing? What makes you think its mustard algae? Is it growing on a shady wall and slimy feeling?? Because that's common for how mustard algae grows.

I'm just thinking "you're in Iowa....aren't there a lot of farms and farming going on near you?" which may explain airborne dust/dirt.

How efficient is your little bot at picking up the stuff?

Maddie :flower:
 
I would be beyond thrilled if it was just dust from the fields, etc! I don’t think it is though because the fluffy patches rapidly multiplies even with no wind, like today. Plus as soon as I let my fc levels come off of slam levels the stuff rapidly multiplies. Dirt/silt shouldn’t increase based on fc levels.... that’s why I’m pretty sure it’s the funky resistant mustard algae.

Does dirt/silt show up as cc on our chemical tests? What I really want to do is get a good sample of the multiplying fluffy stuff and send it in to a professional lab to be analyzed for what it is and how to fully get rid of it. And yes, I would feel like an idiot if it is just really weird silt ?....
 
In rare cases it may be advisable to try using a phosphate removal product. Seaklear has a good one and is a clarifier as well.

Worth a try.
 

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I purchased and used a phosphate testing kit last summer and showed next to nothing for phosphates, which really surprised me, to be honest. I’m going to test again twice to see if I get similar results both times. If it’s high, I’ll definitely treat for phosphates. Thanks for the reminder- appreciate it!
 
The Taylor test kit for phosphates can test up to 1000 ppb. Lamotte makes a kit that will test higher, but it is quite expensive.
 
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