It really seems like the OCLT results are consistent with heavier pollen nights. The chlorine drop really ramped up since maple pollen subsided and oak began dropping heavily. I'm guessing that I probably don't have an algae problem at all, but rather, a pollen problem.
This morning I literally cleaned out a full basket's worth of pollen material from my two skimmers....when those skimmers were completely emptied last night at 7:30 pm. Over the course of a 24 hour period, I'm betting my pool is catching somewhere in the range of 3 - 4 lbs of pollen related material everyday. The trees in my backyard aren't really close to the pool, but they're pretty tall, typical of woodland areas, so they have a fairly large drop range with regard to pollen and leaves.
I'm starting to raise my CYA level back up to 60 ppm. It's at about 40 ppm now. Once there, I'm going to take a chance and chock this up as a pollen problem, and let FC drop to normal levels and see how it goes. If I get an algae outbreak because of it, at least I'll know I was wrong and I'll start slamming with a purpose. Right now, slamming water that's been crystal clear since opening (and I mean blindingly crystal clear) just seems like dumping money down the drain, at about $150 per week at Sam's club for bleach alone, not to mention replenishing the R-0871 reagent multiple times already this season and running the pump 24-7 for two weeks now.
Other than that, depending on the glycol/chloroform test results I may end up emptying the pool partially anyway, so I'm ready to let the chlorine monster starve a little until then.
This morning I literally cleaned out a full basket's worth of pollen material from my two skimmers....when those skimmers were completely emptied last night at 7:30 pm. Over the course of a 24 hour period, I'm betting my pool is catching somewhere in the range of 3 - 4 lbs of pollen related material everyday. The trees in my backyard aren't really close to the pool, but they're pretty tall, typical of woodland areas, so they have a fairly large drop range with regard to pollen and leaves.
I'm starting to raise my CYA level back up to 60 ppm. It's at about 40 ppm now. Once there, I'm going to take a chance and chock this up as a pollen problem, and let FC drop to normal levels and see how it goes. If I get an algae outbreak because of it, at least I'll know I was wrong and I'll start slamming with a purpose. Right now, slamming water that's been crystal clear since opening (and I mean blindingly crystal clear) just seems like dumping money down the drain, at about $150 per week at Sam's club for bleach alone, not to mention replenishing the R-0871 reagent multiple times already this season and running the pump 24-7 for two weeks now.
Other than that, depending on the glycol/chloroform test results I may end up emptying the pool partially anyway, so I'm ready to let the chlorine monster starve a little until then.