Dead algae or sand?

[tseger31]

I'm on the plus side of a major algae bloom. As of yesterday, my water is crystal clear, I passed an OCLT between sunset last night and sunrise this morning, and my CC reading from my K-2006C is "0", so that said...I know my SLAM process is now complete.

However, I also noticed yesterday a bunch of spots on the bottom of my pool that resemble little piles of sand. I vacuumed them up (manually) and I literally had the whole pool floor looking crystal clean after an hour of vacuuming! Yet first thing this morning, probably 60% of all those "sand piles" were once again back on the pool floor. It hasn't been windy here at all in the past few days/nights. See attached pic. I took this same pic into the pool store (I know, I know!) just to see what they'd tell me, etc. They told me that all these little piles are not sand...but rather dead algae.

My question is ... will one of the Maytronics Dolphin robotic cleaners work on removing piles of dead algae (if that's what this really is?) The pool store said robotic cleaners won't work on dead algae. But I know manually vacuuming algae won't work either because I have a cartridge filter so the algae will just pass through it and be shot back out into the pool. "Vacuuming to waste" isn't exactly an easy thing with a cartridge filter. Here I was vacuuming yesterday because I thought those little piles were sand.

So...

1) Are all these piles sand or dead algae?
2) Will a robot cleaner pick this stuff up whatever it is?
3) If #2 is a "no", what do I do to get rid of these little piles peppered all over my pool floor?

Thanks!
Todd

 

[PoolStored]

I know my SLAM process is now complete.

Unfortunately you did not pass slam. Pool must be clear, this INCLUDES particulates on the bottom. Typically, you pass oclt and CC first, then it takes a while to get the pool clear. Keep on SLAMMING.

will one of the Maytronics Dolphin robotic cleaners work on removing piles of dead algae

Yes, Mine helped A BUNCH to clear my pool during SLAM.

Robot, Vacuum to waste, brush and filter is how you get rid of the dead stuff, SLAM continues to kill it. Clear pool includes nothing on the floor or walls.

 

[tseger31]

Thanks for setting me straight...I assumed "clear" meant just the water...I didn't know it also referred to the absence of dead algae piles on the pool floor. Still learning here

So if I'm understanding you correctly, the piles I have are dead algae and I should continue SLAMing? Should I be SLAMing at the normal FC/CYA levels or the elevated Mustard Algae FC/CYA levels?

 

[ajw22]

The pool store said robotic cleaners won't work on dead algae.

Another pool store myth.

Dead algae will either settle to the bottom to be collected by the pool cleaner or it can be stirred up by the cleaner to be collected by the filter.

But I know manually vacuuming algae won't work either because I have a cartridge filter so the algae will just pass through it and be shot back out into the pool.

A properly operating filter will catch dead and live algae and not shoot it back into the pool.

You need to examine your cartridge carefully for tears or where water is internally bypassing your filter.