Hidden algae

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J

John2

0
Jun 27, 2018
27
Toney, AL
I’m not sold on having to brush all places that might have algae. For instance, I can’t brush inside the skimmer, the inside of the flex hoses going from pool to pump, hoses from pump to filter, hoses from filter to return in pool. If I had PVC anywhere, I couldn’t brush inside that. I can’t brush inside the multi-port valve, inside my vacuum hose, vacuum head, etc....
I mean maybe I can get small brushes and toothbrushes and get some of those areas but not every last area.
So what do I do? Just get the areas I can and hope the high shock levels of chlorine get the rest?
Will high chlorine eventually break the shells of the algae? (“Shells” probably isn’t the right word.)
I’ve been battling a small amount of algae for a while now and I know I haven’t followed the SLAM procedures perfectly everyday, so I’m just trying to understand how important it is to brush every surface. Just brush the floor? That’s the only place I’ve seen algae clumps. The liner doesn’t feel slimy at all.
Anyways, any advice on this, or any links to other post or articles on this, would be greatly appreciated.
If chlorine will kill all of it without it all being brushed, then I will just brush the bottom and wait until I pass the OCLT.
My pool is mostly clear, I just see algae or sand on the bottom in certain areas and when brushed it turns into a cloud.

Also will multiple bugs entering the pool at night, prevent me from ever completely passing the OCLT? I mean sometimes I find a bunch in the skimmer the next morning, wouldn’t that consume some chlorine?

thanks in advance,
John
 
Algae grow on surfaces with still water. You are not going to find algae to brush in your plumbing that has water flowing through it daily. So you can put your toothbrush down.

It will take a lot lot longer to kill algae with chlorine without breaking up the biofilm by brushing.

Some bugs swimming in your pool will not cause you to fail your Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

What FC are you doing the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test at and what is the FC loss?

I suggest you use PoolMath to record all of your tests and chemical additions during the SLAM Process and share the logs so we can review them, or post them all here, and let us see your SLAM Process technique and if we can see where the process is not being followed properly.
 
John2 said:
I’ve been battling a small amount of algae for a while now and I know I haven’t followed the SLAM procedures perfectly everyday,
Click to expand...
John, I think you answered your own question right there. Consistency is key. Rest assured, no one expects a pool owner to physically clean plumbing. The constant flow and agitation of water movement is expected to be enough in those unreachable locations. For everywhere else though, it's good-old elbow grease and following the details of the SLAM Process page. Any chance you still have a ladder or hollow steps in the water though?
 
Texas Splash said:
John, I think you answered your own question right there. Consistency is key. Rest assured, no one expects a pool owner to physically clean plumbing. The constant flow and agitation of water movement is expected to be enough in those unreachable locations. For everywhere else though, it's good-old elbow grease and following the details of the SLAM Process page. Any chance you still have a ladder or hollow steps in the water though?
Click to expand...

Yes I have a ladder in the water. I keep the pump running on low 24/7. I thought if there was any algae, I should leave the ladder in during the process so that the chlorine could kill it. There’s also a small mat underneath the ladder to protect the liner.
 
ajw22 said:
Algae grow on surfaces with still water. You are not going to find algae to brush in your plumbing that has water flowing through it daily. So you can put your toothbrush down.

It will take a lot lot longer to kill algae with chlorine without breaking up the biofilm by brushing.

Some bugs swimming in your pool will not cause you to fail your Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

What FC are you doing the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test at and what is the FC loss?

I suggest you use PoolMath to record all of your tests and chemical additions during the SLAM Process and share the logs so we can review them, or post them all here, and let us see your SLAM Process technique and if we can see where the process is not being followed properly.
Click to expand...

I keep the pump running 24/7 on low. So there shouldn’t be any still water. I haven’t done the OCLT in a while because I still see signs of algae. But does it matter if I do the OCLT at 5ppm or 20ppm? (My CYA was 20 last time I checked.)

I have the app, but during SLAM, I found it easier to use my phone’s notepad to record stuff. I will see if I can input all of that into the app and then post it.

The main way I haven’t followed the process correctly is after 3 days of brushing the entire bottom of the pool, I quit brushing the entire bottom of the pool. It’s just too much to do. Eventually I got ok with the idea of letting my vacuum run all night even though it puts some air into the pump. If a vacuum is going to send all the algae through the hoses and beating up against the sand, then I’d bet it does a better job than me brushing anyways. When I brush, I’m sure a small wave of water leads the brush and moves the algae before the bristles hit it anyways. So after the first few days, I just started brushing any algae I see on the bottom and let the vacuum do the rest.
The other way I might not follow the process exactly is letting the chlorine drop a little below shock level in late afternoon so we can swim for a bit. Last night it dropped to 10.5 before I added liquid chlorine. Last week I had let it drop to around 7 a few times if I remember right. But I’ll get all my records into the app so that I can share it.
 
John2 said:
on June 1st after dark, my FC was 18.
At 5 am on June 2nd (about 35 minutes prior to sunrise but not completely dark outside) my FC was 16.

So I lost 2ppm.
Click to expand...

What was your CYA?
 
John, pull that ladder out if you can. I understand why you might think it's okay to leave it, but ladders are an exception. The have too many voids where stagnant water can sit. Once remove, try to disassemble it and look specifically in each supporting pole and in each step if you can. Others have pulled theirs apart to find a biology experiment growing. Some will also use a turkey baster to spray chlorine directly into each pole and crevice.
 
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SLAM FC for CYA 20 would be 8. FC of 18 is way high for CYA 20. Losing 2 ppm at that high a Fc level is not necessarily a fail for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

Where are you now?

When you do the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test use a FC of 10 or no higher then the SLAM FC level.
 

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Texas Splash said:
John, pull that ladder out if you can. I understand why you might think it's okay to leave it, but ladders are an exception. The have too many voids where stagnant water can sit. Once remove, try to disassemble it and look specifically in each supporting pole and in each step if you can. Others have pulled theirs apart to find a biology experiment growing. Some will also use a turkey baster to spray chlorine directly into each pole and crevice.
Click to expand...

I just saw this and didn’t know that was an issue. Thank you. How long do I leave it out for? And do I scrub it down with a diluted bleach solution?
I also threw all of our goggles and stuff in the pool over a week or so ago. I make sure to move them around the bottom of the pool with the brush or the vacuum at least once a day. I wonder if I should just get them out. Also all of our floats are now on top of the water but we just bought those a week ago.
 
ajw22 said:
SLAM FC for CYA 20 would be 8. FC of 18 is way high for CYA 20. Losing 2 ppm at that high a Fc level is not necessarily a fail for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

Where are you now?

When you do the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test use a FC of 10 or no higher then the SLAM FC level.
Click to expand...

You’re correct about the FC/CYA. I had at one time measured the CYA to be 25 because I didn’t know at that time that you weren’t suppose to use in between numbers. I have since read up a lot about how to correctly do that test. Anyways, at that time I had rounded up to 30 and decided I would use the Mustard shock level for cya of 30. And I think that’s around 18 ppm. So I’ve been trying to keep my FC between 12 and 18 to make sure I really got rid of this stuff. I’d bring it up to around 20 at night and then let it fall until I could get back to it the next afternoon.
also I’ve been using trichlor tabs that I have left over to keep the chlorine up somewhat. But I did remove them an hour or so before I started the OCLT. Then one day after that I was running out of liquid chlorine and cal-hypo so I added the tabs back in. i feel like I’ve been using them for a month with no increase in CYA. I was actually hoping my CYA would go up to 30 or so by using them.
Anyways, I just tested everything except TA a few minutes ago and I’ll post all of that in just a second. I’ll also probably remove the ladder tonight and see if I can figure out how to clean it.
 
==========================================
21x41x54
------------------------------------------
Build Type: Vinyl
Volume: 20350 gallons
------------------------------------------
Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 10.0 (56 minutes ago)
CC: 0.0 (56 minutes ago)
pH: 7.4 (56 minutes ago)
TA: 80 (25 days ago)
CH: 125 (56 minutes ago)
CYA: 20 (56 minutes ago)
==========================================
------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-14-2020 @ 05:50 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 10.0
Combined Chlorine: 0.0
pH: 7.4
Calcium Hardness: 125
CYA: 20

------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 06-14-2020 @ 12:20 AM
------------------------------------------
+ 2 Gallons of Bleach

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-14-2020 @ 12:15 AM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 10.5

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-13-2020 @ 04:15 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 11.0

------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 06-12-2020 @ 08:00 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 3 Gallons of Bleach

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-12-2020 @ 05:36 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 8.5
pH: 7.5

------------------------------------------
Chemical Addition 06-11-2020 @ 08:15 PM
------------------------------------------
+ 3 Gallons of Bleach

------------------------------------------
Notes 06-11-2020 @ 08:12 PM
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noticed dark brown algae on bottom of pool, Hooked up vacuum

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-11-2020 @ 01:45 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 3.0

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-10-2020 @ 10:30 AM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 4.5
pH: 7.5

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-09-2020 @ 11:00 AM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 5.0

------------------------------------------
Test Results 06-08-2020 @ 01:00 PM
------------------------------------------
Free Chlorine: 6.0
 
John, since we can't really get an accurate CYA result under 30, you should use the PoolMath tool to increase your CYA by 10 ppm to ensure you have at least 30. If you find after a day or two the CYA is closer to 40, that's okay. The SLAM FC level would be 16 instead of 12. But you want that CYA protection.

As for the toys and ladder, keep them out. If you can disassemble the ladder that's great. If not, then consider injecting each hollow area with some chlorine and let it sit for a while before rinsing and letting dry. The toys can just be cleaned outside the pool and dry for now. I think it best to focus on completing a regular SLAM Process first before even thinking of a potential mustard algae issue.

Sounds like you are much more in-tune with the process and your testing now, so try to be consistent and review the SLAM page once each day as a reminder of things to do. If you have any other questions or encounter any problems, let us know.
 
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Texas Splash said:
John, since we can't really get an accurate CYA result under 30, you should use the PoolMath tool to increase your CYA by 10 ppm to ensure you have at least 30. If you find after a day or two the CYA is closer to 40, that's okay. The SLAM FC level would be 16 instead of 12. But you want that CYA protection.

As for the toys and ladder, keep them out. If you can disassemble the ladder that's great. If not, then consider injecting each hollow area with some chlorine and let it sit for a while before rinsing and letting dry. The toys can just be cleaned outside the pool and dry for now. I think it best to focus on completing a regular SLAM Process first before even thinking of a potential mustard algae issue.

Sounds like you are much more in-tune with the process and your testing now, so try to be consistent and review the SLAM page once each day as a reminder of things to do. If you have any other questions or encounter any problems, let us know.
Click to expand...

When I removed the ladder, I noticed many holes in the ladder. Water drained out of these holes as I lifted it out of the water. I also know that the legs are filled with sand because I filled them with sand last year (per the instructions) before putting it into the pool. I can take the ladder apart, I believe. I put it together, so it should come back apart the same way.
Anyways, if I pour liquid chlorine down each leg, it’ll probably run out all of those holes. I mean it might filter down through some or all of the sand in the legs before running out of the holes but it’ll still run out.
I don’t think I can close the holes permantly because, I believe the sand by itself isn’t heavy enough to hold the ladder down and needs the weight of the water inside of the ladder to hold it down.

I reread SLAM techniques which doesn’t give all the details of the ladder and toys, then read Mustard algae because I was looking for something I knew I read before and found it on there, but again not enough details to answer all my questions.

So do I plug the holes temporarily? (To allow chlorine to sit inside the ladder for some amount of time)
If so, how long? Overnight?


I put all goggles and dive rings in a 5 gallon bucket and filled with water and then added a tablespoon of 10% liquid chlorine. Then used the pool math app to figure out that I raised the chlorine level by almost 80 ppm. I’m letting it sit overnight. Hopefully that doesn’t ruin anything lol.

I still need to do the manual vacuum head, the brush, the leaf net, etc... but not sure those will fit in the 5 gallon bucket.
Any suggestions on these?

any suggestions on the floats?
 
You're doing well John. :goodjob: For the ladder and holes, if it were me I would probably just take it apart and flush everything out really well. But that's me. See if you can check inside each step as well. The cleaning tools (vacuum head, brush, etc) should be okay just by leaving out to dry in the sun. The big thing is not having anything sitting in the pool water that could hold algae. Cleaning the toys and goggles can't hurt.
 
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