How do you know if it's algae or pollen?

[erinkalogris3]

Hi everyone. Thanks in advance for your help. How do you differentiate between pollen and algae? I vacuum this stuff up, and it just keeps recurring. I live in Ohio, and we do have a lot of pollen right now. The top of our pool gets a lot of very tiny particles right now, so I'm just having a hard time determining if it's pollen or algae.

Free Chlorine: 5
PH: 7.4
Total Alkalinity: 80
CYA: 41

 

[mknauss]

Do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. If you fail, it is algae.

 

[V___25]

Do what Marty said.

But I'm in PA and the pollen is absolutely horrendous. I use skimmer socks and I have to change them every few hours because they are so full of pollen. And there are chunks of it on the bottom of the pool too so it very well could be pollen. But do the OCLT just to be sure.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Pollen would also be on your car, deck furniture, etc.