Since I'm being told that chorine kills the stuff, I'm surprised that this part of the forum is so active. Are problems encountered with algae primarily due to not maintaining proper levels?
If most who report on this section of the forum are (assumedly) chlorine users, why so many algae issues?
- Thread starter anthonypool89
- Start date
Saturn94
Bronze Supporter
- Mar 11, 2015
- 1,864
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Ok but still, even if chlorine is mismanaged at times, shouldn't the presence of it alone, for the most part, prevent any sort of moderate to severe algae bloom?
And this section is so busy mostly because new people keep coming in with low chlorine or other issues allowing algae to take hold.
Selenap
Well-known member
People come here with algae already. What they have been doing is not working and this is the place they end up in. Once it takes hold it’s hard to get gone.
2 kinds of folks are here for the most part
1) Help I'm at my wits end, can you teach me ?
2) I knew better but slacked and here we are
Life gets in the way for alot of folks. We had a member need to pause a SLAM while a child went for an emergency operation a week or so ago, it was a routine kinda thing, but still. It was a sobering reminder that there are way more important things sometimes. Go fix your kid OP, we can fix the pool in a few days !!!
Or folks get lazy. Lol.
1) Help I'm at my wits end, can you teach me ?
2) I knew better but slacked and here we are
Life gets in the way for alot of folks. We had a member need to pause a SLAM while a child went for an emergency operation a week or so ago, it was a routine kinda thing, but still. It was a sobering reminder that there are way more important things sometimes. Go fix your kid OP, we can fix the pool in a few days !!!
Or folks get lazy. Lol.
When I converted to my salt pool the recommended FC was something like 3 to 7 ( using memory ) so I thought hey it’s a constant supply so 3 it is. Worked great for a month or so until a Georgia spring rain washed in pollen and it was a mess.
now I learned not to do that again and keep it between 6 and 7
now I learned not to do that again and keep it between 6 and 7
I'm sure too, there are lots of TFP 'ers like me. I learned about it while my pool was being built, I read TFP pretty regular (embarrassingly so) I've yet to have algae in 4 seasons. When my swg went wonky a few weeks ago I almost panicked, but just turned Into to a "jug lugger" instead while I searched high and low for a replacement. BUT if I'd gotten algae, I would have been on here getting my hand held and my head patted while I dealt with it.
I've read many if not all of your very entertaining threads Anthony, and I gotta say I'd take algae over your pink slime and white mold any day!
Said with love " come to the chlorine side!"
I've read many if not all of your very entertaining threads Anthony, and I gotta say I'd take algae over your pink slime and white mold any day!
Said with love " come to the chlorine side!"
I add #3 - Mother Nature is messing with me
with all the rains from Texas to Florida and up to the Northeast coupled with heat & humidity - I think this has caused some unwanted outbreaks in algae, especially for those that have kept their FC at the minimum
Excellent add !!!! If extended rain hits while the pump isn’t circulating for 12-16 hours it can cause a bunch of headaches also.
red-beard
Gold Supporter
- May 27, 2019
- 1,624
- Pool Size
- 25000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite Pro (T-15)
Mostly it is new people. They do not understand the relationship between Free Chlorine and Stabilizer. They listened to neighbors, to co-workers, pool builders, pool store employees and Crud they read on the internet (Irony!!!!).
I was one of those people. I think most of the people here were those people at one time or another.
And then you read through the site and find out what works and what doesn't. And what will allow you to minimize your time working on the pool and maximize being IN your pool.
Yeah...I was also one that started with chlorine BUT only followed pool store advice with using (only) granualr chlorine sticks. Liquid was never presented as an option to me. So nothing was ever explained to me about CYA, and chlorine lock (which is what I ran into but was told it was chlorine demand and that my only recourse was to add like 100 lbs of more granualr stuff. That's when I gave up on chlorine and went to baqua). Looking back on it, I got so much bad advice from that store. Now they don't even want to deal with me anymore (long story). That's fine. The feeling is mutual.
So you had mold issues while using chlorine??
Climate change (I guess you could say it's mother nature to some extent) is going to mess with all of us. Our weather patterns affect our pools and thus water chemistry.
Actually, I have found rains, even heavy ones, don't affect the FC levels all that much. If anything, my SWG is set to provide enough chlorine for the hottest, sunniest summer days. When it is overcast or raining, my SWG is producing more chlorine than is needed and my FC inches up over those days.
Regarding the white water mold question. When you run your CYA over 300 chlorine can be ineffective. Especially when you are using tabs, granular shock and following pool store advice and testing. In retrospect, I really enjoyed the just add more shock (CYA) to the already high CYA merry-go-round advice I got from the pool store. I didn't realize how badly I'd been "pool schooled" until I found TFP. The pool store advice shortened the life of a new liner, cost me hundreds of $ in chemicals I didn't need and a complete water exchange. Since I couldn't empty the pool, I did several water exchanges to get the CYA down to a manageable level. I paid to have the water trucked each time since my well is not up to filling a pool. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
borjis
LifeTime Supporter
Whenever I see a post that someone suddenly has an algae problem after rain it doesn't make any sense. I've never had that issue..ever. their fc levels were barely adequate to begin with, most likely.
If you look you rarely see pool stores pushing SWG. Would put them out of business
And if they just sold liquid chlorine wouldn’t make a lot of money. They benefit from that $35 can of yellow out
It is not just the rain. Many big storms causes debris to be put in pool so a combination of rain water, debris and as you stated, minimum FC levels is a recipe for algae. If you are not adjusting your SWCG output or adding LC directly after then that could trigger a bloom.