I had a really bad incident of yellow algae back in February/March. It was due to a combination of things, I was a new pool owner, my filter was gunked up on the inside and I didn't know, My pool store wasn't indicating or showing me my high CYA due to years of puck maintenance, and my inline chlorinator and pool motor both broke around the same time. So needless to say every couple days there was yellow growth all over the walls and floor of my pool. To finally get rid of it (this was back in the pool store days) I fed my pool about 3 large bottles of phos free (taking 2000+ down to 0) I cranked up my chlorine from 5 to 10 against the recommendation of my pool store (they recommended keeping it around 3-4 the whole time), I scrubbed my walls and floor daily and cleaned my equipment (mainly the filter every other day) until it finally stopped coming back. Fast forward to now (3 months later). I replaced the chlorinator with SWCG in early May, dumped half my pool at the end of May and finally got my CYA back down to 80, and everything else has been extremely clear and easy as I've been attempting to manage a TFP pool. I have good Taylor kits and test almost daily. Here are today's results.
FC 6.2 (my reagent is just expiring so I'm testing at 25ml until I start using my new one)
CC 0
PH 7.4 (this does require about 15-20 oz a week to maintain since switching to SWCG)
TA 80
CYA 80
CH 350
Salt 3600
So I had to go out of town for a week and left things on automatic and that's what I returned to (tests above). Now the reason for this post is I noticed a few small yellowish stains on my stairs reminiscent of the yellow algae (although very small by comparison to March). So since my pool had not been brushed in over a week I jumped in and used my brush/vacuum to clean it up (probably should have taken a couple pics 1st).
Anyway the only thing I'm not monitoring is phosphates (because I don't use pool store testing anymore) but the numbers above are almost exactly where I want them...
Is it possible my yellow algae is still hanging around 3 months later?
To note: I have done several OCLT because when I had high CYA I was loosing less than .5 FC per day(24 hrs) nevermind at night, now at 80 CYA I still don't lose any FC at night and usually around 1-2 FC per day (if really sunny). My SWCG which is really oversized (4x) is running at about 8-9% for 8 hours a day at medium RPM's (2000).
It was so hard to get rid of that yellow algae I just don't want to take any chances. I would think with my FC above 6 and CYA now down to 80 that algae couldn't live in this pool, but I've heard that yellow algae can be extremely persistent even at high FC levels. Any other color, and I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but when I see yellow I get pool PTSD. Any help by someone with experience in this matter would be appreciated.
Pool looks great (clean and clear) after the vacuum for now. Just looking at this from a preventative perspective.
Thanks
-Tim
FC 6.2 (my reagent is just expiring so I'm testing at 25ml until I start using my new one)
CC 0
PH 7.4 (this does require about 15-20 oz a week to maintain since switching to SWCG)
TA 80
CYA 80
CH 350
Salt 3600
So I had to go out of town for a week and left things on automatic and that's what I returned to (tests above). Now the reason for this post is I noticed a few small yellowish stains on my stairs reminiscent of the yellow algae (although very small by comparison to March). So since my pool had not been brushed in over a week I jumped in and used my brush/vacuum to clean it up (probably should have taken a couple pics 1st).
Anyway the only thing I'm not monitoring is phosphates (because I don't use pool store testing anymore) but the numbers above are almost exactly where I want them...
Is it possible my yellow algae is still hanging around 3 months later?
To note: I have done several OCLT because when I had high CYA I was loosing less than .5 FC per day(24 hrs) nevermind at night, now at 80 CYA I still don't lose any FC at night and usually around 1-2 FC per day (if really sunny). My SWCG which is really oversized (4x) is running at about 8-9% for 8 hours a day at medium RPM's (2000).
It was so hard to get rid of that yellow algae I just don't want to take any chances. I would think with my FC above 6 and CYA now down to 80 that algae couldn't live in this pool, but I've heard that yellow algae can be extremely persistent even at high FC levels. Any other color, and I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but when I see yellow I get pool PTSD. Any help by someone with experience in this matter would be appreciated.
Pool looks great (clean and clear) after the vacuum for now. Just looking at this from a preventative perspective.
Thanks
-Tim
