Mustard Algae or not?

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C

Cchandler

0
Jun 4, 2018
19
Commerce GA
I am driving myself crazy trying to figure out if I have mustard algae. My husband thinks it is dirt. It is like sand light brown and along the edges of the pool pretty much all around. It is not on the walls that I can tell. We had mustard algae last year (or so we think) and the water was yellowish/ green. We would vacuum and it would always come back next day. Finally, we vacuumed to waste and closed the pool. This year, all of this started after my husband bush hogged around the farm....any link there?

Here are my stats for this evening. I am using 10% bleach, no more pucks
Water is crystal clear too.
FC: 3.5
CC: 0
TA: 125
pH: 7.4

iF i HAD ALGAE WOULD i HAVE A CC OF O?
 
Yes, I had mustard algae type 2 and I passed the OCLT and my CC was 0. If you brush it does it turn brown and disappear? This algae is really difficult to remove. It took about a week to get it under control. Another thing you can do is grab it with your hands and see if it feels somewhat slimy or does it feel like dirt.

When I had this issue I would vacuum to waste, but by the next day my pool had this brown particle at the bottom.

One experiment I did was vacuum at night and not run the pump. If the particles only showed up when I ran the pump in the morning then I felt confident it was algae being irritated. Assuming there was no wind or pollen for the day
 
I'm having the same problem! I've vacuumed to waste and it was gone for 4-5 days and now it has settled on the bottom in the low spots again! It just puffs away when you try and get close to it. I'm in the process of SLAMing my pool. My water is crystal clear, my CC =0 CYA=60 pH =7.8. I am doing the OCLT tonight to see if my FC drops or my CC changes. Grrrr...so frustrating and so much work!
 
Jktbnelson said:
I'm having the same problem! I've vacuumed to waste and it was gone for 4-5 days and now it has settled on the bottom in the low spots again! It just puffs away when you try and get close to it. I'm in the process of SLAMing my pool. My water is crystal clear, my CC =0 CYA=60 pH =7.8. I am doing the OCLT tonight to see if my FC drops or my CC changes. Grrrr...so frustrating and so much work!
Click to expand...
My OCLT resulted in no drop in FC and my CC stayed at 0, so my SLAM is complete. I'm going to vacuum to waste and see what happens.
 
Ok, first, if you still have visible algae, dead or alive, your SLAM is not over. The order of events should be:

Water crystal clear, no signs of algae
then
CC is .5 or less? If yes,
then
OCLT

Second, your FC is getting very close to absolute minimum for your CYA. Since you have been SLAMming, you are flirting with disaster having FC that low. Normally, you should shoot for FC around 6. During SLAM, you should keep FC at 16 as much as possible. Is that what you did?

Stacey, you need to click on Pool School at top of page. Start with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry. And order test kit like the one in my signature!
 

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No, because it could be dead algae. Can you get a sample of it? What does it feel like?
 
CC, you can try. Dead algae tends to dissipate when disturbed, then settle again.

I would stir it up and let your filter deal with it. I would also stay at SLAM for another day or so.
 
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