Mustard Algae Question

[Chaya]

If you use Pool Math app, you can share your results with us and also record your tests. It does require a subscription, but it's like $8 or something super negligible.

I agree with what Mr. Bruce said. SLAM isn't a one time thing or application. If your water is cloudy, you've not completed SLAM.

I do not use the pool math app.
Why do you say the water is cloudy? I must have been unclear about the timing. I came home yesterday, the water was cloudy, i kept at SLAM shock levels overnight and now the water is crystal clear to the bottom.

 

[Mr Bruce]

Nah, I see them. "Clear" includes no algae, dead or alive. 11pm-6am is kind of pushing the limit of "overnight". Just to check, was the pump running 30 minutes before the morning test?

How about a picture

 

[frogabog]

I do not use the pool math app.
Why do you say the water is cloudy? I must have been unclear about the timing. I came home yesterday, the water was cloudy, i kept at SLAM shock levels overnight and now the water is crystal clear to the bottom.

So there's no dead algae on the bottom anymore? When you brush nothing poofs and makes it cloudy? You said cloudy yesterday. Yesterday isn't far from today. Your pump was running all night to catch everything in suspension?

Why do you not use pool math? How do you know how much of what you're adding does what?

 

[Chaya]

Nah, I see them. "Clear" includes no algae, dead or alive. 11pm-6am is kind of pushing the limit of "overnight". Just to check, was the pump running 30 minutes before the morning test?

How about a picture

Well, there is dead algae, so i stand corrected. I didn't realize the seriousness of that omission. The pump was running the entire night and has not been shut off at all. Can certainly provide picture once i get home. What happens if kids swam and stirred up the algae at the bottom?

 

[Mr Bruce]

Then it will help the filter get it (a good thing)

 

[Chaya]

So there's no dead algae on the bottom anymore? When you brush nothing poofs and makes it cloudy? You said cloudy yesterday. Yesterday isn't far from today. Your pump was running all night to catch everything in suspension?

Why do you not use pool math? How do you know how much of what you're adding does what?

Yes, this morning there was dead algae which i did not have time to vacuum up. i looks good and dead and I certainly don't think it will POOF. My pump was on all night to catch anything that could be caught.

Sure i use the pool math. I just don't use the app. I am not familiar with an app but use this:

PoolMath

Discover the calculator behind the perfect pool, PoolMath. Dealing with pools has allowed TFP to become the original authors of the best calculator on the net.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Chaya]

Then it will help the filter get it (a good thing)

Oh good. Look at that, i finally did something right

 

[frogabog]

While I love love

Yes, this morning there was dead algae which i did not have time to vacuum up. i looks good and dead and I certainly don't think it will POOF. My pump was on all night to catch anything that could be caught.

Sure i use the pool math. I just don't use the app. I am not familiar with an app but use this:

PoolMath

Discover the calculator behind the perfect pool, PoolMath. Dealing with pools has allowed TFP to become the original authors of the best calculator on the net.

www.troublefreepool.com

While I love love, love Pool Math, the browser version... I love, love, love, love Pool Math the app! So simple to use at the pool, and it records everything I log. Makes it super easy. Even if you don't subscribe, being able to do calculations outside is a nice convenience. $8 for a subscription is about the price of a nice log book that you have to write all your test results in. A little over the price of a single yummy coffee drink. About the same price as a Subway sandwich. Negligible.

Pool Math (browser version) has a slight few more options such as calculating pool volume and showing volumes for dry weights, so it can be a nice backup to the app, but the app is so cool and it allows us to see your test results and chemical additions which helps us help you quite a bit.

 

[frogabog]

Oh good. Look at that, i finally did something right

You're doing fine! Learning is part of the process. If the kids aren't swimming and keeping it stirred, use your brush to keep the particles in suspension as much as you can. And of course, maintain SLAM level FC. If your kids are old enough, they can also help with brushing and even with testing and adding chlorine. Teach them how to do it properly, maybe even offer an incentive. If they have phones, you can even get them involved with logging things in the app. You can log everything including brushing or who is swimming and when. The notes section of the logs is useful for these kind of things that you want to remember.

All the kid stuff assumes they're old enough and mature enough to handle this safely, of course. YMMV

 

[Chaya]

Its sounds super cool and well worth the price but i think an app needs a smart phone... which I don't have.
So not for me right now. But thank you.

 

[Chaya]

You're doing fine! Learning is part of the process. If the kids aren't swimming and keeping it stirred, use your brush to keep the particles in suspension as much as you can. And of course, maintain SLAM level FC. If your kids are old enough, they can also help with brushing and even with testing and adding chlorine. Teach them how to do it properly, maybe even offer an incentive. If they have phones, you can even get them involved with logging things in the app. You can log everything including brushing or who is swimming and when. The notes section of the logs is useful for these kind of things that you want to remember.

All the kid stuff assumes they're old enough and mature enough to handle this safely, of course. YMMV

Yes, they are big enough and do help me quite a bit both testing, vacuuming and brushing. So I should be maintaining SLAM levels until no dead algae is falling to the bottom - due to having been stirred up and caught by filter or because it was vacuumed up? I thought once the water was clear, and i was not losing chlorine overnight i could let the FC drift back to normal.

 

[Mr Bruce]

If you brush a pool with dead algae in it won't be clear anymore. And "clear" is tell if a quarter is heads or tails in the deep end, screw type on drain cover, etc. CLEAR.

 

[Chaya]

So in normal situations if i have dead algae on the bottom I don't let anyone into the pool until i vacuum it because i don't want to stir it up in the water and have it cloud again. (today, i did leave before vacuuming but that's not typically the case). I do think the water was that clear this morning aside from dead algae deposits, but now I know what to look for to double check in the future. Typically we say how well we can see the bottom drain. When its CLEAR we say we can see the drain as if there was no water covering it. I like that quarter method. I'm sure the kids will have fun with that.

 

[frogabog]

Yes, they are big enough and do help me quite a bit both testing, vacuuming and brushing. So I should be maintaining SLAM levels until no dead algae is falling to the bottom - due to having been stirred up and caught by filter or because it was vacuumed up? I thought once the water was clear, and i was not losing chlorine overnight i could let the FC drift back to normal.

Yes! It will speed up this process quite a bit and there will far less chance of faltering/backtracking as has been happening to you of late.

I haven't read in the SLAM process articles or anywhere else on TFP about water being clear with dead algae falling to the bottom being the end of the SLAM process. If you don't filter out all the dead algae, it will revive itself. Letting FC fall to min/target with it still in your pool revives it. You have to eliminate all algae, dead or alive.

 

[frogabog]

So in normal situations if i have dead algae on the bottom I don't let anyone into the pool until i vacuum it because i don't want to stir it up in the water and have it cloud again. (today, i did leave before vacuuming but that's not typically the case). I do think the water was that clear this morning aside from dead algae deposits, but now I know what to look for to double check in the future. Typically we say how well we can see the bottom drain. When its CLEAR we say we can see the drain as if there was no water covering it. I like that quarter method. I'm sure the kids will have fun with that.

I think the kids will be happy that you can let them do the stirring. If however it becomes so cloudy that you can't see the bottom then it's a safety issue. If you can't see someone under the water at the bottom, you can't save that someone.

A number of years ago a woman was at the bottom of a public pool for DAYS before anyone noticed. Letting people swim in cloudy water is a safety issue that can't be ignored.