I'll probably get "slammed" for this. And, yes this is about the C word... Copper seems to be blasphemy around here. But, I thought I'd share my experience with it. Actually, this is an ongoing saga. So, this post may be a little premature. Consider this Episode I.
Our first pool season was 2012. We've never had an algae problem until around mid-June of this year. I've always considered pool maintenance easy. But, this year has been challenging. I've never used or needed an algaecide product until this year. First tried the basic cheap "foaming" type algaecides. I didn't find the foaming to be much of a problem. You splash and it makes a couple bubbles. So what. That effect only lasts a few days as the product breaks down. In any case, the product seems to do nothing for algae control.
This stuff kept growing on the bottom of the pool. Clean it up in the morning. By the evening, it would be mostly back. I have to assume mustard algae even though everyone tells me it's rare. The water has always remained crystal clear. This stuff accumulated mostly on the bottom. And, brushes off easily into a dust cloud. Raising the chlorine helped somewhat. But, the problem seemed to be getting worse over time. I had ruled out pollen since it did show some response to chlorine. More of a control, than a kill. Originally, if FC fell below 5, it would take over. However, this threshold level seemed to keep escalating. And, there were no CYA products being used; only liquid chlorine.
So, then, I discover TFP. I read about the "SLAM" process. The key to that seems to be CYA. The pool store was giving me inconsistent results. So, time to do my own testing. And, now I can see why the results are inconsistent. That test is so subjective. In any case, I'm 100% certain my CYA is between 60 and 100. My wife and I were originally trying to decide if it was 50 or 60. Later I tried a 50/50 diluted sample since the BD CYA test seems geared toward reading lower CYA. This reading was between 30 and 40. So, you're supposed to take the higher number. And, with the diluted sample, this means 80. Those chlorine numbers all look astronomical to me. But, since I'm 100% certain it's at least 60, I'll go with that even though it's most likely 80. So, that means FC up to 24.
Basically, for about 2 weeks, I had been holding the chlorine around 20-24 each night. It would drop 0 or 1 overnight (OCLT pass). CC would be 0. And, we have clear water. Isn't that the SLAM ending criteria? But, this algae stuff would keep growing. Brush, brush, brush. The sun would burn off about 4-6 ppm over the day. And, repeat the next night. Getting nowhere. In fact, I feel like I'm just selectively breeding more and more chlorine resistant algae.
Friday, the copper algaecide (http://a.co/2ZuCDTM) shows up from Amazon. Dosage says 18oz for a pool of my size. We'll go with that. Instructions say to dilute with 1 gallon water before adding (look at all those empty chlorine bottles over there). Go to bed FC=24. Saturday morning FC=16, CC=1. Wow, something happened that night. And, I've never really seen an obvious combined chlorine measurement (vivid pink from reagent #3). No visible algae. But, brushing revealed some slight dust. This could have been spots I missed; the previous night it was all over the place. But, the usual spots were clean. Water still clear. Filter pressure unchanged. Next night, FC=20. Morning FC=18. Again, no visible algae. However, this time, brushing couldn't find dust anywhere. And, Sunday night FC=21. Monday morning FC=22. Lost nothing last night; just testing inaccuracy. And, still no dust and crystal clear water. This is looking very promising. I think the solution was the Cu and the Cl. The results seem to suggest that the Cu did something to allow the Cl to finally kill that stuff.
I realize there is a slight risk to green hair, etc. But, I can't imagine that being an issue with a single dose. I'm not planning on adding any more; it will hang around for a long time. And, I'm not too worried about staining on the liner. It's a blue patterned pebble. Staining the white stairs wouldn't be desirable. Perhaps raising the chlorine level further would have eventually killed it. But, this has risks too. And, I probably would have had to bring down CYA some with a partial drain/fill. Also, I really don't want to bleach out my new liner (replaced 2017).
Oh yeah, I didn't talk about ph. It's usually uneventful. It hangs out around 7.4. Ph around here is easy to deal with. Our water source has practically 0 TA. I've NEVER used MA. Just some baking soda (lots of it actually) keeps things balanced. It will be interesting to see where the Ph level really is when I allow the Chlorine to drop to normal levels. I expect it to be low since I haven't added baking soda throughout this process (I need an accurate Ph read to make this decision). Top-off water and rain tend to drive Ph down.
My plan is to hold the chlorine up for another day or two. Swap/clean filters and hopefully be done with this. I'll declare victory if the algae doesn't return when the Cl goes down to normal levels. To be continued...
Our first pool season was 2012. We've never had an algae problem until around mid-June of this year. I've always considered pool maintenance easy. But, this year has been challenging. I've never used or needed an algaecide product until this year. First tried the basic cheap "foaming" type algaecides. I didn't find the foaming to be much of a problem. You splash and it makes a couple bubbles. So what. That effect only lasts a few days as the product breaks down. In any case, the product seems to do nothing for algae control.
This stuff kept growing on the bottom of the pool. Clean it up in the morning. By the evening, it would be mostly back. I have to assume mustard algae even though everyone tells me it's rare. The water has always remained crystal clear. This stuff accumulated mostly on the bottom. And, brushes off easily into a dust cloud. Raising the chlorine helped somewhat. But, the problem seemed to be getting worse over time. I had ruled out pollen since it did show some response to chlorine. More of a control, than a kill. Originally, if FC fell below 5, it would take over. However, this threshold level seemed to keep escalating. And, there were no CYA products being used; only liquid chlorine.
So, then, I discover TFP. I read about the "SLAM" process. The key to that seems to be CYA. The pool store was giving me inconsistent results. So, time to do my own testing. And, now I can see why the results are inconsistent. That test is so subjective. In any case, I'm 100% certain my CYA is between 60 and 100. My wife and I were originally trying to decide if it was 50 or 60. Later I tried a 50/50 diluted sample since the BD CYA test seems geared toward reading lower CYA. This reading was between 30 and 40. So, you're supposed to take the higher number. And, with the diluted sample, this means 80. Those chlorine numbers all look astronomical to me. But, since I'm 100% certain it's at least 60, I'll go with that even though it's most likely 80. So, that means FC up to 24.
Basically, for about 2 weeks, I had been holding the chlorine around 20-24 each night. It would drop 0 or 1 overnight (OCLT pass). CC would be 0. And, we have clear water. Isn't that the SLAM ending criteria? But, this algae stuff would keep growing. Brush, brush, brush. The sun would burn off about 4-6 ppm over the day. And, repeat the next night. Getting nowhere. In fact, I feel like I'm just selectively breeding more and more chlorine resistant algae.
Friday, the copper algaecide (http://a.co/2ZuCDTM) shows up from Amazon. Dosage says 18oz for a pool of my size. We'll go with that. Instructions say to dilute with 1 gallon water before adding (look at all those empty chlorine bottles over there). Go to bed FC=24. Saturday morning FC=16, CC=1. Wow, something happened that night. And, I've never really seen an obvious combined chlorine measurement (vivid pink from reagent #3). No visible algae. But, brushing revealed some slight dust. This could have been spots I missed; the previous night it was all over the place. But, the usual spots were clean. Water still clear. Filter pressure unchanged. Next night, FC=20. Morning FC=18. Again, no visible algae. However, this time, brushing couldn't find dust anywhere. And, Sunday night FC=21. Monday morning FC=22. Lost nothing last night; just testing inaccuracy. And, still no dust and crystal clear water. This is looking very promising. I think the solution was the Cu and the Cl. The results seem to suggest that the Cu did something to allow the Cl to finally kill that stuff.
I realize there is a slight risk to green hair, etc. But, I can't imagine that being an issue with a single dose. I'm not planning on adding any more; it will hang around for a long time. And, I'm not too worried about staining on the liner. It's a blue patterned pebble. Staining the white stairs wouldn't be desirable. Perhaps raising the chlorine level further would have eventually killed it. But, this has risks too. And, I probably would have had to bring down CYA some with a partial drain/fill. Also, I really don't want to bleach out my new liner (replaced 2017).
Oh yeah, I didn't talk about ph. It's usually uneventful. It hangs out around 7.4. Ph around here is easy to deal with. Our water source has practically 0 TA. I've NEVER used MA. Just some baking soda (lots of it actually) keeps things balanced. It will be interesting to see where the Ph level really is when I allow the Chlorine to drop to normal levels. I expect it to be low since I haven't added baking soda throughout this process (I need an accurate Ph read to make this decision). Top-off water and rain tend to drive Ph down.
My plan is to hold the chlorine up for another day or two. Swap/clean filters and hopefully be done with this. I'll declare victory if the algae doesn't return when the Cl goes down to normal levels. To be continued...
