Mustard algae

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M

Mme

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May 21, 2016
31
Saltillo, MS
Drained down to 1 foot of water in shallow end. Refilled . Been slamming pool at FC =35 for three days. Nothing has happened. CYA is around 90 - 100 now. I've read about the NaBromide treatments and am about ready for it! Just don't know what product to buy. I have found Yellow Out here. What product to use?
 
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Taylor K-2006
 
Mme said:
Drained down to 1 foot of water in shallow end. Refilled . Been slamming pool at FC =35 for three days. Nothing has happened. CYA is around 90 - 100 now. I've read about the NaBromide treatments and am about ready for it! Just don't know what product to buy. I have found Yellow Out here. What product to use?
Click to expand...

If you drained to a foot, then refilled and your CYA is still 90, I would have just drained again to get the CYA to a more manageable level, such as somewhere less than 60. It's not very practical for continued maintenance and for the SLAM procedure to do so at that high stabilizer level. A picture of the water would certainly help.

Bromine treatments can produce results because bromine is not subject to the stabilizer like chlorine is. However, once you put bromine in your pool, it's a bromine pool until you completely drain and refill. That means your sanitizer, now bromine, has no protection from sunlight like CYA does for chlorine. Even if you add chlorine to a bromine pool, it instantly converts oxidized bromide (which remains in your pool after adding bromine) back into bromine so you still only have bromine in your pool. Long term, you'll have more difficulty maintaining sanitizer because there is no CYA analog for bromine.

Mustard algae is really no different than any other kind as far as how you treat the problem. It's only at the end of the SLAM procedure where you do something a little extra for suspected mustard algae. Mustard algae does exist but it's not the big boogeyman that is sometimes used by pool stores to upsell products or ill-advised bromine treatments. Reducing your CYA and then proceding with the SLAM fixes the problem long term rather than a band aid that will cause another problem.
 
JVTrain said:
If you drained to a foot, then refilled and your CYA is still 90, I would have just drained again to get the CYA to a more manageable level, such as somewhere less than 60. It's not very practical for continued maintenance and for the SLAM procedure to do so at that high stabilizer level. A picture of the water would certainly help.

Bromine treatments can produce results because bromine is not subject to the stabilizer like chlorine is. However, once you put bromine in your pool, it's a bromine pool until you completely drain and refill. That means your sanitizer, now bromine, has no protection from sunlight like CYA does for chlorine. Even if you add chlorine to a bromine pool, it instantly converts oxidized bromide (which remains in your pool after adding bromine) back into bromine so you still only have bromine in your pool. Long term, you'll have more difficulty maintaining sanitizer because there is no CYA analog for bromine.

Mustard algae is really no different than any other kind as far as how you treat the problem. It's only at the end of the SLAM procedure where you do something a little extra for suspected mustard algae. Mustard algae does exist but it's not the big boogeyman that is sometimes used by pool stores to upsell products or ill-advised bromine treatments. Reducing your CYA and then proceding with the SLAM fixes the problem long term rather than a band aid that will cause another problem.
Click to expand...

What is the little extra that you do for mustard algae at the end of a slam? Thanks!
 
Jennica said:
What is the little extra that you do for mustard algae at the end of a slam? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Here is the link on how to deal with Mustard Algae, from Pool School: Pool School - Mustard Algae

There is a link in that article to the expanded chart that has the mustard algae shock level included. Chlorine/CYA Chart For 24 hours, you'd elevate the FC to that level based on your CYA after passing the initial SLAM criteria.
 
Have drained pool again and am starting to fill. Also have iron stains all over steps and walls. I just don't know what to tackle in what order. I am now wondering if this is pollen?? It is like a dust all over the bottom of pool and on sloping sides. ???
 

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Algae most often appears as light green to yellow or it is a greyish color when dead on the bottom and acts like dust on the bottom of the pool. When brushed in a full pool, it quickly puffs away. If it is on the sides as well, it's algae. Pollen would settle and not cling to the sides, at least when under water.

Do you fill your pool from a well? If so, it could very well be iron stains. To confirm iron stains, put some vitamin C tablets in an old sock, wet the sock if they are not underwater and hold the sock on the stain for a few minutes. If they fade, then they are iron stains. If they do not fade, they could be organic stains from algae. Check out this article on metal staining. Pool School - Metals in the Water and Metal Stains

The easiest way to share photos is to upload the photo to an online site like google drive or imgur and link to them in your post using the Insert Image icon, on the From URL tab. Posting Photo's Tutorial
 
If you have iron in your water, stains and discolored water will be common. Low pH will cause the water to be yellow/green, high pH will cause the iron to precipitate out and leave stains on surfaces.

It's even more important that you keep the pool algae free as every time you have to drain and refill due to algae issues, you're reintroducing more iron and potential for staining.

If you can post test results using your test kit, that would help. Your plan going forward should be to clear the algae, following the SLAM procedure to the letter, then work on the metals staining issue.
 
That is looking quite a bit better. The staining on the liner and steps can be addressed once you have the pool clear, if they bother you. The hard part is that in order to do an ascorbic acid treatment, you'll have to drop the FC down again to do so. Using a polyquat algaecide during the process will help prevent algae while doing it. Check out the article here: Ascorbic Treatment to rid Pool of metal stains Again, it's very important to follow the instructions to the letter for this process as well.
 

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