New and Feeling Frustrated

[Minrali]

Hi everyone. We moved into our house in November and promptly had a company come out and close our pool for the winter. We opened it ourselves about a month ago, and have been battling the cursed mustard algae for the last 3 weeks. My pool looks awful, and my triceps and traps are nearly dead from all the scrubbing and I've spent a stupid amount on chemicals from the pool store. I was about ready to say screw it and drain the pool to acid wash until I stumbled across TFP. I've read thru the instructions for slamming the pool, and my Cya level is 38. How much bleach do I add at minimum with a 30000 gallon pool to raise the free chlorine level?

If you've read this far, you're amazing. Thank you for any advise you can give. Happy baby picture for tax.

 

[AK-]

Welcome to TFP!!!

The very first thing you are going to need for a SLAM is a good test kit. Either a TF-100 (link in my signature) or a K-2006C will do.

Once you are able to test your pool on your own folks here will help you through out the process of getting it crystal clear.

How sure your are you are dealing with mustard algae? Can you post few pictures of your pool?

While you wait for the test kit make sure you add 5ppm worth of Liquid Chlroine (Liquid Pool Shock or Plain Bleach) every evening. Use PoolMath to calculate how much to add. And please work on your signature so other can better help you (Create Your Signature - Further Reading).

Recommend reading:

What is TFPC?

We believe any pool owner can achieve and maintain safe, crystal clear pool water, by using the science-based, Trouble Free Pool Care (TFPC) methodology.

www.troublefreepool.com

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Getitrite]

Welcome ! The Good: You "Stumbled" onto TFP. Better: You can End "Stumbling" with pool care. Best: You'll be in charge of caring for your own pool enjoyment. @AK- just gave you starting references, so a review of those will get you on the road to recovery. I lurked around here for a year before becoming a "convert", and certainly glad I did.

 

[Minrali]

Welcome to TFP!!!

The very first thing you are going to need for a SLAM is a good test kit. Either a TF-100 (link in my signature) or a K-2006C will do.

Once you are able to test your pool on your own folks here will help you through out the process of getting it crystal clear.

How sure your are you are dealing with mustard algae? Can you post few pictures of your pool?

While you wait for the test kit make sure you add 5ppm worth of Liquid Chlroine (Liquid Pool Shock or Plain Bleach) every evening. Use PoolMath to calculate how much to add. And please work on your signature so other can better help you (Create Your Signature - Further Reading).

Recommend reading:

What is TFPC?

We believe any pool owner can achieve and maintain safe, crystal clear pool water, by using the science-based, Trouble Free Pool Care (TFPC) methodology.

www.troublefreepool.com

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks so much. The first picture is from a couple of days ago. The "silty" stuff that settles brushes right off. The pool store said it looked and sounded like mustard algae and a lot of people were struggling with it right now. I have used a copper Algeacide 2x now. Initial treatment a and one follow up yesterday. It is making a difference, but the visibility is terrible in the pool.

 

[AK-]

Copper indeed kills algae. It also tints hair and nails in green color and also stains plaster. I would not use it.

I’m no expert in mustard algae. Never had to deal with it. But that looks like regular algae to me. I’m sure someone like @Texas Splash can mail what it is.

 

[markayash]

I will be the bad broken record stay away from pool store and algaecide Especially with copper can end up with bigger issues .
We have all been there and learned the hard way.
Once the water is balanced your life will be a lot better

I have and like the tf100 kit but the Taylor 2006 is also a good one. Here is a link comparing them.

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why shouldn't I use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Bperry]

Thanks so much. The first picture is from a couple of days ago. The "silty" stuff that settles brushes right off. The pool store said it looked and sounded like mustard algae and a lot of people were struggling with it right now. I have used a copper Algeacide 2x now. Initial treatment a and one follow up yesterday. It is making a difference, but the visibility is terrible in the pool.

It’s really hard to believe sometimes but the pool store testing process tends to be terribly inaccurate, and their advice on what to do about the inaccurate results is even worse. Your water isn’t as bad as some that ended up here so that’s good. Best advice above is to get one of those specific test kits online (they aren’t usually sold in stores) and then return as much as you can of what you bought at the pool store. The very few things you’ll need can be acquired much cheaper at stores like Home Depot, Walmart, etc.

 

[Texas Splash]

The pool store said it looked and sounded like mustard algae and a lot of people were struggling with it right now. I have used a copper Algeacide 2x now. Initial treatment a and one follow up yesterday. It is making a difference, but the visibility is terrible in the pool.

Looks like the standard algae bloom we see all the time here at TFP. The advice above is spot-on. You must have your own (proper) test kit. It's easy to do and you can bet your results will be astounding. Need some proof or motivation? Checkout some of the pics below.

How Clear is TFP Clear? Let's See (Pics Only Please).

How clear should my water be? A very common question. Here is mine on a calm morning where I could finally vacuum. Yes I know, I'm still manually vacuuming. It took me 7 years to finally get an SWG, I'm working on a robot. :) So now let's see your water clarity.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Minrali]

I went the do my morning brush down of the pool, and I could see the bottom in the shallow end! Even the worm that found its way in yesterday! The bubble thing on wall-e's power line is vivible when it's in the deep end. I switched from bleach to chlorinating liquid yesterday, as I finally found some, did the weekly backwash, and topped off the water level. I've been adding 242 oz of bleach every night since Friday last week to keep the ppm over 5. My test kit is arriving on Tuesday. I'm just so excited to see visible progress. I'll update again once I have tested the water with the accurate kit.

 

[Oly]

You are now in the fast lane on the road to a Trouble Free Pool.
Check these short videos out ....

 

[Minrali]

My test kit arrived today and here are my numbers.
FC: 7.8
pH: 7.4
TA:120
CH: 450
CYA: 32
I just backwash and rinse cycled the filter after getting these numbers. I had been treating an algae mess with liquid chlorine the last three days, bleach for a week prior. The cloudiness is significantly improved, but still there. Especially in the deep end. There is very little "silt" accumulating overnight now. Which number should I tackle first? I'm thinking the CYA needs to be brought up first?

 

[AK-]

My test kit arrived today and here are my numbers.
FC: 7.8
pH: 7.4
TA:120
CH: 450
CYA: 32
I just backwash and rinse cycled the filter after getting these numbers. I had been treating an algae mess with liquid chlorine the last three days, bleach for a week prior. The cloudiness is significantly improved, but still there. Especially in the deep end. There is very little "silt" accumulating overnight now. Which number should I tackle first? I'm thinking the CYA needs to be brought up first?

How did you get 32 CYA? You can’t read between the lines. The scale is not linear.

CYA Testing - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[PieterS]

Your CYA is just fine for a SLAM. Just one note - CYA always rounds to the next higher number, don't try to read between the lines. So in your case the CYA would be 40, and you would SLAM based on the FC/CYA Levels. For a CYA of 40, raise your FC to 16 and try to maintain it there until you pass all three criteria of the SLAM Process.