Hi all,
I have some stubborn organic stains on my vinyl liner (as determined by trichlor puck test). Below are my current numbers based on Taylor k2006:
FC 8
Cya 50
PH 7.6
TA 175-200 (currently working on lowering by lowering PH and aeration)
CSI 150
I had a disastrous year last year as a first time pool owner. Being a complete novice I listened to lots of bad advice from local pool store. Had trouble getting any FC reading on test strips. Was advised to get granulated chlorine and use trichlor pucks. Cya was somewhere likely over 300 mid season (I don’t know for sure, best guess based on test strips at the time). After spending most of the back half of last year’s pool season and the first few weeks of May this year draining and refilling, I finally have my stabilizer in check. The organic stains started showing up last season and are still around this year. I suspect mustard algae, however brushing has zero impact (no “poof” or change in appearance) vitamin C test does nothing, and the only thing that seems to have any impact at all is a trichlor puck laid on top for a few minutes (some of the stains totally disappear in the spot where the puck was in contact with the liner).
A few weeks ago, once I had my stabilizer down around 60, I performed my first SLAM based on poolmath.com calculations. The slam lasted 5 days until I was able to pass OCLT and CC was .5. The spots seemed to be lessening a bit during the slam but never disappeared. I did a mustard algae slam as part of it but I have to admit I didn’t catch that you do that after you’ve already passed the 3 criteria, not at the beginning of the slam. Therefore I let the higher FC drift down from MA levels to normal SLAM levels for the last 4 days of the process.
Should my next course of action be do another slam, pass all 3 criteria, then complete the mustard algae slam and see what happens? Given what I’ve described, is it likely some type of algae? Attached are some pics of what I am dealing with. I will add that the water is crystal clear (it has always been, I’ve never had an issue with cloudy water even last season when nothing went right). The spots appear brownish when viewed in direct sunlight.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I have some stubborn organic stains on my vinyl liner (as determined by trichlor puck test). Below are my current numbers based on Taylor k2006:
FC 8
Cya 50
PH 7.6
TA 175-200 (currently working on lowering by lowering PH and aeration)
CSI 150
I had a disastrous year last year as a first time pool owner. Being a complete novice I listened to lots of bad advice from local pool store. Had trouble getting any FC reading on test strips. Was advised to get granulated chlorine and use trichlor pucks. Cya was somewhere likely over 300 mid season (I don’t know for sure, best guess based on test strips at the time). After spending most of the back half of last year’s pool season and the first few weeks of May this year draining and refilling, I finally have my stabilizer in check. The organic stains started showing up last season and are still around this year. I suspect mustard algae, however brushing has zero impact (no “poof” or change in appearance) vitamin C test does nothing, and the only thing that seems to have any impact at all is a trichlor puck laid on top for a few minutes (some of the stains totally disappear in the spot where the puck was in contact with the liner).
A few weeks ago, once I had my stabilizer down around 60, I performed my first SLAM based on poolmath.com calculations. The slam lasted 5 days until I was able to pass OCLT and CC was .5. The spots seemed to be lessening a bit during the slam but never disappeared. I did a mustard algae slam as part of it but I have to admit I didn’t catch that you do that after you’ve already passed the 3 criteria, not at the beginning of the slam. Therefore I let the higher FC drift down from MA levels to normal SLAM levels for the last 4 days of the process.
Should my next course of action be do another slam, pass all 3 criteria, then complete the mustard algae slam and see what happens? Given what I’ve described, is it likely some type of algae? Attached are some pics of what I am dealing with. I will add that the water is crystal clear (it has always been, I’ve never had an issue with cloudy water even last season when nothing went right). The spots appear brownish when viewed in direct sunlight.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Since you've already confirmed the staining is from organic residue, it's just going to take some time. Maybe a lot of it. You can't rush it because you certainly don't want to damage the liner. You can try elevating the FC to mid-SLAM level for a while. That, coupled with consistent brushing each day, might help.
