Pool a bit hazy after rain and Sahara dust cloud

[BowserB]

Hey Orion. Note that the solar skimmer you referenced says not for salt pools. Those devices--and I've looked at half a dozen--are notorious for failures, probably mostly from being left 24/7 in the pool. I keep considering one, then not. I also have continuous wind from the south, which might cause that floating thing to be trapped at the north end of the pool.

 

[Orion7319]

Hey Orion. Note that the solar skimmer you referenced says not for salt pools. Those devices--and I've looked at half a dozen--are notorious for failures, probably mostly from being left 24/7 in the pool. I keep considering one, then not. I also have continuous wind from the south, which might cause that floating thing to be trapped at the north end of the pool.

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t see that before! I haven’t bought one yet, still going back and forth on if it’s worth it myself. We have discovered that we really need a rail for the steps and have put off the skimmer robot purchase until after that is installed. I have also been looking at these. Not sure if these really do any good, but they are so much cheaper then a robot. Do you know of anyone who has tried one if these skimmer baskets?

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[Orion7319]

And, it’s back... I didn’t run my robot this morning and when I went to swim I found what looks like a film of dead algae in spots. It goes poof when I touch it, so I am assuming it’s dead algae. Water is crystal clear CYA has been at 50, FC hasn’t dropped below 6, no CC at all. Not sure what’s going on. Don’t have enough bleach for a slam tonight, all I have is some old Dichlor shock and one gallon of bleach. So I dumped in the gallon of bleach and one bag of Dichlor (don’t like using this stuff with CYA in it) and will run the salt cell all night. I’m probably just going to by 25lbs of Cal-hypo to have on hand. I have to say though I’m a bit confused as to what I’m doing wrong. I thought I was running the salt cell at a good level for the CYA in the pool... what should be my target then?

 

[Orion7319]

So I’m thinking it’s got to be one of two things. Either my Taylor test kits reagent has gone bad or I don’t have the salt cell coming on early enough in the day and some chlorine is burning off in the mornings. I’m going to deal with this algae that is trying to bloom and then after that I think I need to have the pump and salt cell turn on earlier. I’m running it 9 hours a day at 40% which seems to maintain FC around 6. I think I’m also going to turn it up to around 50% to bump the chlorine up a bit.... I was shooting for the middle range of what pool math was telling me, I suppose I need to shoot for the higher end. Does that sound right?

 

[mariane]

I don't know anything about SWG but another thread discussed a pool owner who kept getting algae and he was going to look into whether the SWG was running well or not.
Hope you figure it out.

 

[Orion7319]

I don't know anything about SWG but another thread discussed a pool owner who kept getting algae and he was going to look into whether the SWG was running well or not.
Hope you figure it out.

The salt cell is brand new and seems to be working fine other then it always thinks the salt level is a bit higher then it actually is. We did get a lot of storms last week, I’m thinking that must have had something to do with it. However, I thought that maintaining proper FC levels would prevent algae blooms. How much of bump in chlorine should I add after a rainstorm. Do I just need to automatically take it to slam level after a heavy rain?

 

[mariane]

I'll give you a heads up to @mknauss , @kimkats , @jimmythegreek . They understand salt cells and FC level balancing much better than I.

 

[mknauss]

I’m running it 9 hours a day at 40%

That is adding 1.3 ppm of FC per day to your pool. Unless this pool is covered or indoors, that is far too low for this time of year.

I suggest you run the SWCG at 100% for the 9 hours. That will add 3.3 ppm FC per day. Test over a few days and see if the FC goes up or down. Adjust as necessary to maintain your FC in the target range.

 

[Orion7319]

That is adding 1.3 ppm of FC per day to your pool. Unless this pool is covered or indoors, that is far too low for this time of year.

I suggest you run the SWCG at 100% for the 9 hours. That will add 3.3 ppm FC per day. Test over a few days and see if the FC goes up or down. Adjust as necessary to maintain your FC in the target range.

I agree that I should either run it longer or up the salt cell. I do use the pool math app to try and target cell % and run times. I have a Hayward T-cell 940. I have selected the T-15 in pool math for those calculations, as that’s what Hayward said to set the salt system for with that particular cell. As far as I can tell, the only difference between at T940 and a T-15 is that the 940 is supposed to last longer, but I suppose it’s possible that it puts out a different chlorine amount. The pool is partially to fully shaded for most of the day, I’d say it only gets about 4 hours of sun a day when it’s not mostly in the shade. I do test the chlorine every day. It has been staying between 6-6.5, but looking though my logs, seven days ago it dropped to 4.5 after a heavy rain. I do admit though that I’m always uncertain of my results from my CYA tests... not sure if I’m doing those right. I try and test it like on the page here says to, but I’m always unsure of when exactly I can’t see the dot anymore. I think I need to round up perhaps? At any rate when I’m done with this SLAM and the FC drops back to the recommended levels, I’ll do what you suggest and 100% and adjust down from there. Thanks for the advice

 

[mknauss]

With that much shade, you may use a little less FC. The 940 is the same cell as the T15, except with thicker coating on the plates that is to last longer.

For the CYA test - -try this.
Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

 

[Orion7319]

With that much shade, you may use a little less FC. The 940 is the same cell as the T15, except with thicker coating on the plates that is to last longer.

For the CYA test - -try this.
Once you have your solution ready, back to the sun, etc. Fill the vial to a line, say 80, lower the vial to your waist level and glance for the dot, you see it, add solution to the 70 line, glance, see it, repeat until you no longer see it with a glance. Then use the CYA value one step above the line you read. So if you stopped at 50, use 60 ppm CYA.

The vial is in logarithmic scale. So it is not viable to interpolate between the lines. Just use the whole numbers, such as 50, 40, 30, ....

Thanks for the info on the salt cell, all I was finding was that it lasted quite a few hours longer, but I haven’t been able to find a lot of information about that particular cell. Curious, how is it different the the T-15 pro cell then? Does it simply last even longer than that?

Just to confirm about the CYA test. So you see it with a glance, don’t strain to try and see it, and then go up one value? So if you glance it at 50 and your not seeing the dot, then use 60? I don’t mean to sound dense, just trying to figure out how to accurately read this thing... I already figured out that you have to clean the tester pretty frequently with a pipe cleaner, because a dirty tester really throws off your test.

 

[mknauss]

Pro cell is a normal T15 sold through 'professionals'.

So if you glance it at 50 and your not seeing the dot, then use 60?

Correct.

 

[Orion7319]

Pro cell is a normal T15 sold through 'professionals'.

Correct.

Thanks! That makes sense about the testing! Thanks for the clarification about the salt cells as well.

 

[newpoolbuild]

How long Does acid tend to stay at the level after you add MA. My Husband says ours go up pretty quickly like ever few days he needed to add 1/2 G of MA to keep it down at recommend level. We just add liquid chlorine/ day usually to maintain chemistry prior to this Dust? or Algae? saga.

Where the robots shine is for getting the dust like debris off of the bottom of the pool. Of course they get the leaves too, but most vacuums do that. The dust is caught handily in the pleated filters of a robot. It’s basically like assigning a cartridge filter to clean the bottom of the pool. And it brushes to boot. You should probably hit with a brush some but I can’t say I do often, though I did today.

I never raise my FC level intentionally to sanitize as you are discussing. It shouldn’t be needed with proper levels. As mentioned above, my TA level is usually 50-90. This year it’s been staying higher, but I never adjust it intentionally. I just add MA as needed. Maybe once a week. Super easy. MA doesn’t degrade so it’s easy to keep around unlike liquid chlorine. Which reminds me, I need to check my pH.

 

[Newdude]

My Husband says ours go up pretty quickly like ever few days he needed to add 1/2 G of MA to keep it down at recommend level

You have to keep in mind that your pool is humongous and well over double the normal size seen here. Most folks fit in the 12k-20k range. You will need more of everything that needs to be added and a gallon of MA a week isn’t outrageous for 40K gallons.

Here is a neat science experiment to try. When you correct your PH, only lower it to 7.8. It will take it longer to get to 8 than if you lower it to the low 7s. Kinda like how cold water will boil sooner that hot water. Once the temperature swings it blows right by the hot water on the way to boiling. Most of us with SWGs have higher PHs and that’s the trick.

 

[Orion7319]

Ok so I think I got the PH thing figured out for this pool. I just let the TA drift down to 50 and now I only have to add acid about once a month. It usually stays between 7.4 to 7.6. I adjust it when it goes to 7.8. What’s getting me now is this pool still gets algae every so often DESPITE high chlorine levels and then I have to bring it up to slam level with Cal-hypo or bleach. Every time this seems to clear it and I pass the overnight chlorine test. I just had to dump 3 pounds of cal hypo in it tonight, because out of the blue I got another algae bloom. My CYA is reading at 60 and for the past 10 days my chlorine hasn’t been below 8.5. We did get a heavy rain a few days ago but I read it after that it was well above the recommended level. I’ve been trying to keep the chlorine at the very high end of what pool math tells me and I’m still getting algae.... I don’t understand what I should be doing differently...

 

[Orion7319]

Could my Taylor chlorine test be bad? It tests against itself very consistently, but could it be consistently low? I store my kit in my shed and it sometimes gets up to the 90s in there. Can the test kit go bad and test consistently low?

 

[Orion7319]

So after doing some research, I think I’m dealing with Mustard algae. It makes sense it’s all over my pool as it’s shaded most of the time. I read here that it’s probably all over my floats and pool toys. Didn’t think to disinfectant them with bleach. Should I use polyquat 60 as a preventive now?

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[Sollace]

Could be tree pollen? We had issues with that but it was in February. You could see the allergen report on your local news. Ours lists what allergens are high.

The Saharan dust cloud mention was what brought me over here to read. Our weather forecasters mention it multiple times a year as it comes rolling off Africa and into Texas. Fun times.

 

[Orion7319]

Could be tree pollen? We had issues with that but it was in February. You could see the allergen report on your local news. Ours lists what allergens are high.

The Saharan dust cloud mention was what brought me over here to read. Our weather forecasters mention it multiple times a year as it comes rolling off Africa and into Texas. Fun times.

I thought it could be that, but right now we only have grass pollen in our area. This last time it was most definitely an algae of some kind. It was all over the floors and walls of the pool, barely visible but everywhere. When I dumped in 3 pounds of cal-hypo it all turned dark brown and was very visible. I keep getting this brown powder stuff on my stairs right under my return jets. It’s either ground up leaves that made it somehow past the skimmer and the pool pump basket or yellow algae. I’m not sure which, but it shows up all the time.