Pre pool opening (white water mold)

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Thank you. It’s what I’ve done wrong in the past. Not enough Lc for my cya (which was extremely high last 2 years) this is the third summer with “it” wwm?
My water has never been green even when devouring chlorine. Sent ahhsome guy some pics last year and he thought wwm , as well as two pool stores near me (I know I know the pool store) . I tried the pour acid on it method and it does not dissolve or disappear .
What else could it be?
 
White water mold looks like strings or pieces of wet toilet paper floating in the water. It also will cling to internal pipe surfaces and live behind stagnant areas like light niches. Raising chlorine up to SLAM levels will kill it but then you have to filter all that gunk out. It’s breaks up in fine particulates once it’s dead and can take a long time to filter out.
 
100% what I had. Thought the first slam killed it . Found some hiding behind skimmer plate today . Must be alive with chlorine demand (oclt) . Are we thinking use the ahhsome for plumbing may be necessary? I haven’t seen the flakes /tissue looking strips since first slam
I’d like to plan accordingly and do so before sand change if yes
 
Badpoolmom said:
100% what I had. Thought the first slam killed it . Found some hiding behind skimmer plate today . Must be alive with chlorine demand (oclt) . Are we thinking use the ahhsome for plumbing may be necessary? I haven’t seen the flakes /tissue looking strips since first slam
I’d like to plan accordingly and do so before sand change if yes
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If you are at SLAM chlorine levels then there’s no way WWM could be alive, it’s simply too fragile. However, in areas of poor circulation it’s possible, but not likely, it could survive. All lights need to be pulled from their niches and anything that has “hidden” areas where circulation might be low needs extra attention.

If you have a sand filter, then you might need to use DE in the sand filter to boost the filtration performance. WWM, when dead, is going to break up into very fine particulates that a sand filter will have difficulty filtering out. Pool stores like to recommend flocc for dropping the particulates but that has to be used very carefully and with slow vacuuming to waste or else you can make the problem a lot worse. DE in the filter can help to boost the filtration performance but it takes more time as the water has to turnover a lot to get all of the particulate matter out. And the filter will load up quickly which means you need to babysit it and backwash as-needed.

I would stay away from algaecides, floccs, and clarifiers. They are bandaid solutions that can create the illusion of clearing a pool temporarily and then leaving you with a bigger long term headache. Stay the course on the SLAM, clear the hidden locations, and use DE in your filter to help remove the fines.
 
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Badpoolmom said:
Are we thinking use the ahhsome for plumbing may be necessary?
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I am a yay vote.
Badpoolmom said:
Would it hurt anything to raise slam level to 20 instead of 16?
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It won't hurt besides possibly wasting some chlorine. But you've put so much effort in, you more or less made up the difference if your CYA is a bit off IMO. All those frequent adds kept the FC good and elevated the whole time.
 
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BAPM, I found this thread a few days ago and have really enjoyed seeing what dedication can do. I was shocked when after the "crickets", you began having problems again!

I recently bought a new home with a pool but haven't moved in yet. The safety cover is still on and so I'm really worried about what I'll find when I do considering it's going to be June by the time I get to move in.

As a brand new pool owner, reading threads like yours has helped me gain so much knowledge that I am sure I'll be able to tackle whatever mess I find with the help of the TFP team!

Good luck on closing the road to WWMvile for good!
 
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Awesome !
Thanks for letting me know that!
I’ve been feeling guilty because this thread is so long and I’ve required so much help from this group of amazing people. So knowing it is, or could help someone else makes me happy 😊

I have dedicated lots and lots of time and effort, but I will not stop until it’s perfect (I’m just that way lol) . A pool was a big investment for us in many ways (financial, time, effort etc)

Without the guidance here, I hate to think where I would be. I know for sure many thousands of dollars more would have been spent on “fixes” recommended by the pool store. And let’s be honest they are in the money making business so do they really ever have your best interest at heart?

I’m happy you’ve found tfp BEFORE having a pool. That puts you steps ahead of the game. I’m clearly no expert but I can follow instructions like a champ !
Best advice I can give is :

-Pick your source of information/help and stick to it (too many cooks in the kitchen kind of thing)
-Lc is king
-cya/chlorine levels/relationship ARE important. Extremely.
-make testing part of your DAILY routine. -Don’t get lazy
-keep your pool brush handy. Me and Bob are tight 🤞
-just a fun/bonus tip
* maybe start an upper body workout routine now, you’re gonna be sore haha

These are just my top picks for advice. I wish you well on your pool ownership journey. Even with all the trials, when I look out my back door and see a beautiful paradise it’s all worth it. Getting the pool wasn’t easy
Maintaining the pool isn’t easy
Work hard to have nice stuff
Work hard to keep stuff nice 👍🏻
 
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Do you feel it's leaking, or just puddling from failure to launch ? Actual leaks from anywhere besides the eyelet opening should be addressed.

Theoretically it could even be robbing their power if it's leaking before the eyeballs.
 
100% leaking . The stream from eye is fully making it to the pool water . I wiped surrounding area with paper towel to dry off. It immediately fills the white circle around the eye and does so continuously. I snapped pic after wiping and just before it was filled again. I can’t tell if coming from under the ball or what

IMG_5210.jpeg
 
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SMH I’ll just give the “foutains”15 min of glory a day and call it good.
My luck with the pc hasn’t been great. Might end up with a bigger mess asking for it to be fixed.
Unless it will cause bigger problems down the road
The concrete has buckled around one
 
Badpoolmom said:
Unless it will cause bigger problems down the road
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How do you winterize them ? If water can leak out before the eyeball, it can leak in. And then freeze below the patio.

At best, they get abandoned forever. But to fix them you'd be breaking up patio.
Badpoolmom said:
SMH I’ll just give the “foutains”15 min of glory a day and call it good.
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Now that we've seen the setup, you can leave them off forever. Why have the PITA of manually running them everyday to never actually use them.

If the time ever comes to actually use them, use 2 pipes or such to redirect the first blast away from the pool.
 

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