SLAM day 4, is that algae still?

[Webster]

I need help. I found this website through a Facebook group where I posted about having mustard algae I couldn't get rid of. Or at least that's what I think it is. Everyone I've talked to says it's mustard algae. I'm a new pool owner. We bought the house in March and opened the pool in April. I've been learning/working on the pool myself for 2 months. After several bags of shock and a couple tries with yellow out I decided to try this slam method as my kids are bugging me about when the pool will be ready.

I just got the proper test kit 2 days into the SLAM. I thought I had the right one but it had DPD but not FAS. I bought a bunch of liquid chlorine as well and I took the pucks out.

Test results when I started:
FC 10 (Because I'd already shocked it multiple times with the bags of granular stuff)
TA 150
PH 7.5
CH 390
CYA 50

So today is day 4. The pool was clear yesterday, but last night after dark I saw something collecting in the bottom corner of the deep end again. Not sure if it's algae or just dirt falling into the pool and collecting in the corner. Also it's been raining off and on for the last 24 hours. This morning I passed the OCLT, and the CC has been 0.5 for a couple of days. I came back after the sun was out, to find it seems the algae continues to grow in the corners of the deep end, as well as a few spots in the corner of the ramp and the edge of the shallow end. The spots in the corner of the ramp is that yellowish-green color. The stuff in the deep end appears to be dark in color, not jet black but dark grey/charcoal in color.

Pictures enclosed. You can see it against the seams. That stuff brushes off. Overall pic of pool with pool equip/ladder being sanitized. Pic of tree canopy to show how often stuff is falling into the pool.

I had planned to increase my target FC to 30 for 24 hours as the mustard algae post says but now I'm not sure.
My current FC is 22 and my current CC is still 0.5.
Maybe it's not algae?!?
Should I stay the course or increase my target FC?

Headed out the brush & vac again. Any advice is well welcomed. Hopefully, I've provided all the pertinent information and didn't break any forum rules as this is my first post.
Grateful for this community. Thanks in advance.

-Webster

 

[clambert1273]

If it poofs like dust when brushing it may be dead algae which needs to be slowly vacuumed out. If you still see debris like that then slam isn't over, keep the fc at slam levels for a couple more days while brushing & vacuuming then go by the pass criteria..

 

[Webster]

If it poofs like dust when brushing it may be dead algae which needs to be slowly vacuumed out. If you still see debris like that then slam isn't over, keep the fc at slam levels for a couple more days while brushing & vacuuming then go by the pass criteria..

Even if it's not that light grey ash color? I've seen that before but this is much much darker in color.

 

[clambert1273]

Even if it's not that light grey ash color? I've seen that before but this is much much darker in color.

Honestly if ur still seeing anything it's not over keep dosing, brushing & vacuuming until you see nothing

 

[Webster]

Honestly if ur still seeing anything it's not over keep dosing, brushing & vacuuming until you see nothing

Heard. Thank you.

 

[Darin]

The way it is lining up on your seams looks just like that dead algae that lines up on mine. Keep at it, your almost there and follow the CYA/Shock guidelines.

 

[Webster]

The way it is lining up on your seams looks just like that dead algae that lines up on mine. Keep at it, your almost there and follow the CYA/Shock guidelines.

Thank You! I've been stressed for weeks over this so any little bit of info/encouragement means a lot!

 

[Stressed_era]

Any updates? I had this last year and thought I was in the clear this year but it's returned this week. This is my first year using the BBB method. Last year I used an algecide when closing the pool that got rid of it finally.

 

[Webster]

Any updates? I had this last year and thought I was in the clear this year but it's returned this week. This is my first year using the BBB method. Last year I used an algecide when closing the pool that got rid of it finally.

Fingers crossed. So far so good. Yesterday morning we passed the 3 conditions of the SLAM so I raised the FC to Yellow Algae levels for 24 hours. This is more difficult than I thought it would be as we had direct sunlight all day and in the days before when I started the SLAM it was raining or overcast. We finished the 24 mustard algae level this morning so now I'll just let those levels fall back to mustard algae minimum and try to maintain it there.

We had a little scare this morning as there's a bunch of stuff at the bottom of the pool. My wife decided to get in the pool to take a closer look and she's confident that it's just debris that needs to be vacuumed out. Also I opened the skimmer and there's black stuff in it. I started to freak out, but then I remembered the brush I used had lube on it. I think I spreaded it around in the skimmer and debris stuck to the lube and made it look like black algae. I also smashed it against some white paper and it just smeared black like some sort of glue.

 

[Stressed_era]

Such a pain in the Rear. It's tempting to just use a phosphate remover, both processes are annoying. I just took my pool ladder out and will clean it again before returning it to the pool. I didn't think to sanitize the kids swim jumpers either before they used them this year. That's on me. And I'm still not even convinced it's algea. I dunno what to think. Very annoying.

I use a leaf blower on the patio when I more the lawn and all kinds of dust and debris gets kicked up and likely gets into the pool since it isn't far from the patio. Especially during pollen season which is just about over. We have mainly oak trees in our area that drop those annoying brown clumps of pollen it's all over the place in late spring.

 

[Webster]

Update: Seems that the SLAM worked! As of this morning I still didn't see any growth. Funny enough this is the same day that the pool company called, said their guy was on their way to convert to SWGC! I need to go update my signature now. LOL

 

[Desert123]

I need help. I found this website through a Facebook group where I posted about having mustard algae I couldn't get rid of. Or at least that's what I think it is. Everyone I've talked to says it's mustard algae. I'm a new pool owner. We bought the house in March and opened the pool in April. I've been learning/working on the pool myself for 2 months. After several bags of shock and a couple tries with yellow out I decided to try this slam method as my kids are bugging me about when the pool will be ready.

I just got the proper test kit 2 days into the SLAM. I thought I had the right one but it had DPD but not FAS. I bought a bunch of liquid chlorine as well and I took the pucks out.

Test results when I started:
FC 10 (Because I'd already shocked it multiple times with the bags of granular stuff)
TA 150
PH 7.5
CH 390
CYA 50

So today is day 4. The pool was clear yesterday, but last night after dark I saw something collecting in the bottom corner of the deep end again. Not sure if it's algae or just dirt falling into the pool and collecting in the corner. Also it's been raining off and on for the last 24 hours. This morning I passed the OCLT, and the CC has been 0.5 for a couple of days. I came back after the sun was out, to find it seems the algae continues to grow in the corners of the deep end, as well as a few spots in the corner of the ramp and the edge of the shallow end. The spots in the corner of the ramp is that yellowish-green color. The stuff in the deep end appears to be dark in color, not jet black but dark grey/charcoal in color.

Pictures enclosed. You can see it against the seams. That stuff brushes off. Overall pic of pool with pool equip/ladder being sanitized. Pic of tree canopy to show how often stuff is falling into the pool.

I had planned to increase my target FC to 30 for 24 hours as the mustard algae post says but now I'm not sure.
My current FC is 22 and my current CC is still 0.5.
Maybe it's not algae?!?
Should I stay the course or increase my target FC?

Headed out the brush & vac again. Any advice is well welcomed. Hopefully, I've provided all the pertinent information and didn't break any forum rules as this is my first post.
Grateful for this community. Thanks in advance.
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-Webster

Your CYA at 50 is okay and TA is a bit high. Considering you shocked it your FC is okay. I had a similar problem and it boiled down to this phosphates! When you have algae and its killed the dead algae releases, yep you guessed it, more phosphates! A vicious cycle sometimes, especially when phosphates get in your pool from other sources as well. Anyway, add a phosphate remover within a couple of hours of shock. You can buy phosphate test kits at Amazon or pool supply stores. Moral of story, keep phosphates down down and down, as close to zero as possible. As you've experenced, you can still get algae back in your pool even when your chlorine level is up! Boils down to phosphates every time. Remember, algae will never grow in your pool if there's no phosphates (algae food) for it to pig out on!..... Good luck.

 

[Webster]

Your CYA at 50 is okay and TA is a bit high. Considering you shocked it your FC is okay. I had a similar problem and it boiled down to this phosphates! When you have algae and its killed the dead algae releases, yep you guessed it, more phosphates! A vicious cycle sometimes, especially when phosphates get in your pool from other sources as well. Anyway, add a phosphate remover within a couple of hours of shock. You can buy phosphate test kits at Amazon or pool supply stores. Moral of story, keep phosphates down down and down, as close to zero as possible. As you've experenced, you can still get algae back in your pool even when your chlorine level is up! Boils down to phosphates every time. Remember, algae will never grow in your pool if there's no phosphates (algae food) for it to pig out on!..... Good luck.

Welcome to Trouble Free Pools!

I ended up getting rid of it by using the TFP SLAM method. For me keeping phosphates out of the pool is near impossible as I have a huge tree canopy over my pool. Phosphate remover isn't usually recommended here anyway. In fact, if you look around in Pool School you'll see that the recommendations here are different than what you will hear nearly everywhere else. I didn't have a trouble free pool until I found this site.