Sooo many aphids... sapping into my pool!!!

[Karen W]

My pecan trees are infested with aphids. My pool was fine until the honeydew (sugary carbohydrate excretion from the bugs) was so bad that the top of the pool was slimy and started to smell like a swamp. It rapidly turned cloudy and greenish. I was unable to get a good shock so I took water to be tested. I had no idea my CYA was high. I did 1/2 drain it barely came down (i cant remember but maybe from 180 down to 167??) My PH and total Alk were both high. I have put several gallons of Muriatic acid in and the Ph has come down some but then climbs again. Alk hasn't come down much (according to the "guess"strips) Now in addition to the carbohydrate exudate, I have thousands of tiny aphid carcases in the pool! I backwashed yesterday (looked like milk after only 4 days), added acid to normalize Ph, 3# HTH shock. and this morning.... ZERO chlorine on the strip and very cloudy.

1) Why did my CYA not come down more when I drained 1/2 the pool? This was tested at the store both times
2) What is all this organic garbage doing to my chemistry?
3) Is there anything else I can use to help combat this mess?
PS... getting rid of the trees is not an option

 

[jesse-99]

At TFP, we don't recommend relying on store testing as it can be wrong more often than it's correct. We strongly recommend you buy a Taylor 2006C test kit of a TF-100 test kit (TF-100 Test Kit ™) so you can measure the pH, CYA, CH, FC, TA, etc. yourself which ALWAYS yield accurate results (reagents are typically good for a season, after that , they should be replaced).

If you drain HALF your pool water, your CYA should also go down by half. Since that didn't happen for you, then something isn't right with the pool stores before/after test. Which is again, at TFP we don't like the store testing. (in general we also don't like the test strips either)

Get the kit, come back with the result from the kit you purchase, (FC, CYA, CH, pH, and TA).

HTH

 

[Karen W]

At TFP, we don't recommend relying on store testing as it can be wrong more often than it's correct. We strongly recommend you buy a Taylor 2006C test kit of a TF-100 test kit (TF-100 Test Kit ™) so you can measure the pH, CYA, CH, FC, TA, etc. yourself which ALWAYS yield accurate results (reagents are typically good for a season, after that , they should be replaced).

If you drain HALF your pool water, your CYA should also go down by half. Since that didn't happen for you, then something isn't right with the pool stores before/after test. Which is again, at TFP we don't like the store testing. (in general we also don't like the test strips either)

Get the kit, come back with the result from the kit you purchase, (FC, CYA, CH, pH, and TA).

HTH

Ok..... thats what I was thinking about the CYA. When I asked about that, the store said that the plaster can hold onto CYA??? I ordered My kit

 

[jonredraider]

Ok..... thats what I was thinking about the CYA. When I asked about that, the store said that the plaster can hold onto CYA??? I ordered My kit

Just wanted to say I'm having an identical experience (but not with the cya) here in Austin. Aphid poop isn't what I signed up for. On the bright side I think it might be getting a little better this week.

 

[Karen W]

Just wanted to say I'm having an identical experience (but not with the cya) here in Austin. Aphid poop isn't what I signed up for. On the bright side I think it might be getting a little better this week

Not what I signed up for either.... First its Pollen (march-april) then its web worm poop (may-june) usually good until fall..... not this year. I have poured more chlorine in this pool in the last 3 weeks than janurary till now.

 

[Karen W]

I got my test kit. I hope I did things correctly:

CYA = 25
FC .5
CC 4
PH 7.5
TA 160

Prior to testing I started SLAM last night using the "guess strips" the pool was starting to smell swampy again and continued to be very cloudy but not really green. I added 2 gal last night, and 1.5 this morning. I just got the good test kit, and I used the Pool math app and it said to all 1 gal 10% chlorine. So I am adding 1 gal now (noonish). I also put 2 pucks in the chlorinator. Am I missing anything?

 

[jesse-99]

If your pool is cloudy, and your CC is 4, you will definitely need to SLAM your pool.

The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship

Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.

www.troublefreepool.com

You will need to get your FC up to 12 based on CYA (round up to 30). and then you will need to pass the 3 criteria for OCLT.