Springtails!

[LaurenB]

I’m having a heck of a time with this pool. I’ve said before that I’m regretting an inground this time around.

This week alone I’ve been dealing with iron staining because we’re almost in drought and had to add well water. I used an RV water filter on the end of the hose in attempt to catch *some iron*. Lowered my pH. Put a CuLator in each skimmer with some polyfil. Used a sock of vitamin c tabs to clean white surfaces (can’t tell the liner is stained). Waiting on the pink stuff to arrive.

Had a dead mouse followed the next day by a dead rat. Ordered a frog log. (Had ONE dead frog at my old pool in the 8 years I had it).

Now my entire surface of the pool is covered in springtails. I noticed them Sunday. It wasn’t that bad, maybe 200? (How do you count that lol). I scooped as I swam and dumped them in a bin of soapy water.

I put the solar cover on Sunday night because air temps were going into the 50s at night and I strongly dislike evaporation and needing to add more iron to the pool. I also thought maybe it would help drown the springtails? Discourage them? Nope. There are thousands on the surface today.

I’ve searched and googled but can’t find any definitive answers and just conflicting suggestions. A few mentioned adding dawn straight to the pool?! All I can imagine is the original Freaky Friday laundry scene but in my pool.

Results this morning after removing cover:
FC 8.0
CC 0
PH 7.4
TA 80
CYA 40

The little things are so tiny they go right through the skimmer net. For now I’m going to try my leaf vacuum (it can be used upside down as a powered skimmer) with some polyfill in the net to try to catch some.

 

[nuttyp]

Yes indeed, the maintenance can seem overwhelming at times - until we work out most of the "bugs". I had a friendly service guy here and I mentioned troublefreepool... He jokingly replied "isn't that an oxymoron?". Of course here in florida we solve many of those problems (mice, large frogs, birds, most bugs & snakes) with pool cages. Not a bad look (according to many of us) once you get used to it. Some still hate the cages and it's yet another cost and some minimal maintenance needs. Not perfect, I still get tiny flying ants that push through most screens when it rains. The best net I ever found was this ultra-fine-mesh one, pricey at $58 but worth it to me. I guess the payoff in FL is a longer swim season, and I love the aesthetics as well.

In a former home with a well and iron & sulfur issues I solved it with a hefty iron filter for about $1K in 2014 dollars, but looks like they still sell for that price. It was tall so I sunk it halfway into the ground. Mine was this one from budgetwater.com 14GPM FLOW RESTRICTOR/10" TERMINOX/OUTDOOR COVER/ BYPASS VALVE/ 1" PVC TAILPIECES

Others might be able to help with opinions about the culator & polyfil - knowing the TFP methodologies that are not quick to affirm using many chemicals - for many reasons. A frog log to allow them to escape! My my, I'm so happy when I learn something new every day, thanks! And best of luck!

 

[jkhamr]

It was blackbird poop sacks for us this year! Our neighbor's trees were infested with an enourmous flock of blackbirds and they used our pool, deck, and patio as their dumping grounds. We were cleaning up three times a day for several weeks. Fortunately the young birds are flying now and they've migrated elswhere. Also, this year we ended up with 4 opossums dead in the skimmers, and a large turtle we managed to save. We had no blackbirds and a single dead mouse last year. For the last few weeks it's been good with the exception of all the rain we've had this year, last night we got 5"-6", flooding, and it's supposed to keep raining for the next week.....

 

[LaurenB]

Are you sure they are blackbirds and not grackles? We had a flock of Grackles that invaded our old pool. Maybe blackbirds do the same thing. They scoop the poo out of their nest and drop it in water to hide their whereabouts from predators. What worked AMAZING for me when that happened, a couple of those inflatable stand up dolphins in the water at all times (scares the birds away, I guess they think it’s people moving around) and several rubber snakes placed around the pool. It went from constant poop in the pool to ZERO over night! Just fyi in case they come back next year!

 

[jkhamr]

I guess we've always refered to them as blackbirds in the midwest. I never heard of grackles until I saw it on here previously when I was searching for a solution. I tried a blow up aligator, reflective tape streamers, and a couple dead blackbird decoys that I moved around the pool deck occasionally. I'm not sure any of that helped or if just by simple coincidence the babies were old enough to fly and they moved on. I guess we'll find out next year.