Winner, winner, Mustard algae Dinner!

[Flying Tivo]

A week ago I had trouble with my SWG not working due to a bad connection at the iPh control Box. Plugged the SWG directly to the ET and it worked. My FC dropped from 10 to 5. So I manually added Bleach to reach 10 again. Water temp is close to the cutoff on the SWG (12ºC) but has been working 1 hour a day at 50%.
So my FC steadily went down again from 10 to 6 over 6 days. Then my wife noticed a yellow/rust like accumulation on the skimmer entrance grout. Yesterday I manually brushed, but the grout was still yellowish. Today the yellowish accumulation had grown in size so no kidding myself and started a SLAM.

MY TESTS before SLAM:

FC-6
CC-0
PH-7.8-8
TA-90
CH-325
CYA-70(did not warm up to room temp so probably 60)
SALT-3200
TEMP-12ºC
CSI-0.00

Then Started the SLAM by adding:

934ml of Acid 29% to bring down to 7, will help to bring down TA a bit more.
5,308ml of Bleach 12% to bring up to 28

Did not try the OCLT since its been foggy for the last week and still loosing FC.
Kind of obvious to me, but if I missed something please let me know.
I do have a construction site 2 houses down.
Will put up some pictures tomorrow to see if it has grown.

Felipe

 

[kimkats]

Does it dust up when you brush?

I do agree you need to SLAM but want to make sure you know for sure what you are dealing with.

Make sure to brush often to keep everything up to help the filter get it out of the water.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Yes Kim, it's like a fluffy cloud, almost like microscopic dandelions!

 

[kimkats]

Okay that gives up a good path to follow. SLAM with LOTS of brushing and filtering. I would put a t-shirt in the skimmer basket making sure there is good water flow. That will help catching some of the stuff as it is brushed up.

Keep a close eye on your filter pressure as well. I am unsure how well that Zeolit will handle a SLAM. I am hoping it will filter good enough but do worry about it getting gummed up. Something to watch for to be on the safe side.

We will work on the stains when the SLAM is done if they are still there.

Kim

 

[Flying Tivo]

Morning pictures
Before brushing

After brushing

Added some Bleach

 

[kimkats]

Already looking better. You can rub a chlorine puck on those and they might to away faster.

 

[Flying Tivo]

What's a chlorine puck?[emoji23]
Lunch pictures
Before brushing

After brushing

Not much change but at least not growing anymore.

 

[borjis]

That looks more like some kind of rust stain than mustard algae (I dealt with it once)

If it is algae and you brush it, it should cloud the water and go away / not be visible at all until the next day or days...right? (that was my experience)
Unless it was very rare black algae but it doesn't look like it at all.

I think something else is also going on here besides an algae problem since you are losing fc more than usual.

 

[duraleigh]

Borjis is right. That is rust, not algae. Use a vitamin C tablet(s) sitting directly on the stain.

 

[Flying Tivo]

I'll give it a try!

 

[slickraft]

First thing I thought was it's probably not algae. That's pretty aggressive algae growth for 12C (50F) water temps, especially if the FC dropped no lower than 5 while it was happening. Vitamin C tablet test results?

 

[Flying Tivo]

Well, did 3 effervescent tablets in a row and no visible change. How long or how many tablets does it take??
Did a small video, https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0qGWZuqD8TMVk

 

[Texas Splash]

Well, did 3 effervescent tablets in a row and no visible change. How long or how many tablets does it take??

I may be wrong (always a first time) , but I'm not so sure those effervescent tabs are the best to try on suspected iron. Their ingrediants may vary depending on the product and vendor. You want the regular Vitamin C tablets which are basically ascorbic acid. Use enough that you can crush up and place in a thick sock or nylon to pack and form an area about the size of a quarter or more. Let it sit on the stain for about a minute and you should see a change fairly soon.