Never Ending War on Algae

[Blueshell]

A problem every year, but this year it's brutal. Strictly BBB treatment and I make progress, but a green haze stays in the deep end and the typical patches show up every day in shallow end floor and stairs. Brush several times a day every day and maintain a 1ppm max loss of FC each morning. My latest readings this morning from treatment last night are:

FC-15
CC-1
PH-8.0
TA-140
CYA-40

Pool is 10 yrs old (though a put 20yrs in the chart by mistake). Could my filter by an issue after all of this chemical effort? I just had the laterals replaced but I'm still suspicious of it. Algae just seems to blow back in.

Anyway, thanks for your help! This forum has taught me so much and provides hope during the battle!

[Watermom]

Please fill in your info in our Pool Chart. It will help us better be able to help you. Then, somebody can try and help.

Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
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[Blueshell]

It's there already. I filled it in on 6/12. Just didn't get a chance to post to the forum until today.

Thanks!

[Watermom]

Ok. Sorry 'bout that!

Go and buy the smallest bag of DE that you can find. Dump a handful into your skimmer and then watch your return jets to see if it blows out of the filter and into the pool. That will help to test your filter to see if it is working properly. Then report back with the results.

[aylad]

It sounds like you're not completely killing the algae off when you shock the pool, and then when your chlorine drifts back down it just comes back again. When you shock your pool, you need to hold it at shock level until you can go overnight without any chlorine loss, and don't have any more green left in the pool. This sometimes takes a few days, so if you're just shocking for one night you probably aren't killing it all off.

Janet

[Blueshell]

Put a handful of DE in the skimmer. Didn't appear to come back into the pool. Should I try it again at some point?

This mornings #'s:
FC-14.5
CC-0
PH-8
TA-140
CYA-40

I've been shocking the pool all week. There is less green for sure, but it's still there.

Beside bleaching out the liner, is there any other damage that will be done to the liner at these high FC levels?

I'll stay at it.

Sure appreciate your help!

[aylad]

Actually, you shouldn't see any liner bleaching with those chlorine levels, even with zero CYA. The CYA makes the chlorine sort of "less aggressive" , which is why you have to raise your maintenance chlorine level when you raise your CYA levels. In order to kill off the algae with a CYA of 40, you need to be at a chlorine level of at least 15 ppm, held there as consistently as possible, until the green clears up. I would keep it at 15-17 or so, if you can. Brush the pool after each chlorine addition, and be diligent about it-- and it will clear.

The fact that your DE didn't appear to come back into the pool is a good thing--it means that your filter is doing what it's supposed to do and catching the dead stuff when it goes through.

Janet

[Blueshell]

Well thanks to your help and support, I now have a beautiful clear pool. It's so nice to see blue instead of green. FC this morning was 13, PH-7.6 and CYA-50.

Should I keep the high FC for a while or start to let it drift down?

To everyone in the forum, don't give up. You have to really hammer this algae. Stick with the system.

[Watermom]

Do you still have a CC reading of 0 or at least no more than 0.5ppm? If so, then go ahead and let the chlorine drift down and make sure you keep it between 3-6ppm all the time.

Good job! Now, it's time to go swimming!