Algae Blooms Even Happen to Mods!

[CarlD]

We came home late last night after a month in .... well, I won't torture you with where we were, but it was private, it was on a beach, and the water was clean and warm--and the "pool" didn't have a brand-name filter!

2 1/2 weeks ago my son, holding down the fort, tested the water and it was fine, and he then joined us. The person left in charge told me she saw a little yellow over a week ago and I had her add half a gallon of 14% LC. But she never checked it again.

This morning I rolled back the cover and I had a full-scale algae bloom. No FC, and CYA at 40, so I dumped in 5 gallons of 14% LC, get it started. This afternoon, FC was down to 16.5 (yes, I know, at CYA=40, FC for shocking should be 15--but that's the MINIMUM!) Pool was cloudy despite vacuuming twice. Added 3 containers of 8.25% bleach. With the filter on full, and the robot vacuuming, it's stirred up and cloudy...but it doesn't look as green, getting more blue.

Currently, the FC is 31.5 and I'm leaving the pump on HIGH all night, continuously. I'm hoping tomorrow morning to see significant improvement.

So...WHY am I pushing the FC so high with a vinyl liner? It's an old liner, in it's last season and I don't give a d*** if I bleach/fade it as the new one is already here.

I'm not asking for advice--I do know what to do. I'm just a little disappointed that my SWCG (which is running OK otherwise) couldn't control this. l'll keep you posted.....

[Watermom]

Bummer.

[CarlD]

Just one of several broken things we came home to. Hard to decide which was the worst: No A/C in our bedroom, or the coffee pot with the auto-on timer died! Gotta have the morning java!

OTOH, it was a lot cooler here and not a cloud in the sky!

[CarlD]

Making significant progress.
I pushed up the SWCG yesterday and ran the filter all night on high. This morning the FC is 34 and the CC is 0, the water is totally blue, no green, but still very murky. I turned down the SWCG again and the robotic cleaner is vacuuming. I put some DE into the filter, and I'll be watching all day, and testing two more times. But I believe the algae is dead, murdered by being hammered with chlorine, and now just needs to be filtered out.

Again, since I'm not concerned with bleaching this old liner, I don't mind pushing the shock level to double the 15ppm recommended for a CYA level of 40. Obviously, I want the algae gone and my pool crystal clear again! However, I am totally confident I will get there today or tomorrow. Our BBB methods work. No magic involved. Kill the algae with lots of chlorine. Filter it out. That's it in a nutshell.

[BigDave]

Sorry for all the hard luck you've had this year with the pool - I hope the trip was worth it. Maybe it's time to make that natural pool your permanent pool. :)

Welcome back.

[CarlD]

Sorry for all the hard luck you've had this year with the pool - I hope the trip was worth it. Maybe it's time to make that natural pool your permanent pool. :)

Welcome back.

Yeah, we consider that! It's just a confluence of events: A 12 year old pool with a liner at the end of its (patched) life and walls that are in need of replacement, a horrible winter that did damage, and setting my SWCG too low for a month's absence. But I also came back to a dead coffee maker, when there was no coffee yesterday morning! Now THAT was a catastrophe!!!! :(

[swimdaddy]

Thanks, I apreciate your candor and your willingness to show your issue as well as your confidence that you can fix it using the methods promoted here. This is my first year with our pool and I haven't had any problems yet, thanks to this forum, the Pool solutions site and all you moderators, but when I do, this post will help me to relax and deal with it. It seems like most posts are mostly panic, because we don't know what to do, so it's nice to read this.

[CarlD]

That's good to hear! Sure, I have a few choice curse words pop out of my mouth because I had come home to yet another problem I have to take care of...but that was tempered by the confidence that I know EXACTLY what to do and how to do it. The algae is dead and the water is blue again, not green. Now I just have to wait for the filter and vacuuming to clarify the water again, and I only found the algae yesterday morning.

Like every other pool owner with an algae bloom, in addition to the BBB method, I must add P.O.P.P.--Pool Owner Patience and Persistence!

[swimdaddy]

Or K.I.S.S.-- Keep it simple stupid, not referring to anyone in this forum, of course. Or maybe it's "keep it super simple"!

[CarlD]

No, we're all good with "Keep It Simple, Stupid!" :)

It's slowly clearing but through the murk I can see it's all completely blue and nothing's on the bottom. Other biologic detritus makes it tougher to kill the algae as the chlorine attacks them as well, so get those leaves, seeds, pine combs, branches and dead bugs outta there!

[swimdaddy]

Other biologic detritus makes it tougher to kill the algae as the chlorine attacks them as well, so get those leaves, seeds, pine combs, branches and dead bugs outta there!

Didn't know that. This is great! Any other moderators wanna let their pools go nasty and post the clean-up?!

[CarlD]

Nobody WANTS a mess! I came home to one after a month away.....

[Watermom]

Any other moderators wanna let their pools go nasty and post the clean-up?!
No!!!! :eek::eek: We'll just let Carl tell about his swamp! ;)

[CarlD]

Hey! We're not talking about my basement, we're talking about my pool!
Wait...My basement's a junkyard, not a swamp...:)

Actually, all the algae is dead, the pool has been blue since yesterday morning, not green, but taking a while to clear the clouds out. P.O.P.P. Pool Owner Patience and Persistence.

[CarlD]

72 hours after I started the cleanup: Pool is nearly clear! It's still a little cloudy, not crystal clear the way I like it, but you can now see everything clearly all the way to the bottom and it's looking good! If the FC drops sufficiently, we may well be swimming this afternoon!

Remember: An algae bloom, even a bad one, is no reason to panic. Our BBB methods work:

Test 2x to 3x/day
Keep FC up to or above shock levels
Filter 24/7
Vacuum and brush at least once a day,
Be patient and persistent, and
"Keep the faith, baby!"...your pool WILL clear up!

[BigDave]

Awesome! You saved the weekend!

BBB Man

flies from the rising sun leaving clean, blue pools in his wake.

"Who was that bleached stranger?"

[CarlD]

LOL!

Somebody had too much fun last night!

Not bleached yet--my tan hasn't faded yet!

[JimK]

Awesome! You saved the weekend!

BBB Man

flies from the rising sun leaving clean, blue pools in his wake.

"Who was that bleached stranger?"

Lol!

[CarlD]

Put in a pint of Polyquat to bring the FC down a bit (now down to 16), help clarify the water too, and we're going swimming today!

Weird thing: 3 days ago, I tested the CYA and it read 40ppm. Today I tested it, having added NOTHING but bleach/LC and CYA tested at 60ppm! No CYA, Tri-chlor or Di-chlor has been added in well over a month. Wondering how this could happen, because I've never seen CYA go UP without it being added in the last 7-14 days, not over a month.

[Pappy]

Is it possible that high chlorine levels affect CYA test results? Kinda like high chlorine skews pH readings?

[CarlD]

That may be...Great Thought! Ben? Chem_Geek?

[chem geek]

Very high chlorine levels can in theory bind to enough CYA to interfere with the CYA binding to melamine, but that would cause it to read lower, not higher. Some people say to use a chlorine neutralizer to avoid this, but it doesn't seem to be that necessary.

On the flip side, if the water has suspended particles, it can create more visible precipitation in the test so it's best to test the CYA level when the pool water is clear, though for people who didn't test before and have an algae bloom they don't have much choice.

So as you can tell, I don't have a good answer for you.

[CarlD]

Actually, Rich, you do give me a clue. The CYA measured around 70 before I left on vacation, was 40 when I first measured it with the bloom, with an FC of 16.5, then measured 60 with an FC of 19. In both cases the water was, of course, cloudy.

Could the algae itself, still present in the first test, but not in the second, have an effect on the reading?

[chem geek]

I'm not sure how algae could make the CYA reading appear lower. That's a bit of a mystery unless perhaps the CYA tends to bind to the algea more than it binds to melamine (or vice versa where melamine binds to algae).

[CarlD]

Over MY paygrade! But we do know algae can break down CYA...is that POSSIBLY connected???

Of course, it's possible that what happened is how my teen describes the bulk of computer problems "The problem is between the keyboard and the chair!" :D

[okcnewbie]

I feel your pain about the coffee emergency. Next time you could make it like many RV boondockers. Heat water and pour through filter. (I'm sure you probably knew that already)

[CarlD]

Oh, I ALWAYS have several Melitta funnels and filters around--that's how we got through the power outages of the FrankenBlizzard of 2011 and Sandy in 2012. I lived for years boiling water and pouring it through a Melitta funnel in graduate school and after.

It's the lazy luxury of stumbling downstairs in the morning and immediately pouring yourself a cuppa fresh joe, fresh-ground the night before. Ya get spoiled--and when you've just gotten home at midnight and find the maker DOA in the morning. ARGH!!!

But the new pot's GREAT. Those 14 cup pots just don't last very long. Seem to get no more than 2 years before they croak.