Help,not sure what this is on bottom of pool

[sisie5]

I need some advice,I have been fighting this stuff on the botton of my pool now for three weeks.Not sure if this is algae or what,however I"m about to pull my hair out,or should I say take the pool down.I have vacuum the pool everyday and the stuff is back the next morning,after I vacuum the pool get very cloudy.I take readings everyday,I have shocked my pool with tons for bleach.in the last three weeks I have used 20 gal of bleach.My arm and right hand is so sore from vacuum I'm to the point of giving up.Here is the pic and my readings today .Also can somene tell me how much bleach to add to shock.I have a 18x33 x4 oval above ground
FC-3.5
CC-0
TC-3.5
pH-7.8
CYA 40

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5985/pool001nr2.jpg

[Watermom]

The volume of your pool is roughly 14,000 gallons. In a pool this size, each quart of 6% bleach will raise the chlorine by about 1 ppm. With a cya of 40, you need to be shocking up to 15ppm. Test morning and evening and each time, add enough bleach to get the cl back up to 15. Also, brush the pool daily and run the pump 24/7. When you vacuum, are you moving the vac head very, very slowly? If not, you just stir everything up and that can cloud your water.

[waste]

Sisie, just my guess from the pic, but all the shock in the world won't help your problem. I've seen the same distribution of 'debris' on pool floors many times, and it's a problem with the filtration (either the multiport or the filter itself). IMHO what's happening is that the debris is bypassing the filter and returning directly to the pool. If you'd post filter type and whether it has a multiport, I'll gladly give you my best guess as to how to fix the problem, pump size would help as well. Know that the great folks here want to help you with your pool and the more info we have, the better we can do so. :)

[sisie5]

Waste,I'll do my best to answer,First I had a swimpro 100 lb sand filter I believe 25 GPM.and a jacuzzi 2 Sp 1 HP pump,I didn't think the filter was big enough so I changed it.Now I have a jacuzzi 190L 200 Lb sand filter, and the same pump.I don't have a manual so here is whats on the side.it reads
Filter area 1.87 Ft
Height 29.5 in
Tank Dia 19 in
Filter 47 GPM
Backwash 28 gpm
Silica sand 200 lbs
Eff size 48 MM
Maintain 12 " clearance on side and 18" clearance on the top for maintenance
and service.
Not sure what all this means but was told I needed a bigger filter.Also I purchase 200 lbs of filtered sand,but it only held 150lbs.Now I'm wondering if I put the sand in right,not sure cause like I said I don't have manual.Here is a pic of the filter.Thanks for all your help and support.
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3701/filter001kd1.jpg

[ernie57]

Sisie, just my guess from the pic, but all the shock in the world won't help your problem. I've seen the same distribution of 'debris' on pool floors many times, and it's a problem with the filtration (either the multiport or the filter itself). IMHO what's happening is that the debris is bypassing the filter and returning directly to the pool. If you'd post filter type and whether it has a multiport, I'll gladly give you my best guess as to how to fix the problem, pump size would help as well. Know that the great folks here want to help you with your pool and the more info we have, the better we can do so. :)

This looks like a picture of my pool. I would love to know what this 'debris' is. I have vacuumed to waste..tightened up the sand in the filter and it still returns within a few days. Brand new sand filter with 1 1/2 hp hayward pump for 30,000gal pool .Don't mean to threadjack but I'm really looking foward to an answer. thanks..ernie

[sisie5]

Oh by the way,the sand you see on the ground is the sand from the old filter.I was SOoooo angy I started throwing the sand.That was H.... getting that out,and to say the least just as bad trying to get the new sand in.

again thanks for all your help.here is pic of my pool on the first swim day.
cant wait to see that clear blue water again.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/8246/tuffy001up7.th.jpg (http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tuffy001up7.jpg)

[les_smith]

I've got the same stuff in my pool. I added some DE to the filter. I didn't do it exactly right, but now that I've done the DE I don't seem to have as much sediment in the bottom of the pool. Here's the link to the thread where I was asking about what I did wrong when I added the DE.
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5376

It kind of explains the reason for the sediment. I think the sediment may be to fine and the sand filter won't catch it. That's my guess and that's why I added the DE.

[Unabomber007]

Nice pic. That's the exact same crap I have in my pool. I have a sand filter as well. Don't know what it is and my solution will probably be to throw my filter off of a building and go back to a DE filter. I've been battling that crap for months now. :mad:

[matt4x4]

That's the same stuff I fight every onset of fall, this stuff needs tons of shock 20-25ppm, AND DE in the sand filter to heplp grab it, if you flock once it's dead, it's relatively simple to vac up manually, however, the auto vacs seem to blow it around more than anything, BTW - the stuff in the pic is the live stuff, once you've killed it you'll get that light blue foggy water look - vac it up VERY slowly once dead (manually), you'll backwash at least twice over the course of cleaning the pool, this stuff is nasty and likes to stick around - even at 15 ppm.
Keep it at 25 ppm for 24 hrs, you'll kill it and won't have to replace your filter!

IT IS NOT DEBRIS, matter of fact, vac it up with DE, backwash and you'll see how green it looks, leave it in the pool, COVER if you want, it multiplies - dirt doesn't multiply....

[waste]

Matt, I was just comming back to refute my earlier post that cl wouldn't help (:o ), after reading what you said here 5612. I'm just curious, where does this appear (part of country/ world)? If I've seen it before (Ct), I've misdiagnosed it as 'dirt' and paid it no mind, if I should be 'shocking the BEJESUS out of the pools, I'd really appreciate knowing.
Sorry for any 'bad' info I may have posted on this thread, but I did not know about this type of algae before I saw Matt's post above (though I don't think others had either, perhaps we can call it "Matt's Mud" or "4X4 algae" :D ;) "

[jstonemo]

I am having the same exact problem that I posted about earlier today. I live in the KC, MO area.

[matt4x4]

Waste - Thanks for that, noe I gotta go get some paper towels and clean the coffee off my monitor!!!! LMAO :)
With regards to your question, I'm in southern Ontario (canada), Now having reread the posts from tuesday on, I'm beginning to think it does have something to do with people's locations being closer to rural than urban, we have lots of "feed corn" fields around our area, the soil is high in clay content, however, the "mud" is definitely not inert clay dust and could never multiply that much.
Around here, farmers also fertilize in spring, but it's usually so early, your pool is likely not open then, farmers around here also fertilize with liquid manure during fall before they turn the fields over - this was the case a few weeks ago, since it really stunk for a few days.

From my experience, this is what I have leaned in 3 years about the "mud":
Year one - nothing, thought it was dirt, then it was too late - shock shock shock, brush brush brush...
Year two - remembered year one, shock shock shock, brush brush brush but only to the typical 15 ppm, nothing really changed other than the mud very slowly became more mud - slower than year one. Finally had enough, it was end of season anyways, I dumped in my remaining chlorine and voila, within a few days, the mud was killed off.
Year three - this year, almost like clockwork, same time, different year, I started seeing our old friend "mud" again, this time, being wise about how mr mud works, I immediately dumped everything I had in the pool, brushed vigorously for about 2 days and all was well.

Swimmer load does have something to do with it too, I think this stuff set in when the circulation of the water is less optimal, we stopped using the pool on a regualr basis after the first week in august, meaning the water does circulate less, however, I was on top of my chlorine levels DAILY even though we were using the pool less.
First signs of this mud are always past the far side of the steps from the return (my worst spot for good circulation).

At this point, I'm just glad i have a way to control it, 20-25 PPM does seem to be kind of high, but heck, if 15ppm doesn't do it and 25ppm does, it's an easy fix and I'm not questioning it.
Since my chlorine levels and all other levels were in perfect range this year for sure, I can also determine that this stuff is pretty resilient to the effects of normal chlorine levels.

Oh, I wrote some more here:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5612

[Rangeball]

It sure sounds like yellow algae.

[CallMeIshmael]

It sure sounds like yellow algae.

Ahhh, ignorance was bliss... It appears we have a similar thing happening in our pool as well this year. It's the first time I've noticed the brownish "mud" on the pool floor and it matches the descriptions here.
I've also noticed that the shade-side wall of our pool (fiberglass) is slightly more yellow than the sun side in an area that was bypassed by the return flow.
Lessons learned: I'll be adopting Matt's 3rd year approach to killing off whatever this stuff is, and hope the shock will also clear out what may be "yellow algae sheets" (ewww!) on the shade wall. I'll also be adding a return eyeball to direct flow (and chlorine or other treatments) towards that wall.

Thanks for a helpful thread & I hope the heavy shock/brush routine works out!

[itstoohot]

I think you are dealing with mustard algae. I had a wake up call with this stuff in June. We noticed it towards the end of last year and thought nothing of it until it consumed our pool this year. Our daily regimen was to increase the chlorine to shock level (we intentionally overshot this regularly) in the morning and evening, vacuum, change cartridges (we have a cartridge filter and an extra set of cartridges) and run the filter 24/7. We also used skimmer socks to grab what they could. At the worst, it took nearly 2 weeks to be rid of it. Now, we seem to get it whenever we use the solar cover or if I haven't brushed the pool in a while. If caught early, we just shock, brush and let the filter take care of it and it's typically gone the next day.

My fight - http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3287

[haze_1956]

I have been getting the same thing for a few weeks. (the stuff in the OP's photo )

Had this stuff sitting at the bottom for about 5 days, a bit more appearing each day. Has a nice brownish green color and sort of smears a little when you vacuum it.

It seems to be pollen and dust collecting in the little divots in the pool floor. It only appears on the floor, never see any on the walls. We've had no rain to wash the pollen and dust into the gound, so I think it is blowing around and settling in the pool.

While it was there I didn't have an increase in Cl demand or any CC reading. This is another reason I tend to think it wasn't algae.