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I've been battling reoccurring algae in my pool, and am waiting for delivery of my Taylor 2006 test kit, and a new cartridge filter element. In the meanwhile my dad told me to look into Ultra Pool Magic. I've read about copper based pool systems, and am i right in assuming that this works on the same principle, although it's in liquid form and not a feeder system? Is this a good idea and what would be the drawbacks to using something like this? Thanks in advance for your time!
Miles
Hello, and welcome!!
I don't have any experience with the Ultra Pool Magic, but I can tell you that copper based systems will lead to real problems in the long run. When your copper levels get high enough, you'll start to get green staining, in the pool, on hair, nails, etc (yes, it's copper that does that, not chlorine!). Also, once the copper gets into the pool, there's no getting it out, then water chemistry becomes a lot harder. You can read through threads in the metals forum to see.
If you keep your pool properly chlorinated, you shouldn't be having problems with repeated algae blooms. When you shock to get rid of it, are you maintaining shock level until it's all gone, or are you just shocking one time and then letting the chlorine come back down?
Janet
Thanks for a quick response! Each time I've shocked, (I'm working on number 4 now...) I've sustained more than 5-10 ppm throughout the whole time. I've gotten it swimmable each time, only to have algae show up the day after when i return home from work. My test kit(s) don't read precise above 5 ppm. Does that matter? I've seen the Best Guess Chart, and kept it in mind, but i still get algae. I've never had my pool completely sparkling, but it looked very good and could easily see the bottom (6.5 ft deep), even after over a week of shock/filtering, so i'm assuming my filter element needs replacing. I just bought this house over a month ago. Here are my current readings using the Taylor OTD kit:
pH 7.8,
Cl over 10 ppm,
Alk 100 ppm.
Test strips read:
Calcium Hardness: 500 ppm
Total Cl: 10+
Free Cl: 10+
pH : ~7.8
Alk: 80-100ppm
CyA: 30-50 ppm
Thanks for all advice. Like i said, I'm waiting for my 2006c kit for more complete testing.
it sounds like you didn't finish shocking- when the green color goes away, it means you're beating the algae but there is still some lingering. The overnight drop test (lose <1ppm FC overnight) is how you know the algae is dead- you need to maintain shock levels until you pass the overnight test, and have <.5 CC (TC - FC)...
when you have algae, it consumes your FC faster and then the algae takes over- it can take a lot of chlorine to kill a batch, if at all, if you don't maintain the shock levels...
I think that's been my problem. I haven't maintained shock long enough. Nobody ever told me about the overnight drop. I learn something every day! I really appreciate all the inputs.