Algae or Pollen/Dirt

This is really getting to me. Had a clear pool till the first big rain several weeks ago. The next day had some sediment that looked like brown/green drifts in the low spots on the liner. I shocked and vacummed to waste to get rid of it.

Hours before the next storm a few days later, I brought the CL up to shock levels. Still the same brown sediment the next day. This keeps happening with every big rain. My CYA is around 35 so I have been keeping the CL between 3 and 5. Yesterday it rained and within an hour and a half there was sediment on the steps. I use Ben's test kit and never show any CC.

It felt kind of grainy but I find it hard to believe there is still that much pollen in the air in July or that much dirt. Can it be that the rain dilutes the water and eats up some chlorine with added contaminants enough to let mustard algae grow? How fast would it show up? This stuff does not look like the usual algae in the corners or transitions. Within hours of a rain it is collecting in the contours of the bottom liner and clouds up when disturbed. Any thoughts?

TJNav, ton's of people are reporting this exact same situation this year. My dad's pool has it as well. Any chance you have big trees near your pool?

This seems to have been an exceptional year for pollen. If something was growing in your water that fast, it would seem chances are you'd have measurable CC.

A few nights ago I brought the FC way up in my dad's pool (he's on vacation), lost very little overnight and the appearance of the stuff didn't change.

I'm ignoring it from now on :)

Yes, actually there are several large trees nearby. They aren't directly over the pool so not too many problems in the fall with leaves, but I suspect that they may be tall enough to get stuff in when the wind comes from the right direction. There are oaks and some long leaf pines.

A friend at work who is knowledgeable in landscaping thinks the severe freeze we had in April in the Southeast may have caused a late "second blooming" of plants and trees. Sounds plausible. Anyway, it is very discouraging especially since we are very careful to test everday and keep the CL levels at the high end of the Best Guess chart. Worked like a charm last year (our 1st). I'm just home from work now and on my way out to vacuum. Back to the battle......

I've had a similar problem for the last few years. We initially thought sand from the filter was blowing into the pool and settling in patches on the bottom of our 24' AG. Maybe we should have dealt with this a few years ago when it started but we were naive being new pool owners and I guess in denial not wanting to deal with problems that cost more money. The patches were not sand colored, more like dark brown grit. If you walked in the area whatever it was light enough to scatter into little faint clouds but over-night it would settle again. No amount of backwashing and scrubbing seemed to work. The very next day after a good vacuuming and backwash, I would see patches of settled grit again. This year I decided to settle down and do some heavy reading while opening our pool. After reading this pool forum over and over again, I realized whatever this was was so fine when vacuumed it was just going through the filter and back into the pool. Dirt? Pollen? Maybe both. Really not sure. We do have alot of pollen in this area in the late spring, also about the time this all started there was a lot of road construction going on. I remember back then our porch & cars had light coverings of dust & dirt from the construction. We weren't pool smart enough yet to make a connection. Ok, back to this spring, initially, we were going to take apart the Hayward sand filter but at the last minute [thank goodness] I decided we should try less drastic actions to rule out other more minor things first. Plus, we were really unsure if this was sand or something else. I found the posts about adding DE to catch the finer particles that might be too small for a sand filter to catch and thought what the heck, its not going to hurt to start there. Ok, its been over a week since first adding a small amount of DE to my skimmer. I haven't had a hint since adding the DE of whatever it was that use to settle to the bottom of my pool for the last 3 years. It was such a simple fix and I wish I had read more on this forum a long time ago. Thanks for all the information you guys share ; ) Bekka

Isn't that DE in the sand filter a great trick! For those of you who don't know what we're referring to, take a look at this thread:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3742

It will really help to filter out the tiny particles in the water.

Bekka, thanks for sharing!

My vote is for dirt rather than algae.

Rain is dirty. It picks up much agricultural dust and particulate pollution and dumps it in our pools. Plus the pollens and, in my case, bracts off the birch trees. When I find a collection of brownish stuff on the bottom of the pool the first thing I do is test the water. If the numbers are good and there's no CCs, I'll take the skimmer net on the pole and create a bit of a water swirl some inches above the brown spot(s). Dirt wish swish away. Algae will, too, but it'll leave a green stain, sort of, where it's attached to the liner.

Sometimes I vacuum, depending of how much dirt there is; sometimes I brush and let it filter through the skimmer sock. Most times, however, I just throw a couple of dogs in the pool and let them swim. Dogs are terrific pool cleaners :)

I've been wanting to add DE to my sand filter but I can't find any :( Lowe's doesn't have it and the pool store only sells it in 25# bags, way more than I'd need in a lifetime.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AnnaK

Most times, however, I just throw a couple of dogs in the pool

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ROFL---how well do they do algae??:D

Couldn't resist--I can't describe the mental picture I got when I read this post,....

Janet

Yeah, I bet you pictured me (5'4") picking up a couple of 80 pound shepherds and tossing them in the water like someone might a robot cleaner :)

These dogs are very energetic swimmers and can really stir up the water with their long legs and webbed feet.

Aeration? No problem! Throw in a toy, have a dog jump in. Mega geysers result.

Dunno about algae: we haven't had any yet. But I can testify to them being excellent stirrer-uppers of dust and debris.

Yeah, it's easier to toss my dogs in. The big guy is probably now 60 lbs and the little girl is not even 40 lbs. They are both Belgians but he's a Sheepdog and she's a Tervuren.

There has been a lot of pollen this season. I find the skimmer socks really help pull it out--it looks like yellow spackle!

Me pick up my dogs? Uh..... I don't think so. One of them weighs probably 75 and the other one probably 85. Both are sweet little (or not so little) golden retriever girls.