Mustard Algae

[AndreaA]

Hi all.. I'm back again. With the same issue. We believe we have mustard algae and we are not getting rid of it. We've also changed out the sand in our filter so I know that's working good :-) But my water is now green cloudy mess and I have nasty brown deposits on the bottom that my husband can't seem to get rid of.

So... I need to nip this in the bud once and for all... Here are my numbers



FC: 5.5
CC: 0
PH: 7.2
ALK: 70
CYA: 25 (reading stops at 30 but I still had to add more to bottle to see black dot disappear

Please help !!

[Watermom]

Your numbers look good. Have you had any CC readings lately? I would suggest shocking the pool up to about 12 and try and hold it there as consistently as you can. Test as often as you can and each time, add enough bleach to bring the cl level back up. The more times per day, the better. There is no such thing as too often. At the very minimum 2x per day but more than that is better. Also run your pump 24/7 while you are fighting this and keep an eye on your filter pressure. If it goes up 8-10psi, backwash. What is the volume of your pool and what type of pool is it?

[AndreaA]

FC is up... b/c this morning I tested and it was 1.0 so I added a large container of bleach then tested a again a few hours later. I do think we had CC level last week when my husband tested it (maybe at 1).

Our pool is an inground, vinyl liner, (i believe we are about 25k gallons)

[AndreaA]

We've added 5 (large walmart) containers sense yesterday and the chlorine level is up. We got up to 16ppm by 9pm last night but it had dropped down to 10 by noon today. I added another 1.5 gal and it got up to 13 then I just added another. I do see A LOT of brown stuff now on the bottom of the pool. Some of it is dark brown (larger piles) and then small piles of light tan (sand like) stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to vacuum to waste but I know that I will loose a lot of water by doing this and I will have to add more water in order to finish the entire pool. I'm guessing I'll just have to add more bleach if my chlorine drops... I'm hoping that it will maintain overnight but I'm not holding my breath :-) It's def fighting something in there.

[AndreaA]

We are still battling it out. Pool is still green but I know its working because there is more and more brown stuff dropping on to the bottom. The hubby vacuumed to waste yesterday and by morning there was more. I'm wondering if I should up the chlorine? I've been targeting 15 and it keeps dropping to 10 or 12 and I'll up to 17 and it will drop down to 15 or 12 within 6-8 hours. It is hot here and I still have a bunch of crap flying in the pool (aka pollen and tree stuff). I'm cleaning out my skimmers three times a day and they are constantly full. Do you suggest uping the chlorine?

[AndreaA]

Well... I'm starting to get a little frustrated... My pool is still green and I've run out of testing stuff sense I've been tested three times a day for 7 days now. We keep having to vacuum the pool everyday and I'm brushing what I can... I've added probably 15 or 20 bottles of bleach at this point and it still looks BAD. I know my FC levels are good and I know I've maintained them at the shock level for this entire time. My husband keeps wanting to shut off the pump and let it all settle to the bottom but I keep telling him to give it more time.. I feel like I can't keep fighting him on this but I'm just not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Please advise.......