Mustard Algae

[AndreaA]

I failed to mention in my previous reply that we have again been using only bleach with Chlorine over 15 ppm for the last two weeks (min 14 days while brushing daily). You can probably go back through my wife's thread to see how that transpired, but for the last couple of days the free chlorine wasn't dropping overnight. As I mentioned we are now out of test solution so we have purchased more. Chlorine should still be over 15 ppm as I added 3 gallons of bleach last night after we ran out of test solution. Tonight is the first time I've added floc.

[PoolDoc]

Hi Tim;

If the chlorine is no longer dropping overnight, you've made real progress.

+ The fact that the pool walls are not slippery rules out algae, for the most part. You might have some black algae (not common on liner pools) or some isolated spots of mustard algae, but you don't have any significant growth.

+ If the pool is cloudy, your color will not be right. I don't understand all that I've seen over the years, with pool color. But I've gotten to the point of telling local customers not to worry about color, till the pool is clear. Now, I don't mean that slime green (from algae) or dark orange (from iron) is OK -- just that the color won't be 'right' till the water is clear.

+ Your local debris may well be a big part of the problem. I just created a YouTube account for the PoolForum, and uploaded a video my son and I made (for a Scout project) of loblolly pollen. The quantity of pollen from a single branch is amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kppgWFdTEMw

+ At this point, I agree that your filter is suspect. I would encourage you to go ahead and get some DE powder. If your filter is working, it will help remove fine debris; if it's not working . . . it will make that clear. Dump about a quart of powder into the skimmer -- with the pump running! -- and then watch the returns. If you don't see anything, that's good. But, the DE will cause the filter to stop up sooner (pressure will go up), also good, but can be a nuisance.

+ If the inside of your toilet tank is orange / brown, you DO have iron in your fill water. That will cause steps and plastic bits to get dingy over time.

Other than that, hang in there. It actually does sound like you are making progress. But don't put any more floc in, please. If your filter is working, you don't need it. And if it's not working, it's just one more thing that has to be removed later.

Ben

[AndreaA]

Just wanted to give you an update on our pool. This is Andrea and Tim has been meaning to drop by and post the update. Well-- right after this all came to a head... I decided to throw in the towel with the filter and just go buy a new one. Right before we purchased the new one "Tim" figured out that the cap on the sand filter was put on incorrectly back in FEB before sand was changed and the pool was just re-circulating the water and had been for 3 months. I have to say once fixed our pool was cleared in a matter of hours. I know this is all a crazy story but true... We did all of this work and knew nothing about our sand filter to know that the cap on the top was put on incorrectly buy the one and only hubby. I just wanted to let you know what happened and apologize for all the headache I caused. I had NO clue that the filter was not working properly and had not clue that my husband could of put the cap on wrong so I just assumed that all the stuff everyone was saying was CRAP and not working. LOL. I seriously was ready to fill in the pool with dirt-- but here we are with a clear pool and the kids/family and friends are all enjoying it all too much! We are still using the BBB method and it's perfect.. Again I wanted to thank you all for all of your help and most of all your wonderful pool methods. I'm still new at this but I've learned so much! Thank you PoolDoc and again I'm sorry :-(