Hello summer, hello algae, hello pool forum!

[aylad]

I think you're fine to leave it at the shock level that you're currently running--the "shock plus" is mostly for mustard algae. I don't know the source of the film that you're speaking of, but usually foam/film will not settle down to the bottom--it takes filtering and chlorine to remove.

Usually, we recommend that you leave the filter running until the algae is dead, and until the filter has taken out everything it can--and at that point, THEN try turning the pump off to see if the remainder will settle. However, in your case, I just noticed that you have a 1.5 hp pump on a 7600 gallon pool--that's a HUGE pump for that amount of water, and if your filter is undersized for that pump, you might be better off just to put the pump in recirculate mode until all the algae is dead and you're no longer losing chlorine, and then turning it off, letting it settle, then vac'ing it out. Have you and one of the equipment folks (mas985, Pooldoc, etc) talked about your filter/pump match already?

[True Blue]

I know that the pump is oversized. Trust me, I won't be "pool stored" on pumps again. This will be its third season in use and I did have an algae bloom last year (which is how I discovered this site and learned that the great "deal" on a higher HP pump that the pool store pushed wasn't such a great deal). Anyway, it is what it is and I need to figure out how to use what I have to take care of my problem.

[aylad]

Ok, in that case I'd do what I posted above--try running it in recirc mode while you're still shocking, and when you're finished, leave the chlorine high but turn it off and see if it will settle where you can vacuum it. Once that's done and you're able to turn the filter back on, it should finish taking care of the "film" if it's not gone already.

[True Blue]

Why are some people (with similar situations) being told to turn their pumps off and others told to keep them running?

[aylad]

Our general advice has always been to keep the pump/filter running so that the chlorine will kill off the algae and allow the filter to catch it, and that seems to have always worked in the past. However...this year in particular there are so many more people with cloudy water conditions that won't clear up than we've ever had, and pools that are not responding to the methods that have always worked before. We're not sure why, but we're thinking it had to do with the overabundance of algae this year, probably partly due to the warmer winter we've had. Ben is working on a theory that, in some cases, the algae is being pushed through the filter media, thus breaking it into even smaller particles that the filter then can't catch. This can happen with oversized pumps, undersized filters, DE or cart filters with live algae, or even some sand filters in pools overloaded with dead algae, as well as pools where the owners have put assorted "goop" into their pool before coming here in an effort to solve their problems. Some of that "goop" doesn't work so well with filtering. So...the advice we're giving now is sort of more dependent on each person's equipment and situation, rather than a blanket one-size-fits-all situation.

[BigDave]

Several posters here this year have been unable to clear cloudy pools after killing all the algae and getting rid of CC. Oversized pumps with undersized sand filters is common to many of these pools. Ben has surmised that these pumps may be pushing dead algae through the sand filter and back to the pool, grinding the dead algae into particles too small to filter. "Let it settle and vacuum to waste" is an attempt to clear these minute particles.

Would you please give us (I can't find them if you have) pump and motor model number and filter make and model.

In the meantime, keep your FC above 15 (18 is fine) and brush the pool regularly until you lose less than 1ppm FC overnight and have no (or nearly no) CC.

You can move the filter to recirc if you want. Did you get the guage? Has your pressure been rising?

BBB for clearing a mess:
Bleach - Bleach - Bleach, Brush - Brush - Brush

note: Aylad and I were posting at the same time (I'm slower) but we're saying the same thing.

[True Blue]

I did get a new gauge. The pressure has only risen a little bit. I'm still not to the point of only losing 1 ppm FC overnight and my CC is usually 1 ppm, too.

I'll look for the model information that you requested.

[True Blue]

I am running low on POP. I'm not sure where you can buy that!

To amuse myself, and because I am a science teacher, I'm running two experiments. In the first, I have a clear glass of pool water and am simply letting it sit to see if anything settles out of it. In the second experiment, I have another glass of clear pool water, but have added a tsp of dichlor.

I don't know if I'll see anything happen and if it does will mean anything, but I've just got to do something besides add bleach, test, brush and vaccuum.