New member

[7sanders]

Thanks!

Seeing as how 6 out of 7 of us are blondes, I'll probably not put them in the pool Perhaps I'll just post them on the freecycle group and pass them along to someone who might be able to use them.

[7sanders]

After a month of beautiful water and LOTS of swimming... we have something going wrong

We were only loosing chlorine during the day... starting most days between 3-5ppm, but by the end of the day we were between 1-2ppm (figured high bather load and sunlight loss - pool gets used 2-6 hours most days). I would add enough bleach to get back to 4 or 5 ppm and it would be between 3-4ppm each morning. Last week the pool started to get a little cloudy and we appeared to have a lot of dirt/dust in the pool. Hooked up the vacuum to the filter intake and cleaned the bottom of the pool (turned the filter cartridge brown). Replaced the cartridge and cleaned the dirty one. A couple of days ago the pool developed a greenish hue, clear water on top, and slightly cloudier at the bottom. I have been adding bleach 2-3 times a day to keep the OTO test kit (HTH 5 way) in the orange range. (Sorry, no Taylor kit just yet). It has not dropped below 5ppm in the last 3 days. 20 minutes after adding the bleach, I brush the walls/floor/skimmer/return etc. (ladder has been removed). It always stirs up what looks like brown dust on the bottom. Some gets caught in the filter cartridge, some must be blowing right on through and back into the pool. (Intex Type A cartridges - Unicel's are due to arrive from Amazon tomorrow).

We have had highs of 110+ for quite awhile, so the water temp has been in the high 80's / low 90's.

Chlorine orange on OTO test kit
PH was 7.8 before bringing the pool to shock levels (I understand that the PH test is not reliable when chlorine levels are very high? but it shows as 7.8 now too)
CYA was 30-40ppm before letting the final 3/4 cup dissolve.
TA is about 150

I'm wondering if I'm fighting mustard algae, or if it's just pollen/dirt/dust etc. I'm hoping that the Unicel cartridges will make a big difference. The water definitely has less of a "green/tan hue" today than it did yesterday (although, on grey overcast rainy days it seems enhances the "green" look - even the sky looks green around here before thunderstorms, especially those with hail).

I have some pictures here:

water color



residual "dust" left on ladder steps after removing from pool and allowing to air dry



pockets of "dust" on bottom



Thanks for any advice you can give!

[PoolDoc]

Looks like algae residue to me.

+ Hold the chlorine in the very dark yellow / orange range for 2 more days.
+ Run your filter 24/7
+ Brush the pool completely

Let us know how it's doing after a couple of day. (Read the cartridge cleaning sticky, here:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?18044

[7sanders]

Will do... thanks!!!

[7sanders]

Received my Unicel cartridges yesterday. After running the pump with the new cartridge for 4 hours it had caught more of the fine tan colored dust than the Intex filter would catch in 48 hours! Unfortunately we could not run the pump through the night last night due to a power outage, but this morning the water looks so much better. there are only 2 or 3 small pockets of the dust on the floor as opposed to pockets everywhere.

I removed the skimmer basket as I found some algae dots on the arm that hangs it over the side of the pool... soaked in a bleach bath and then scrubbed with soap and water. I think it might have been beneficial having the pump run without the skimmer basket so that the intake was farther down in the pool rather than on the surface.

I also purchased skimmer socks to see if that would help catch the fine debris... it certainly helps at catching all that hair! The water is definitely still cloudy, but it is more of a white cloudy hue rather than a green/tan hue! Hopefully we'll be back to sparkling soon. Sure miss that sparkle!

And yes, next on my list is the Talor test kit (Still working on the DH with that one... maybe I can sneak it into the deck building budget, lol... after all, it includes power tools for him! ;-P )

[PoolDoc]

Received my Unicel cartridges yesterday. After running the pump with the new cartridge for 4 hours it had caught more of the fine tan colored dust than the Intex filter would catch in 48 hours!

Glad to hear it.

I would definitely encourage you to get the K2006. Now that I have the pool chart working, I'm seeing a VERY strong correlation between recurrent pool problems and the lack of a HTH 6-way or K2006. They aren't cheap -- but they are much cheaper than fixing the problems people have without them!

[7sanders]

I have the HTH 5-way (appears to be the same as the 6-way) with new reagents minus the CYA since I couldn't find it locally. What would the benefits be of upgrading to the K2006 aside from being able to accurately test higher chlorine numbers (so I can "sell" it to him)? Part of the reason DH is reluctant to spend so much on *another* test kit is that it costs twice as much as refilling our pool in the first place (When I fill the pool, the water bill only goes up about $28 for the month).

Thanks again!