Chem log, to see....

[Charlie_R]

Thank you Watermom.

Obviously, I wasn't doing as well as I thought.

Next question -- What do I do about the "swamp water" smell? Water is still very clear, but when stirred as in brushing the pool or actually in it, any agitation of it brings up that odor.

Markedly less growth of the algae overnight, and through this morning, so MAYBE (but I doubt) I'm at least pulling even with it, if not gaining a little ground here.

And yet another question:

Can algae spores live through a winter, dried out? I ask this to check a theory of mine. We didn't clean the ladder or any of the rest of the equipment before using it this year, so I'm thinking that is where this stuff hibernated, just waiting for us to give it a new home.

[Charlie_R]

Update:

Swamp water smell has finally given way to a "bleachy" smell when stirring the water. Dilution method shows a drop overnight, from ~20 to ~16.

Pool floor shows no new growth overnight, will continue to try to hold ~20 chl for the next few days.

Am ordering the K-2006 this morning, as soon as the bank opens (got to have money in the online use account).

[Charlie_R]

KIt ordered. Should be here 27th to 30th July.

[aylad]

"Bleachy" smell means the chlorine is actively engaging in a battle with the algae--it means you're making progress!

Janet

[Charlie_R]

Thanks. That's kinda what I thought was going on. Only thing is, I had to go up to 25ppm (dilution test method) to achieve that change. still has that odor at 20, but trying to hold somewhere between.

Is there any reason why my CYA would rise WITHOUT using anything but bleach and MA? I would have thought that having to add a total so far of 5" of make-up water would have lowered it a bit. But mine seems to have gone from 70 to 100. Not that this is a bad thing overall, just means that I have to keep a minimum of 10ppm chl (best guess chart).

[aylad]

Stabilizer shouldn't be going up unless you're adding it--there's usually no stabilizer in fill water, so I don't know where it would be coming from. The only guess I have would be from testing. the CYA test is very subjective, and if the lighting conditions aren't the same each time you test, the results can be very inconsistent. For example, if the light is dim, you're going to see the dot disappear quicker than you will if you're testing outside in bright sunlight. The key there is to just try to keep your testing conditions consistent from one time to the next.

[Charlie_R]

Ok, thanks for that. It may just be the differences in available light.

Next question: I've read in another thread here that bleach and LC deteriorate over time. Does high heat tend to accelerate this? I don't have a temperature controlled environment to keep my bleach in (no A/C in the house), so I keep it by the pool in a shaded area.

I suspect that currently I am "teasing" the algae, as I am still having a very small amount of regrowth overnight, and still losing 5 -15ppm overnight (dang it all, NEED those CC readings!!). Assumption is that the 100+ weather is destroying the bleach before I can get it into the pool. By late afternoon even with dosing the pool multiple times during the day, the water goes from having the chloramine smell back to swamp water odor by sundown. Not sure what is happening here.

Using the dilution method until my kit arrives on friday, I'm trying to keep the chl at 20 - 25ppm, but I fear that the loss of effectiveness of the bleach is slowing the clean-up process considerably. Also, the water is beginning to take on a slight "salty" taste.

Correction: just came in from the pool, and the overnight regrowth HAS diminished greatly over the original appearance several days ago. Only a small amount in the wrinkles of the floor, compared to every wrinkle having been filed with the algae dust. But then, I dosed VERY heavy last night at sundown, FC level unknown. This mornings reading is between 15 - 18ppm.

[Watermom]

Unless you are hitting it hard enough with bleach, then you are right, you are probably just "teasing" the algae. As Ben likes to say, if you aren't winning against algae, then you are losing. There is no such thing as just keeping algae stable. Keep hammering it with the large doses to get past this.

Regarding the strength of bleach being diminished by heat, yes, it does. Do you have a basement or garage that is a little cooler? My house is air conditioned but I still keep my bleach in a utility room in the basement on the concrete floor.

If you are interested, you can test the strength of the bleach (when you get your kit) to see how potent it actually is when you use it. Maybe test it when you buy it and then test it again after it sits outside in the shade before you use it to see how much it is degrading. The procedure (written by CarlD awhile back) is below:

Put ten liters of tap water ( That's 5 soda-bottles full) in a 5 gallon bucket.

Test that water for chlorine using the FAS-DPD test to get a chlorine baseline (you may have some).

Then I take a 1 ml eyedropper full of the LC or bleach I'm testing and put it in the bucket and mix it up.

(1 ml in 10 liters of water is the same as putting 1 gallon of LC in a 10,000 gallon pool -- it's 1/10,000th. )

I then measure the bucket with the FAS-DPD test just like pool water. Of course, subtract any chlorine you measured in the tap water.

I use a glass eyedropper so it will hold up. Pharmacies sell them.

[Charlie_R]

Thanks!

Suspicions pretty much confirmed then. I'll double the dose, and see where I'm at Friday night.

Will do on the bucket test, when kit arrives.

Hopefully, by then I'll be on the "let it ramp down" stage.

[Charlie_R]

K-2006 came in today. Immediately went out to try out the FAS-DPD test. Showing FC=35, CC=0. Still have what looks like a brown algae accumulating in the wrinkles on the bottom of the pool. Not sure what that is at this point. Will be letting the chl ramp itself back down to 10, while keeping an eye open for any growth of the brown fuzzy stuff.

Here's a picture of what I've been trying to eliminate:



This stuff disappears as soon as it's disturbed, but with careful use of the vacuum hose without the head and connected directly to the filter inlet, it is filtered out. Problem is, it seems to regrow overnight, to about this same level.

I'll get a full set of readings posted tonight.