Using well water and historic problems with mustard algea

[karl_ga]

New forum user. Doughboy above ground 28 round 18000 gallons 225# sand filter with 1 hp pump. Just south of Atlanta.

Believe my historic issues are caused by stabilizer buildup during the season using Bioguard and others 3 inch chlorine tabs.
Ran between 0.5 to 0.9 ppm copper and still kept appearing last couple years. And leaves from pear and pecan trees!

Used 4 bags of Bioguard cal hypo burn out at end of season a week for two weeks to clear it up.

Starting with some leftover 3 inch tabs and have added six bags of the cal hypo over last two weeks.
Then added 5 boxes 20 mule team borax and 5 lbs of soda ash and ordered a k2006C kit just now.

Q. Add some of the bisufate from BioGuard that I have to reduce ph below 8 and add some more borax?

2Q. What other testing capability do I need? Borate strips? Copper testing? Or will K2006C be enough?
Plan to use bleach and/or 3 inch trichlor non-stabilized tablets if they can be found locally.

Thanks in advance

[PoolDoc]

Q1: Is your well water metal contaminated? (Sandstone or shale well water is usually a problem; limestone well water is usually perfect pool water).

Q2: Are you still planning to use copper?

Q3: Do you currently have algae? What is the current condition of your pool water?

+ It's best -- and cheapest -- to use muriatic acid to lower pH. The only issue is safety. Please read http://pool9.net/ma

+ Dichlor and trichlor are inherently stabilized. Cal hypo and sodium hypo are unstabilized. Cal hypo tablets exist, but their availability is spotty. Sodium hypochlorite is available as 8% household bleach or as 10 - 15% pool store 'liquid chlorine'. But bleach is perishable, and doesn't maintain it's strength when stored at summer time temps.

+ You need to know your CYA level. Read http://pool9.net/cl-cya

+ For reasons no one seems to know, some pools are especially prone to mustard algae. For MOST pools, simply maintaining adequate chlorine (with respect to the CYA level) does the trick. But if you actually have a pool that's prone to mustard algae, it may be worthwhile to lower, and then manage, your phosphate level. High borates (>60 ppm) reduce the susceptibility to algae, but may not help with mustard algae. Very low phosphates (<125 ppB) makes controlling mustard algae easier, but phosphates can enter the pool through fill water or through a variety of pool chemicals.

. . . membership upgraded.

[PoolDoc]

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