Fighting Algae with Borax

[topless]

Here's an update, I still have 50 ppm borates in my pool.
Sunday, my pool was crystal clear and I had to add a lb of cya, the level had dropped below 30ppm. Sunday evening a storm moved in and I closed the pool cover.
This morning I opened it, to a green pool, after about 60 hours.

no FC, no cya, ph 7.5. I'm so irritated I'm thinking of filling the pool with concrete.
Whatever kind of algae is in my pool is proving to be impossible to eliminate completely. So now, I'm back to square 1, adding bleach in crazy quantities.

[salinda]

Curious and jumping in here....do you have an swg? If you don't, I would consider trying that BEFORE filling in the pool with concrete. All the water going through the cell gets a brief shock so intuitively, it should work for you.

[waterbear]

Here's an update, I still have 50 ppm borates in my pool.
Sunday, my pool was crystal clear and I had to add a lb of cya, the level had dropped below 30ppm. Sunday evening a storm moved in and I closed the pool cover.
This morning I opened it, to a green pool, after about 60 hours.

no FC, no cya, ph 7.5. I'm so irritated I'm thinking of filling the pool with concrete.
Whatever kind of algae is in my pool is proving to be impossible to eliminate completely. So now, I'm back to square 1, adding bleach in crazy quantities.

What was your FC BEFORE you covered the pool? Also, why did your CYA level drop? If the chlorine was low before you covered the pool borates by themselves won't prevent algae.

[topless]

What was your FC BEFORE you covered the pool? Also, why did your CYA level drop? If the chlorine was low before you covered the pool borates by themselves won't prevent algae.

I'm sure the FC was fairly low after a day of swimming, I checked it in the morning and it was about 3ppm. The storm came in very quickly and if I had just added another bottle of bleach before closing, I'm sure I would have had no problem.
I added cya back into the pool, dropped the ph to 7.2 and shocked it to about 40ppm yesterday. This morning I could see the bottom in the 6' area while brushing. I expect to have it cleared out by tomorrow.
I don't know why the cya disappeared unless the algae already had started to grow and bacteria was consuming it. It had been pretty level for the last couple of weeks, then suddenly started dropping over the weekend.
I was really surprised how quickly it turned green and cloudy.

[salinda]

It is my understanding that the bacteria that consumes the cya is found in soil in particular. Maybe that bacteria got swept into your pool even with the cover. Not an expert, but this is what I have gleaned from all of the research I have done on it....

[topless]

That's possible, my pool cover setup is almost 20 years old. Back then they didn't concrete the bottom, it's dirt.

[Tredge]

Sorry to hear about your trouble.

The borax is still working miracles for me. My pool maintenance is down a ton...I havent even brushed once all summer!

I do have an SWG though.

When the pool is perfectly still I cant tell if there is water in it or not. Its that clear.

[waterbear]

People tend to forget about a piece of equipment in most inground pools, the hydrostatic relief valve. If you are having a lot of rain and the ground is saturated the valve can open and allow groundwater into the pool. This is one of the ways that they are supposed to work. It can dilute all the chems in your pool and can lead to an algae outbreak, even with a covered pool.

[salinda]

Curious about this: What about areas like mine that have a relatively high water table? My water is pretty perfect but in the winter is when the problem is the worst around here. People get flooding in crawl spaces and such, so the 10 ft deep end of my pool is certainly under the water table. Does this mean the valve is open a lot in the winter? If that groundwater with its cya-eating bacteria is getting in, that might explain the cya losses I have been experiencing every winter.

[topless]

Hydrostatic relief valve? I've never heard of it before and don't know if I have one. Where are they usually located?
This area has gotten so much rain this year that for the first time in the 7 years I've lived here, the sump pump has run, a lot. So, I know the ground is more saturated than anything I've experienced before.