Mustard/Yellow Algae Help PLEASE!

[gonefishin]

It sounds like your on the right course...continue to KEEP levels up at a high level shock (in case it is mustard algae) until the water looks good and you have no chlorine loss overnight. It sounds like you may be close...so keep it up.

dan

[Piney]

Greetings--

We've had a rough season this year with mustard alge. The pool store and several of the service guys I see around have all said that this has been a rough year here (Texas).

We run our filter 24x7 now. A careful watch on the CL levels and pH has helped. After the first serious outbreak -- we got that one cleared up with two good doses of Eliminator (Sodium Bromide I think)and serious shocking over a two week period.

Its much better, but I do see it start to come back if the CL levels drop. We've been trying to keep them above 4, and if we're going out of town, raise them up to 6-8 or so.

[gonefishin]

Greetings--

Its much better, but I do see it start to come back if the CL levels drop. We've been trying to keep them above 4, and if we're going out of town, raise them up to 6-8 or so.

Hi Piney

If you get ANY deposits could you send me a sample, please?

Also...if you could take a picture from above the water would be helpful as well. Does it "stick" to the bottom or sides? or does it easily get stirred up?

But I would also like to see you "suck" up a sample of this algae from the bottom of the pool.

To collect it...Take your pool water sample bottle or some type of squeeze bottle (with the dropper tip) and squeeze out all the air above water. Then exhale and SLOWLY swim to the bottom of the pool where some of the mustard algae is. Once you gently approach the algae with the dropper tip start to release the pressure on the bottle to draw the algae into the bottle. Do this in a couple of different spots until the bottle is full of algae and water. Next...slowly pour the water over an old pair of nylons to filter out the algae letting the water flow thru. Then you could put the remaining algae in a ziplock bag and send it to me for some closer examination under the microscope.

If you would be able to help out send me a private message and I'll get you my e-mail.

thanks!
dan

[chem geek]

Its much better, but I do see it start to come back if the CL levels drop. We've been trying to keep them above 4, and if we're going out of town, raise them up to 6-8 or so.

Piney,

What's your CYA level? I just want to see if the rule of needing an FC of 15% of the CYA level for preventing yellow/mustard algae applies to your pool (the rule for green algae is a minimum FC of around 7.5% of the CYA level). That would imply a CYA level of about 25-30 ppm for your pool. If you have a higher CYA, then your yellow/mustard algae isn't as aggressive as in some other pools, possibly due to limited nutrients or environmental conditions.

Richard

[skystone]

Greetings--

We've had a rough season this year with mustard alge. The pool store and several of the service guys I see around have all said that this has been a rough year here (Texas).

We run our filter 24x7 now. A careful watch on the CL levels and pH has helped. After the first serious outbreak -- we got that one cleared up with two good doses of Eliminator (Sodium Bromide I think)and serious shocking over a two week period.

Its much better, but I do see it start to come back if the CL levels drop. We've been trying to keep them above 4, and if we're going out of town, raise them up to 6-8 or so.

I can't keep my chlorine levels up, can I use chlorine bleach to get the level of chlorine up, even if I have been using chlorine shock? What else can I do? I want to close the pool, but I know I have to get rid of the algae first.

[aylad]

I can't keep my chlorine levels up, can I use chlorine bleach to get the level of chlorine up, even if I have been using chlorine shock? What else can I do? I want to close the pool, but I know I have to get rid of the algae first.

Yes, you can use bleach...it's all chlorine once it gets into the water....

Janet