Wanted: Mustard algae or suspected mustard algae

[mikemedic]

good to know, i jacked my FC to about 20 for 4 days. Seems on now, but this happened before. If my CYA is 70 I would need to leave my FC at 10.5?
I may try this, having a rainy humid august, then i may back off in sept.

How do I measure borates? I have a taylor test kit K2006 I believe, and if I add borax will this not jack up my PH?

GIve me some ideas

[aylad]

How do I measure borates? I have a taylor test kit K2006 I believe, and if I add borax will this not jack up my PH?

You have to buy the borate strips separately...Accucheck has some out, and I believe LaMotte might have some, too. If you add the borax, it will jack up the pH...you'll have to counter the pH rise by adding muriatic acid so that your pH stays within normal ranges, just the borates increase.

Janet

[gonefishin]

I'd still like any samples that people can get me. If you have a deposit suck it up in a squeeze bottle and send it to me. I'll take a look at it under the microscope and see what we can tell.




dan

[hoffmans]

Dan,
Sure thing. Brown crud on the way shortly. Will probably mail it out on Friday.
Got your email. Thanks

~Hoffmans

[gonefishin]

Dan,
Sure thing. Brown crud on the way shortly. Will probably mail it out on Friday.
Got your email. Thanks

~Hoffmans

LoL!

brown crud...


dan

[hoffmans]

Did I miss something on this whole Borates issue?
I don't know squat about Borates. Why do I want Borates?
Is there something beneficial about having borates in my pool?


hmmmm.......

~Hoffmans

[chem geek]

See this thread for more on using Borates in the pool -- not for making the pH rise, but for use as an algaecide. 30-50 ppm Borates is the recommended amount for that purpose and to get to that amount you add acid along with the 20 Mule Team Borax.

The only apparent downside is that it is "on the edge" for the level of first symptoms for toxicity in animals such as dogs, if they drink a lot of pool water (i.e. every day).

Richard

[mikemedic]

Just wanted update all on my mustard algae.

I have kept my FC above 11. I did add polyquat several weeks ago but it seems the crap came back or suspected M algae came back. So i have kept FC above 11. Usually about 14 ish. Water has looked great! No residue on the bottom etc. I think I will keep my FC until mid sept.

I think I kicked it's Butt !

[chem geek]

Congratulations on winning your battle!

So it does seem that the rule of maintaining a minimum FC of 15% of the CYA level (so 10.5 ppm FC or around 11 ppm FC at your 70 ppm CYA) does seem to work for yellow/mustard algae. This is double the rough minimum FC of 7.5% of the CYA level for green algae (corresponding to the "Min" column in Ben's chart).

Some other users had success using PolyQuat 60, but had to maintain a weekly maintenance dose of it -- not a one-time treatment. It apparently helps slow-down growth, but does not kill all the algae, and may also need at least some chlorine level as well. Did you do a one-time dose or did you do an initial dose and then weekly maintenance doses thereafter? I'd like to get more data on this PolyQuat use (and Borates as well as this has also helped some, but not all, pool owners against yellow/mustard algae).

Richard

[chem geek]

good to know, i jacked my FC to about 20 for 4 days. Seems on now, but this happened before. If my CYA is 70 I would need to leave my FC at 10.5?

Yes. If you don't use an algaecide or completely get rid of the algae via intensive shocking (42 ppm after first lowering the pH to 7.1, but that seems almost insane, doesn't it?), you'd need to keep a minimum of 10.5 ppm FC with your 70 ppm CYA to keep away the yellow/mustard algae. At least that's the experience of users so far. Though technically shocking at 42 ppm FC at 70 ppm CYA is equivalent in disinfecting chlorine to 1.6 ppm FC with no CYA (which is lower than most indoor pools), the high numbers scare me, even though I know the chemistry behind them.