Low ph and algae

[PoolDoc]

Perfectly safe; may be hard on swimsuits and treated (dyed, permed) hair.

It *may* dry your skin or or sting your eyes.

OTO orange actually covers a range from 20 - 40 ppm, so it's hard to tell much more.

But I can tell you that a number of years ago my older son (and about 40 other senior swimmers in Chattanooga) spent a summer practicing in an outdoor pool with CYA => 30 - 50 ppm and FC => 20 - 40 ppm. This was 5 days per week, 2 - 3 hours per day. They lost a lot of swimsuits*; the girls didn't have to shave their legs; the guys who didn't wear caps (including my son) had their hair turn sort of an ash color. It didn't affect their eyes -- but they all wore goggles. My son and another guy had 'goggle stripes' where the hair under the goggle strap retained it's original dark color! But, with over 200 hours of actual water time, nobody experienced any skin problems, etc. (The City of Chattanooga pool operator didn't understand how ORP controllers worked, and wasn't taking advice. I monitored the situation since it affected my son, but didn't raise a fuss.)'

[cdingess]

This my sound silly but my oto is still orange 25 and ph 7.2 should I add chlorine tab to the floater? I have about 50% of one in there now or do I let it dissolved completely while the oto is still high? Christina

[Watermom]

Let the one dissolve that is in there now. How many more do you have left? Are they wrapped or unwrapped?

[cdingess]

I have a lot left medium size bucket and unwrapped.

Should I be using a ph stabilizer or do I wait till oto I'd yellow?

[PoolDoc]

Do you mean chlorine "stabilizer"?

You probably should NOT add any chlorine stabilizer, since you already have adequate levels, and since simply using tabs adds quite a bit.

[cdingess]

My oto is finally less than 25 its finally yellow and ph 7.2 but I think the algae came back but a little bit. I had small spots on bottom of pool just where pool curves to bottom?

I don't know what to do? Should I put more bleach in or put chlorine tab back in? Other than that the water is very clear, just spots starting up.

Please help.

[Watermom]

How much less than 25ppm? You really need to bite the bullet and get the good Taylor K2006 kit that we have suggested three or four times within this thread. It is very difficult to help you without you having the ability to have good CYA and chlorine numbers.

Brush the pool while the chlorine is high.

[cdingess]

How much less than 25ppm? You really need to bite the bullet and get the good Taylor K2006 kit that we have suggested three or four times within this thread. It is very difficult to help you without you having the ability to have good CYA and chlorine numbers.

Brush the pool while the chlorine is high.

It was 9. Can i buy the Taylor K2006 at a pool store so i don't have to wait for it in the mail? I thought the one from wal-mart was ok for checking chlorine and ph. I didn't know the Taylor kit was a must, i just want this stuff gone. I have been brushing the pool as well. I don't put the cover on at all even if rain is coming. Could that be the cause of this?

[PoolDoc]

Are you brushing the pool?

Physically disturbing the algae is necessary to break up the protection layers that the biofilms create. Other than consistent high chlorine PLUS brushing, the other treatment options are not super attractive.

=> Copper algaecides, at high doses work. But they also stain and turn hair green.

=> Ammonia based mustard products also work, but leave you with a downstream clean up mess -- very high combined chlorine.

The remaining option is what I'm currently testing: very low phosphate levels. But there are games going on with the concentration of the products. Currently, the only reliable product seems to be the Orenda PR-10000 product, which is not widely available. None of the major online distributors have it, probably because it makes their favored products look bad. Here's a listing from Google Shopping.

To use it, you ALSO have to get the Taylor K1106 Phosphate kit . But it appears you haven't even gotten a K2006 . . . so for whatever reason, so I'm guessing this is not an option for you.

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I think we're out of options here. I'll admit the choices aren't great, but they are what they are, and talking about them longer isn't going to change anything. Honestly, if your budget is too tight to allow you to get a K2006, it's probably too tight to deal with mustard algae, no matter what direction you go in.

You may be better off simply covering the pool, and adding chlorine underneath. After a couple of weeks at 20 ppm and no light, the algae will almost certainly be dead.

But I think we've done all we can do.

Sorry!