Murky algae pool

[PoolDoc]

Retest pH this evening, and if it's still low, add 1/2 box of borax.

What does your water look like?

[janbogus]

I will have to get my son to test the pool this evening (working out of town until tomorrow) and add the bleach/possible borax. This morning the color was a pale light green- getting closer! (It has not been this light with any of the shock etc I was using before. I can make out the second step now. The first step the water looks clear except for what I am suspecting is mustard algae (or dead algae but it has a brown color to it). When I vacuum or use the leaf rake along the bottom of the pool, you can see a cloud form in the water.

Jan

[PoolDoc]

When I vacuum or use the leaf rake along the bottom of the pool, you can see a cloud form in the water.

Sounds like mustard algae.

[janbogus]

Levels this evening are chlorine 3.4 and pH 7.2. I figure I've had a couple different types of algae. Will have to read up on the site on how to get rid of the mustard algae as the green disappears.

[janbogus]

Received my Taylor 6200 kit today. Took new readings and if I did the analysis correctly, I got the following levels:
FE: 1.2, CC: 2.2 Ph: 7.0, Alk: 100, CYA: 42, and CAL: >1100.

I added two more gallons of bleach. I did not add the borax the other day because the levels had risen. Looks like I need to add it now. The pool is a hazy, cloudy blue. I can make out the jets and the third step in the shallow end. When I started to vacuum to waste tonight, the billowing clouds returned. So it looks like the mustard algae is still there.

What would you suggest next?

[Watermom]

These testing demos may be helpful to you:> http://pool9.net/K2006-vid/

Raise your chlorine back up to shock level which is based on your CYA level:> http://pool9.net/cl-cya/

[PoolDoc]

Two questions:

1. Are you sure your CH (calcium hardness) is 1,100?

That's 110 drops of reagent! If you haven't already, watch the Taylor videos: http://pool9.net/tk-guide/ and http://pool9.net/tk-interfere/

Also, please test the pH, TA and CH of the water you filled your pool with -- presumably your house water, but upstream of any softener, etc.


2. Can you explain the sequence of the "billowing clouds"? Where were these clouds billowing from?

I don't understand, since vacuuming to waste should have ZERO effect on your pool water, since the discharge water is going out the backwash line.

[janbogus]

I did not test my house water. I did watch the Taylor video and also checked out the website that poolmom recommended.
My pool water is still a cloudy blue (i.e. can't see the bottom of the pool). The "billowing clouds" are brown and come from the bottom of the pool when I vacuum or brush still but not as bad as they were. I do believe I still have mustard algae or else it is dead algae and that's causing the "clouds". (Please note, on the other side of my property, probably less than 50-100 yards from the pool is a drainage ditch for run off water from the city.) It has rained a couple of heavy downpours over the past week and I did add more borax and a couple gallons of bleach throughout the week. I read the levels yesterday morning and again this morning. Yesterday after reading the levels, I put in one box of borax, half a box at a time. Last night I added two gallons of bleach.

Here are the levels over the last couple of days.
7/19: FC: 5 CC: 4.0 PH: 7.0 TA: 120 CH: 375 CYA:80
7/20: FC: 8 CC: 2.5 PH: >8.0 (purplish color) TA: 100 CH: 290 CYA: 90

So the combined chlorine is dropping.
I am going to look over the instructions again. Do I go ahead and use a floculant to drop everything to the ground so I can see what I have left in the pool? When I use the leaf net I don't get anything and when I vacuum to waste I am not getting much debris from the pool floor in the skimmer basket.