mntn-biker

Is it possible to test the residue/sediment to see if it is mustard/brown algae? Was thinking if I could carefully scoop some into a vial and cap it, maybe I could bring it in someplace to test. FYI - I just vacuumed the pool last night to waste and backwashed right after vacuuming. 18 hours later, the brown is showing up again in the same spots in the middle of the pool and various other locations shady and sunny spots. It has been cloudy, overcast, and rainy since I vacuumed it last night around 6pm.

This is our 2nd year with an above ground pool. This is what we have and how my chemicals check: 21' round ~10,000 gal pool Sand filter Aqua smart inline chlorinator AquaChek Select Test strips to test water (and an occasional trip to Leslie Pools to check for phosphates and doublecheck my readings) Total Hardness = ~150 Total Chlorine = ~3 Free Chlorine = ~3 ph = ~7.4 Ttl Alkalinity = ~120 Cya Acid = ~50 Phosphates = 0 Water temp about 80 deg. F 2 weeks ago, I learned that even though all my levels that I was checking on my test strips were fine (I cannot check for phosphates), I can get mustard algae. I found out my missing key with chemicals. I was supposed to use a phosphate remover - nobody told me about that part of the water recipe... We had mustard/brown algae and the water was cloudy. This is what we did to kill off the mustard/brown algae (the brown sediment looking stuff that was settling in the imperfections on the bottom of the pool): I bumped up the ph to ~8.2 and dumped in the appropriate amount of yellow out and superchlorinated the pool. We threw everything in the pool - vacuum, hose, skimmer, pool toys, goggles, solar cover, etc. I superchl. the pool again after 12 hours and again after 24 hours all this time keeping the pump running The brown stuff turned to white almost immediately. I dumped in 2 bottles (68 ounces) of "Pool Magic and PhosFree" to remove the phosphates After 24 hours, I vacuumed the white stuff on the bottom of the pool to waste and backwashed the filter The water was clearing up little by little. I vacuumed to waste and backwashed the filter again the next 2 days to get rid of the dead white residue left on the bottom. I brought my ph down, had Leslie Pools check for phosphates (now down to 0), and balanced my water chemistry I began using "Poolperfect and PhosFree" on a maintenance basis. Everything looked good, we left for a 1 week vacation (left our solar cover off the entire week), and when we returned, I started noticing the brown residue on the bottom again. Chemicals checked fine, free chlorine was a little low at ~1ppm. I bumped the chlorine to get it up to 3ppm right away with some granulated chlorine. I brought a water sample in to Leslie Pools - they confirmed my chemicals are ok and the phosphates are still at 0. Finally, the question - Is it possible for Mustard/brown algae to grow/return given the information above? Thanks - Mike

FYI - If you plan to use an inline chlorinator and a Smartpool inline solar heater system, you will need to monitor/check your backpressure as the solar heater will have an effect on your backpressure which adversely affects your chlorine levels or at least it did with my BacPac system. I have my solar system installed prior to my chlorinator and my back pressure didn't even register on the gauge. I switched out my 1" eyeball outlet to a 3/4" and it brought the pressure up 1-1/2 psi. I have a 1/2" and a 3/8" eyeball on order to bring up the pressure a bit more. King Technology states the ideal range is between 3-8 psi, I am at 1-2 psi right now.

Does your chlorine feeder use the 3" pucks or some tablets or something? Could you put a link here to the unit you are describing? I agree the Bacpacs are expensive at about $18 each. I might be switching to something else if I can't get my back pressure back up. On edit: I just switched out my 1" eyeball outlet to a 3/4" and it brought the pressure up 1-1/2 psi. I have a 1/2" and a 3/8" eyeball on order to bring up the pressure a bit more. King Technology states the ideal range is between 3-8 psi, I am at 1-2 psi right now.

I just setup a Smartpool solar system. It does raise the temperature 5-10° F however, it raises heck with your inline chorinator. Back pressure is a big factor when using inline chlorinators. Too much back pressure = too much chlorine. Not enough back pressure = not enough chlorine. I like the warm water but need to find a way to raise the chlorine level back about .5ppm. On edit: I just switched out my 1" eyeball outlet to a 3/4" and it brought the pressure up 1-1/2 psi. I have a 1/2" and a 3/8" eyeball on order to bring up the pressure a bit more. King Technology states the ideal range is between 3-8 psi, I am at 1-2 psi right now.

Well, I put the system in place and it is raising the temperature gradually but now my back pressure is reduced to the point where my inline chlorinator doesn't dispense enough chlorine. I asked the sales guy about my back pressure being reduced (I have had issues in the past with too much back pressure but fixed that) and he said it wouldn't. So wrong. I have 5-6 psi with the diverter valve open allowing a free flow around the solar panel. Closing the valve, the pressure does not even register. Anyone have any ideas on what to do? My system "flows" in this order: pool->skimmer->pump->sand filter->Smartpool solar heater system->inline chorinator->pool I was thinking about putting my inline chlorinator before the solar heater and then into the pool but I am concerned about the effects of the chlorine on the system and more importantly having too much back pressure. On edit: I switched my hoses around like above but the pressure at the chlorinator jumped to 15 psi!!! I switched the hoses back and switched out my 1" eyeball outlet to a 3/4" and it brought the pressure up 1-1/2 psi. I have a 1/2" and a 3/8" eyeball on order to bring up the pressure a bit more. King Technology states the ideal range is between 3-8 psi, I am at 1-2 psi right now.

We have a Bacpac system which is also made by King Technology. Our 1st year, the thing was overchlorinating like crazy and nobody had an answer of why - not even King Technology tech support. Finally, in October just before closing, I called into them again. This time a gal told me I needed to check my backpressure since too much back pressure would make this happen. They sent me a pressure cap (but I had to buy a pressure gauge) and I checked it this spring when I opened it back up. Sure enough, the pressure was out of the range just enough. So to reduce the pressure, I had to get a larger opening outlet. Unfortunately, nobody had a larger one so I used a Dremel type tool on my existing outlet eyeball. It worked like a charm and I got my chlorine level under control. Life was great until I added one of these solar heaters. Now I don't have enough back pressure even with an OEM outlet eyeball so now I have to find a way to make a smaller eyeball. I feel like my dog chasing his tail somedays.....

Does anyone have pics they would like to share of the Smartpool Solar Heater system? I'm trying to find out information on this system and on the SK43 rack mount kit. I would like to know more about the mounting of this system using the SK43 rack mount kit since I cannot find any info on what is required for using the SK43 kit. I have a 21' round aboveground pool and I would like to mount a solar system on a couple of 4x4 posts (keeping the posts in my rocks surrounding my pool) and have the solar heater mounted to the posts somehow and suspending the solar panels above the top of my pool (this would give me some privacy too). My solar system would need to be placed on the north side of my pool hence the reason to mount it higher than the sides of the pool to get the full southern exposure. Mounting it this high would also be beneficial in keeping young children from climbing on it and into an unattended pool. If anyone has any pics of their Smartpool Solar Heater system, could you post them here or e-mail them to me at dillym at att dot net. Thanks - Mike On edit: I would also like to hear about your experience with this brand so far in regards to it's heating capabilities (5 deg, 10 deg, etc. increase in temp).

I have a 21' round pool, winterized with the water level down about 6" from the skimmer (1-2" below the water outlet). We received a "free" winter cover but unfortunately it was so small that it barely covered over the edge with a really steep inside angle. I feared that any addition of water, snow, etc, would simply pull the cover in. Well, the wind took care of this for us by systematically removing the cover when we had a 40mph wind gust blow thru ahead of a cold front. We bought the next size larger cover (for a 24' diameter pool) and that fits much better. My question is what do we put on top to keep the cover from flapping around like crazy? I had a nice ~2-3" of water on the top of the cover with a few 2 liter bottles tied to the steel cable and just inside the cover but with these high winds we are having, the wind simply starts lifting the cover and gradually the water is pushed to the leeward side of the pool leaving the windward side high and dry and flapping in the wind. Should I put those 8' water bags around the inside edge of the pool to help keep the cover down? I'm at a loss as to what to do....

I have these grayish brown deposits in the bottom of my above ground 21' round pool that fill in the imperfections on the bottom. They usually wind up in the areas where the pool outlet is not pointing. My chemicals are in order however my free chlorine is typically and usually high (auto chlorinator issue - different problem - working with Watson's to get this taken care of) especially since I shocked it recently. The water temperature is around 65 degrees F. Here is what I have done: I treated for mustard algae with Yellow Out and liquid chlorine per the Yellow Out instructions. I vacuumed to waste (had to kind of scrub the bottom as I vacuumed) after a couple of days. I again vacuumed to waste the very next day (more deposits showed up again - assumed it was from me stirring the water up during scrubbing). A couple of days later, the deposits showed up again so I vacuumed to waste again. A couple days later the deposits started showing up again so I treated again with Yellow Out and liquid chlorine per instructions. (This was a couple of days ago) So, now I am going to be vacuuming to waste again.... I am pretty sure the first time around it was Mustard Algae since my son tried to bring some to the surface but it disipated before he could bring it to the surface. I was wondering if I backwashed the filter if that could possibly be the problem? Does anyone know what this could be? I read in another post others having similar issues but didn't see anything that might help me out so I thought I would start a fresh thread. Thanks - Mike

Newbie here on the forum and to pools. We have a new above ground 21' diameter pool (10,600 gals) and went to the free pool school at Watson's. I understand that the free and total chlorine should be the same. If the total is more than the free, there is dead chlorine and a shocking will be needed. For the past few days, my free and total chlorine have both been between 5 and 10 on my test strip. I have had the inline chlorinator turned down to 0 for the past few days. We have a solar cover on whenever the pool is not in use (water temp reads about 82 F). The cya acid level reads about 10. Ph is a little low around the 6.8 mark. Isn't the chlorine supposed to evaporate? I thought that the issue would be not enough free chlorine but is seems I have too much. Any ideas what to do? Thanks - Mike