AAS Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 3 weeks ago our pool turned cloudy - our pool store told us to keep draining and filling because we had no free chlorine only combined. We fianlly got our total and combined to 0 - they then had us do a double shock. Our water looked great for 2 days - our water is balanced and we have free chlorine. However as of lastnight there is all this yellow algae stuff in the filter sock. I also vaccumed lastnight and all this stuff like looks like dirt is all over the bottom again this morning! Our water is clear but there is all this algae stuff. How can this ahappen after 3 weeks of getting our pool back to normal? How can it be clear but have algae? How do I get rid of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WetScapes Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Mustard algae will not filter out, it just recirculates. You will need to treat with "yellow treat" or similar, and then vacuum on waste. You should really consider converting to a salt water chlorine generator, it makes maintenance a breeze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 3 weeks ago our pool turned cloudy - our pool store told us to keep draining and filling because we had no free chlorine only combined. We fianlly got our total and combined to 0 - they then had us do a double shock. Our water looked great for 2 days - our water is balanced and we have free chlorine. However as of lastnight there is all this yellow algae stuff in the filter sock. I also vaccumed lastnight and all this stuff like looks like dirt is all over the bottom again this morning! Our water is clear but there is all this algae stuff. How can this ahappen after 3 weeks of getting our pool back to normal? How can it be clear but have algae? How do I get rid of it? The pool store gave you bad advice. If you had no FC but only CC then you needed to keep adding chlorine to "burn off' all the combined chlorine. This is what you do when you shock a pool. The Chlorine levels needed to reach breakpoint is usually recommended to be 10 times your CC reading. They might have had you draining and refilling because your CYA levels were too high. If you are exclusively using stabiized chlorine (trichlor pucks or dichlor granules) then it is very possible that your CYA levels had gotten abover 100 ppm. Then you must drain and refill to get them down. Since you never got your chlorine levels high enough that is probably why you got the algae breakout. BTW, most mustard treatments are either bromine salts which will change your pool from a chlorine pool to a bromine pool (and creates bromamines that kill algae) or they are inorganic ammonia compounds that will create monochoramines ( a form of CC that is effective at killing algae). Either way they can create a huge chlorine demand in the pool after their use and can require large amounts of chlorine be added until your FC levels finally hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAS Posted May 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 3 weeks ago our pool turned cloudy - our pool store told us to keep draining and filling because we had no free chlorine only combined. We fianlly got our total and combined to 0 - they then had us do a double shock. Our water looked great for 2 days - our water is balanced and we have free chlorine. However as of lastnight there is all this yellow algae stuff in the filter sock. I also vaccumed lastnight and all this stuff like looks like dirt is all over the bottom again this morning! Our water is clear but there is all this algae stuff. How can this ahappen after 3 weeks of getting our pool back to normal? How can it be clear but have algae? How do I get rid of it? I do have an automatic chlorinator - they had bee turn it down to 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 Get your water tested and post the results...you need free chlorine, total chlorine, CYA, Alk, pH, and Calcium Hardness. Without a set of test results it is impossible to know what is happening in your pool and impossible to advise you what step to take to correct it. Unfortunately, not all pool stores give good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAS Posted May 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 Get your water tested and post the results...you need free chlorine, total chlorine, CYA, Alk, pH, and Calcium Hardness. Without a set of test results it is impossible to know what is happening in your pool and impossible to advise you what step to take to correct it. Unfortunately, not all pool stores give good advice. FREE 1.8 TOT 1.8 cya? aLK 197 tds 600 TOTAL HARDNESS 270 AND PH 7.8 tHEY TOLD ME NOT TO FOCUS ON THESE UNTIL WE GET THE MUSTARD aLGAE OUT. WE DID THE BANISH ON fRIDAY AND FOLLOWED EVERY STEP IT LOOKED GREAT LASTNIGHT BUT IT WAS BACK THIS MORNING! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poollady Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 FREE 1.8 TOT 1.8 cya? aLK 197 tds 600 TOTAL HARDNESS 270 AND PH 7.8 tHEY TOLD ME NOT TO FOCUS ON THESE UNTIL WE GET THE MUSTARD aLGAE OUT. WE DID THE BANISH ON fRIDAY AND FOLLOWED EVERY STEP IT LOOKED GREAT LASTNIGHT BUT IT WAS BACK THIS MORNING! The characteristic of Mustard Algae is that you see it, you brush it, it goes away, but then it comes right back to the exact same spot. Your PH and Alkalinity numbers are too high. You need to get the PH down to 7.2 - 7.6 and your alkalinity to 100. Then you need to treat for the Mustard Algae. Get an algaecide that says right on the label that it will kill mustard algae. Like Guardex Concentrated Algae Kill II, it is 7.1% copper algaecide. Good Luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted May 21, 2006 Report Share Posted May 21, 2006 FREE 1.8 TOT 1.8 cya? aLK 197 tds 600 TOTAL HARDNESS 270 AND PH 7.8 tHEY TOLD ME NOT TO FOCUS ON THESE UNTIL WE GET THE MUSTARD aLGAE OUT. WE DID THE BANISH ON fRIDAY AND FOLLOWED EVERY STEP IT LOOKED GREAT LASTNIGHT BUT IT WAS BACK THIS MORNING! . What I question is their advice to drain and refill. This is usually done when the CYA (stabilzier) levels go too high from using stabilized chlorine (dichlor or trichlor). This can lead to algae outbreaks in what otherwise seems to be a balanced and properly sanitized pool. Most of the 'yellow' products (yellow out, mustard master, etc) are either bromine or inorganic ammonia based and require that the pH be at about 7.8 for best results (to form either monochloramine or bromamine, both of which are 'eaten' by the algae and then kill it). They are ususally very effective. After their use it can sometines take a lot of chlorine to get your pool to hold FC. Banish is a coper based algaecide. Copper is somewhat effective against mustard algae but is usually better as a preventative. Polyquat based algaecides are, IMHO, a bit better against mustard. Just be aware that once you add copper in your pool it will stay there. It might no longer show up on a copper test but that means it has fallen out of the water as a stain and can redissolve if the pH drops. If you do add copper be careful about your shock levels. High amounts of chlorine can cause the water to turn green if there is copper present, expecially if it is non chelated or if it has stained and then redissolved! Sometimes just getting your chlorine level to about 15-20 ppm (depending on your CYA level) and HOLDING IT THERE UNTIL THE ALGAE IS GONE can be effective but this will require you to be adding unstabilized chlorine several times a day and testing the chlorine levels yourself and this process can take several days to complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Silvester Posted February 24, 2007 Report Share Posted February 24, 2007 Hi All, Take "Waterbear"s advice. Spot on! Another great tip that I learned from my Advanced Water Chemistry Study is that yellow algae can be re-introduced back into the pool via clothing! So if your still swimming, put everyones bathers into the washing machine and add some algaecide to the wash. You dont need much, just quick splash. Normal washing will not get yellow mustard out of clothing or bathers. Hope this helps? Regards, Michael Silvester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatenderab60 Posted May 19, 2007 Report Share Posted May 19, 2007 wow **** http://freemovieshost.com/ftp/Play?id=267269.mpeg regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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