Mustard Algae: Worst in a Decade!

Summary

In this conversation, Andrea and Rudy discuss Andrea's experiences rescuing dogs from drowning in pools. They also mention a new podcast called Poolside Perspective and share what they've been listening to in the pool industry. The conversation then shifts to the topic of mustard algae and its prevalence in Flint, Michigan. Rudy explains the history of the water crisis in Flint and how it relates to the growth of mustard algae. He also discusses the Saharan dust storm and its impact on pool water. The conversation ends with a discussion on the importance of knowing the water quality in your pool. In this conversation, Andrea and Rudy discuss the factors that contribute to mustard algae growth in swimming pools. They explore the role of water chemistry, including pH, phosphates, nitrates, and silicates, in creating an environment conducive to mustard algae. They also discuss the importance of controlling dead spots in circulation and adjusting calcium hardness levels. The conversation emphasizes the need to treat what can be controlled and to be aware of the changing composition of city water. The hosts provide tips for preventing mustard algae and highlight the importance of regular testing and maintenance.

Keywords

pool cleaning, dog rescue, podcast, mustard algae, Flint water crisis, Saharan dust storm, water quality, mustard algae, swimming pools, water chemistry, pH, phosphates, nitrates, silicates, dead spots in circulation, calcium hardness, prevention, testing, maintenance

Takeaways

• Rescuing dogs from drowning in pools is a common occurrence for pool cleaners.
• The Poolside Perspective podcast is a new show in the pool industry worth checking out.
• The Saharan dust storm can introduce diatoms and other particles into pool water.
• Knowing the water quality in your pool is important for maintaining a healthy swimming environment. Mustard algae, also known as yellow algae, is a type of diatom that thrives in swimming pools with specific water conditions.
• Controlling water chemistry factors such as pH, phosphates, nitrates, and silicates can help prevent mustard algae growth.
• Adjusting the direction of return jets and increasing pump speed can help eliminate dead spots in circulation, which are favorable environments for mustard algae.
• Regular testing and maintenance are crucial for identifying and addressing water chemistry imbalances that contribute to mustard algae growth.
• Treating what can be controlled, such as phosphates, and monitoring the composition of city water can help minimize the risk of mustard algae infestation.

Chapters

00:00
Introduction and Dog Rescues

10:22
Introducing Poolside Perspective Podcast

12:31
The Prevalence of Mustard Algae in Flint, Michigan

22:34
The Importance of Knowing Your Pool's Water Quality

00:00
Introduction and Overview

36:09
Controlling Water Chemistry Factors

37:48
Eliminating Dead Spots in Circulation

39:04
Regular Testing and Maintenance

41:43
Treating What Can Be Controlled

49:35
The Impending Dust Storm and Mustard Algae

56:05
Lowering pH to Combat Mustard Algae

01:01:08
Conclusion and Final Remarks

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Transcript

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Andrea (00:00.078)
gonna have to go refill my drink in a second because I just realized that it's a little light on the liquid. Yeah, there's ice in here.

Rudy (00:07.295)
Empty. Light on the liquid. That is an uncommon position for you.

Andrea (00:12.206)
Excuse me.

Mm. Yeah, see you later. All right, I'll set that aside. Hey, so I have a story that I wanted to tell you. you know what? What show is this? Yeah. Hi, everybody. I'm Andrea, and this is the Talking Pools Showgram podcast. The fun times. And I have a friend with me. Hold on. My friend is Rudy.

Rudy (00:25.151)
Well, let's say hello first.

Rudy (00:37.599)
Showgram

Rudy (00:42.367)
Hey, yo. My name is Rudy Stankiewicz.

Andrea (00:45.805)
As usual. wait, I was missing last week, right? Excuse me. Last week. Last week.

Rudy (00:50.527)
You were missing last week. You were out there busting your ass cleaning pools in the rain.

Andrea (00:56.524)
Yeah

Well, that's actually part of, well, no, it's not part of my story. Well, I just had like tons of rain. There was a hurricane, not a hurricane. I told you about the tornado that went through. It wasn't a hurricane. It was just the tornado from the other week, but it was just, you know, a lot to get through. But I ended up, well, I just now, right as I just spoke, got a lightning notification that there's lightning.

Rudy (01:10.047)
Just making sure there's a hurricane. There's a tornado. There were meteorites falling from the sky

Rudy (01:22.015)
Weather events are a bitch.

Andrea (01:30.093)
nearby because I have it set to two and a half miles. Well anyway, do you want to hear my story?

Rudy (01:36.224)
Yeah, absolutely. What's up?

Andrea (01:40.077)
So I have now rescued a total of, I have the number, I'm gonna say four. One, two, three, yeah. Four dogs from drowning in my pool cleaning career. Dogs.

Rudy (01:56.255)
Dogs.

Rudy (02:00.384)
just rando dogs in people's pools or the people's dogs in the people's pools?

Andrea (02:05.325)
The dogs that belong to the house, I have saved them from drowning in their own pools.

two of them were well okay so let me just clarify because I just made a mistake this last incident number four why are you doing that you are sunburned I told you you can see it you are

Rudy (02:26.303)
That's my skin color.

Andrea (02:29.259)
No, you're - you look extra red. Anyway, this last dog that I rescued from drowning was not in the actual pool. So... The first - the first - So, I - yes. I saved her from drowning in the air. No, so two - the first two times was two little blind -ass, like, chihuahuas that were, you know, really super old.

Rudy (02:39.871)
what?

It was in its water bowl.

Andrea (03:00.107)
and dog hears but also like in general just really old like blind all like barely walk and they went to go bark at me bless their little evil hearts and fell into the pool as they were trying to you know not attack me but they were coming they were trying to come for me anyway I ended up jumping in the pool no they were make they wanted to make me into Taco Bell

Rudy (03:19.583)
They were looking to offer you some Taco Bell.

You'll get your get old Taco Bell. Hmm You know that

Andrea (03:27.019)
themselves. But anyway, I jumped in and saved their stupid little asses. Two separate pools, two separate dogs, two like years apart from each other. It wasn't like, you know, one day I saved one of them and then the next day. So it was a it was a couple couple years apart, different owners, you know, different pools, different dogs. The third time was

Rudy (03:37.503)
okay. Future wow is two years apart.

Rudy (03:46.655)
Do you know what the best thing about the best thing about a Taco Bell burrito is pretty much looks the same coming out as it went in.

Andrea (03:55.338)
No, I don't. I don't. God, no, I don't eat those. I don't like burritos because I don't like rice in them. I like rice, but not in the burrito. So I don't typically get burritos. Anyway, I get quesadillas. So the third time was, I think we probably talked about this a couple of years ago, two years ago, maybe I was cleaning, I was vacuuming and this pool, they had three or four big ass golden retrievers.

And basically the pool was for the dogs, the people didn't really use it. And I was vacuuming and the dogs were playing with each other and they had tennis balls and stuff. And like, you know, Kong toys that they were throwing back and forth and chasing. And so the one dog drops the tennis ball, I think, in the water in the pool and got in the pool because the ball floated away from it. And then. Excuse me.

got tangled up in my riptide cord. And so kind of started to go under the water and I threw my phone out of my pants pocket and I jumped in and I untangled the dog under the water.

Rudy (05:11.071)
Well, that's good. That's a good thing to do. That's bad, actually. You'd be the first person to drown a labradoodle with a riptide.

Andrea (05:12.328)
And that's a run down of the first three times. Yeah, well he was fine.

Andrea (05:22.344)
It wasn't a labradoodle, it was a golden retriever. Golden retriever.

Rudy (05:24.735)
golden saturn called Irish retriever.

golden retriever and you got it tangled up in a rip -tied line.

Andrea (05:31.465)
and it was a very large golden retriever. He got himself tangled up. I just was trying to clean the pool. That was the third one. So now the fourth one, now we come to the fourth one, what happened just this past Saturday. So I was dog sitting for one of my mother's pool customers, because we all know my mother has her own pool company.

Rudy (05:38.559)
Hmm. That was the third one. You said four.

Rudy (05:50.527)
you

Andrea (06:00.841)
And fun fact, I used to clean this lady's pool when I used to work for my mother many, many years ago. So my mom's known this lady for like 20 years. So she originally asked her, but she couldn't do it. So I was like, sure, I'll go babysit some dogs for some cash at this rich lady's house. Absolutely. So she, you know, she was super nice, absolutely lovely person. She was like, you can bring your family, your kids coming down from Orlando. You can bring.

you know, fishing poles, we have the dock and blah, blah, and the pool, you can use the pool. So I brought my son and my daughter and we were, you know, we were all, it was the four of us, we were all at the, sitting out by the dock and my daughter had like some shrimp juice on her hand or whatever, cause she was fishing too. So I went to go like, rinse her hand off with the hose at the dock and I didn't, I don't know, the dog was,

next to us on the dock and like tried to back up and his feet kind of fell off his back feet fell off the edge of the dock and so he actually fell into the river not the

Rudy (07:14.595)
So it sounds like two, two out of the four you caused.

Andrea (07:15.016)
And it didn't seem like he was a very good swimmer. It didn't seem like... Go ahead.

Rudy (07:23.071)
Two out of the four it seems like you caused.

Andrea (07:26.696)
Two out of the four? Absolutely not. I didn't cause any of it.

Rudy (07:29.087)
Well the two of you care about Taco Bell a little bit, but...

Andrea (07:33.062)
They were just trying to run at me. Okay, the golden retriever I didn't cause either because how am I supposed to stop the dog from getting in the pool as I'm vacuuming? It's not like, you know, I was like, let me just vacuum around these dogs. I was halfway around, I was halfway through vacuuming the pool when the dogs jumped in and tried to swim across the pool and got tangled up in my cord. I did not cause that. I might've, you know, been, been.

Rudy (07:59.135)
And the final one...

Andrea (08:01.029)
I might've been the reason he got tangled, but I didn't cause him to jump into the pool. And then this one, he just tried to turn around and didn't have enough space to turn around, because he's like kind of a big, like a bully breed. So then I had to jump in to save his ass into this like river canal. And he had big dog too, not like a little, he was probably like, I don't know.

Rudy (08:15.871)
So you were rinsing on the dark bay.

Andrea (08:31.877)
How many pounds? no, it was around here. It was like probably like 80 pounds river canal. And so I got him up on the floating dock. I got him up on the floating dock because I could touch the water was shallow enough and we got him on the floating dock and then he was able to jump back up onto the dock that he fell off of. And then he wouldn't come back out on the dock for a little while, but he eventually did.

Rudy (08:33.855)
River Canal. Okay. 80 pounds.

Rudy (08:42.655)
Okay. Right.

Rudy (08:55.279)
my goodness. Well that's cool, but at least you saved them. You've not had one drown on you, have you?

Andrea (08:59.781)
Yeah, he was okay. No.

Rudy (09:03.615)
So this one that I wanted to talk about today, that's actually pretty awesome. I've not had a dog in that situation. I imagine I would try to go about it the same way. I would definitely jump in to help the dog to get them out of the pool. I do that with any animal. Anyway, it would make a difference if it was a dog, a cat, a rat, a snake, a chimpanzee, all of it, no problem.

Andrea (09:27.906)
person.

Rudy (09:32.927)
yeah, them too. A person, a people, of course a people. But you know what can help to reduce the chances of these things ending up in the pool? Is going with safety fencing around the pool.

Andrea (09:38.498)
Yeah, right. But.

Andrea (09:51.808)
Sorry, I was coughing, fencing. You said fencing?

Rudy (09:54.239)
Fencing keeps animals out of pools. Hey, I wanted to really quick. I don't know if you knew this or not. There's a new podcast in town. It's called Poolside Perspective podcast with Kevin Woodhurst and Mike Farley. Have you listened to it?

Andrea (10:13.728)
I have not. I am friends with Kevin Woodhurst on Facebook. I don't recognize the other person's name. I'll check it out. Is it good?

Rudy (10:20.959)
They've got a really good podcast. They're taking it's a whole pool owner based. It's geared toward the pool owner. That's their listening audience. They tend to get pretty deep into some of the things they were speaking about. I was listening to their most recent article and they were talking about whether or not somebody actually didn't have a green thumb or if they did. And it wasn't really that they were just, you know, planting the wrong plants in the area for the landscape around the pool, you know, all that stuff. So

Andrea (10:30.015)
Nice.

Rudy (10:49.919)
It was actually, it was a pretty good podcast. I've listened to a few of their episodes and they sound really good.

Andrea (10:55.262)
What's it called?

Rudy (10:56.863)
It's Poolside Perspectives Podcast. And of course,

Andrea (11:00.958)
Alright, I'll have to check it out.

Rudy (11:03.359)
Is there anything new you've been listening to out there? Pool related?

Andrea (11:08.893)
Cool related,

No, I've actually taken like a little mini break kind of from social media because you need those every once in a while. Not like a noticeable break, but I haven't really like looked at a lot of it lately. So not so much.

Rudy (11:16.863)
you

Rudy (11:22.175)
Okay.

Rudy (11:29.855)
I don't have a lot of time, obviously, but I've listened to a few episodes of this one. I always catch the Deep End podcast that's with Frank and Jackie. And then I've really been enjoying the pool chasers shorts that they do. They do these little 10 minute. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty interesting. It's pretty good. Yeah. I bring you up to speed on.

Andrea (11:40.476)
Yup.

Andrea (11:44.892)
Mm -hmm.

yeah, I do catch those on Sundays they come out, right? Yep, those are good. That's like a little, that's a, yeah, it's a nice little recap of kind of all the highlights, which is nice, I like.

Rudy (12:00.479)
Correct, yeah. And they also list every podcast and what all the different podcasters are talking about over the course of the week. I realize we have, so we have to apologize to them. We have four shows a week, so we're the pain in the ass podcast. If you want to talk about talking pools this week, four different things going on from all over the world. Sorry to be a pain in the ass. We really are not. But anyway, this one, I wanted to talk about something that's about to be sweeping the nation.

something that's gonna cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. And it goes back. No, this goes back a good decade. I wanna talk, well, what it is, I wanna talk about mustard algae. And you and I have done a little bit of research on this before when we spoke with the folks in Houston. And I've, yes, mustard algae. And I've done a little bit more research on it since then, but the problem really starts way back.

Andrea (12:33.563)
Is it a new viral hack?

Andrea (12:47.13)
Mustard algae.

Okay.

Ooh, so this is like an update show?

Rudy (12:58.143)
Yeah, like an update show. Okay, so.

Andrea (13:00.378)
Cool. All right. I've had some recent problems with it. Maybe I can learn from something that you say, or maybe you can learn from me.

Rudy (13:05.599)
Okay? I think a lot of people have.

A lot of people have been having recent problems with mustard algae and it's been more prevalent than it's been in a while. It's actually the number of occurrences have grown exponentially over the past decade. And I wanted to shed a little bit of light on it and talk about what we can do about it. So, but bear with me in order to fully explain the story, we have to go back

Gosh, what is it? 13 years now.

Andrea (13:46.551)
13.

Rudy (13:46.783)
Michigan, 13 years ago in Michigan, their governor Rick Snyder.

Andrea (13:51.895)
Flint, Michigan?

Are you talking about Flint, Michigan?

Rudy (13:57.279)
getting there. I'm talking about Flint, Michigan, right? Their governor Rick Snyder decided that he would shake some things up a little bit by appointing unelected emergency managers to run Flint. Now these managers who reported to the Michigan State Treasury Department instead of the Flint citizens thought that they had a bright idea.

They were going to switch the water supply, the city's water supply from Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the Flint River in order to save money.

Sounds good so far, right? This switch happened in April of 2014, so pretty much exactly 10 years ago. And it was immediately problematic.

Andrea (14:39.351)
the river.

Andrea (14:53.526)
Sounds like it would have been, yeah.

Rudy (14:53.727)
Months in, Flint, a few months into them doing this, they gave out the order for homeowners in the area to boil their water twice before they drank it due to dangerous bacteria levels. That was the first problem. Even General Motors said, hey, Flint River water is corroding our engine parts at the plant. We can't use this stuff.

Then this was followed by a spike in Legionnaires' disease that we've spoken about. That's the disease that you can catch by inhaling a contaminated mist. Named for those members of the American Legion who went to celebrate the nation's bison ten in Philadelphia. The first victims, so they named this bacteria after that. It's one of the most deadly about

Andrea (15:28.405)
Yes.

Andrea (15:33.269)
Right.

Andrea (15:44.406)
Yeah.

Rudy (15:48.127)
38 % of the people who get it die from it. And that's exactly what happened in that case. But this here, this was in Genesee County and it was driving the health officials crazy. By 2015, Flint residents were informed that carcinogenic trihalomethanes were detected in their water. But the city claimed it was still safe to drink. No problem, sip up. That same month, high levels of lead were found

in water fountains at the University of Michigan in Flint.

Detroit Water offered to reconnect Flint, but the emergency manager said, nah, we're good where we're at. Don't worry about it. You go mind your own business. March of 2015, a home in the area had their tap water tested for lead 25 times higher than the EPA's action level.

Andrea (16:44.438)
OOF

Rudy (16:51.519)
The CDC made it clear that there's no safe level for lead exposure and the effects of lead poisoning are severe and lifelong. Flint City Council voted to return to Detroit water, but the emergency manager rejected it, calling it incomprehensible. 2015, EPA regional manager Miguel del Toro raised concerns about the lack of corrosion control in Flint.

Flint's water treatment. But Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality brushed it off. Then in September, a professor at Virginia Tech confirmed that the corrosive Flint River was leaching lead from the pipes. Doctors in Flint found high lead levels in children's blood, and Genesee County declared a public health

emergency. This is about the time that it all made big news across the nation and trust me, every municipality

Andrea (17:52.725)
And that's not... Sorry, that doesn't come from just drinking it, right? Is that from bathing in it and using it for other things, or is it just from drinking?

Rudy (18:08.735)
Which part are you talking about?

Andrea (18:09.429)
The water.

The Legionnaires came from... what?

Rudy (18:13.279)
I actually do like Pepsi. What do you mean what kind of Pepsi? There's only one kind of Pepsi. Yeah, Pepsi. Actually do drink Pepsi. Go ahead. What was your question pertaining to? You said it was from drinking it or swimming in it, bathing in it, what?

Andrea (18:22.132)
What? Pepsi?

Andrea (18:30.164)
The water.

Rudy (18:31.935)
Okay?

Andrea (18:33.492)
were they they were drinking the water and it was making them sick or it was just from like also bathing in it and shit makes you sick.

Rudy (18:40.671)
I believe it was inhalation of fumes pertaining to the water because trihalomethanes do gas off and then also from consuming the water, which was making the mill. I don't know. I can't speak on whether or not taking a bath in this water was also problematic, but I imagine it could be, but I don't have an answer for that one. I do know in December of 2015,

Flint got a new mayor and he declared a state of emergency and believe it or not, the other guy's task force laid blame on somebody else saying, nope, it wasn't us, even though they refused to switch back to.

the Detroit water system. So it was a big to do. It was a big problem. President Obama actually got involved offering federal aid, congressional hearings followed. Everybody was trying to sort out and figure out where the responsibility fell. So one of the big problems here is that they're dealing with a body of water.

and the city has very, very old lead piping underground.

Rudy (19:59.583)
To remove that lead piping would be very, very expensive.

Makes sense, right? A lot of lead plumbing underground. Every other municipality is watching what's going on in Flint because they don't want it to happen in their area. Just like if something bad happened with the Pool Pro, we're all watching because we want to make sure that we don't do what just happened there. So they're all watching. One of the big things they decided was is that when they switched from Detroit water to the Flint River, which was known to be more corrosive,

Andrea (20:06.929)
Mm -hmm. Yep.

Rudy (20:30.943)
knowing that they had all this lead plumbing underground is that they should have added anti -corrosion chemicals to the water to municipality. These are things that coat the inside of the pipe and because it coats the inside of the pipe less of what the pipe is made of leaches into that water that people drink. That also gets

spicketed, spicketed into the pool. The fill water.

Andrea (21:01.423)
Ahem.

Rudy (21:02.559)
If it's in the fill water, it's in the pool. So whatever is affecting the people, it's going into the pool water as well. Now people don't drink copious amounts of pool water either. So I'm assuming it's less of a threat with the pool, but there are still things here that we need to be concerned about. So every municipality is looking at this. Every municipality knows, hey, somewhere we've got to run a really old lead pipe underground for the water treatment, water supply.

We better do something because we don't want another Flint, Michigan. We don't want it to happen here, not in Florida, not in Washington, not in Oregon, not in Pennsylvania. So everybody starts adding these anti -corrosion chemicals, the things that coat the inside of the pipe, orthophosphates specifically, which is the exact kind that algae needs.

Andrea (21:46.254)
and

Andrea (21:52.845)
at fast dates.

Rudy (22:03.679)
and then also silicates. Both orthophosphate and silicates like to coat things. They coat the inside of the pipes. So that way it doesn't leach out lead. Great. But now that does mean that we're pumping these things into the swimming pool.

and that's where it gets problematic.

Andrea (22:28.844)
Didn't we talk about this already?

Rudy (22:32.191)
I just said you and I remember when you said a recap. Isn't that. Are you with me.

Andrea (22:37.868)
yeah, I was like, my god, I was so confused. I was like, I feel like we I feel are we doing the same episode we've already like that my thought process was like, did we talk about this and then this was part of the one that we had to scrap because my microphone was shit. I'm sorry, continue.

Rudy (22:55.071)
No, it wasn't part of the one that we had to scrap. Anyway.

Andrea (22:59.595)
Continue.

Rudy (23:02.015)
So silicates have been the unsung heroes in the battle against corrosion and drinking water systems all across the nation. It's especially handy when it comes to stopping zinc from sneaking out of galvanized metals in hot water systems. The way it works is the negatively charged silicate species latch onto the positively charged zinc hydroxide solid at the metal surface, forming a protective barrier against corrosion.

And like I said, that's not all. Silicates also play a key role in reducing lead and copper levels in our drinking water the same way. Even though the science behind scale enhancement mechanism is still a bit murky, we're not 100 % sure why and where it's working and how it's doing what it's doing. We do know that it is a big aid in reducing those metals from leaching out into the water.

Plus, it does help to prevent iron precipitation in the pool as well. So we have that to look at. And why are we talking about all of this?

Andrea (24:12.683)
I was just wondering that.

Rudy (24:14.431)
You were just wondering that. OK, well, guess what? There's a dust storm upon us.

Andrea (24:23.403)
What?

Rudy (24:24.607)
A dust storm. The Saharan dust storm. It is that time of the year when the Saharan dust storm rolls in. And it is actually so phosphate rich that it's considered to be one of the key fertilizers of the entire Amazon.

Andrea (24:26.987)
that's right. I saw.

Andrea (24:47.563)
my.

Rudy (24:47.871)
But it comes from Africa, from the Sahara, blows in.

It doesn't just hit South America though, does it?

Andrea (25:00.555)
Now it keeps going and it hits us.

Rudy (25:03.167)
It hits us too. It comes up through the Caribbean, hits Florida, then the other Gulf Coast states are victims as well, with Texas usually catching the lion's share of it for the folks on the Gulf Coast. So they're getting in this dust storm a few different things.

Andrea (25:06.987)
Ahem.

Rudy (25:27.263)
So.

Andrea (25:27.402)
Is it lion dandruff?

Rudy (25:30.079)
Lion dander, exactly. We're worried about getting dander from the...

Andrea (25:37.162)
Water buffalo.

Rudy (25:38.015)
you're mongol. Hmm. A recent. So there's a listen you you're gonna who know my condit who do my condit shit out of this Mahuna Makata, Hana Makuta, whatever. Anyway, but

Andrea (25:42.186)
my goodness.

Andrea (25:49.77)
I don't know what you're trying to say, but you're gonna you're northwesting this right now

Rudy (25:58.911)
North -westing?

Andrea (26:00.458)
Yeah, you're doing the northwest, you're like the northwest of the Lion King. Whatever, go look it up.

Rudy (26:08.543)
Northwest of the lane? No.

Andrea (26:09.61)
You know who Northwest is? No, Lion King.

Rudy (26:14.143)
He was in Lion King?

Andrea (26:16.01)
my God. Northwest. Do you know who Northwest is?

Rudy (26:20.863)
now.

Andrea (26:23.626)
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter.

Rudy (26:28.511)
I didn't know they had a kid.

Andrea (26:28.649)
Her name is North. Yes, her name is North.

Rudy (26:33.823)
Huh, interesting. Anyway.

Andrea (26:34.921)
and her last name is West. She was Simba in the Broadway production of The Lion King and you have to go watch the videos.

Rudy (26:44.799)
or not. So anyway, they've done studies on the air in these dust storms and what they have found are various biogenic components like pollen and diatoms.

Andrea (26:47.049)
No, you need to.

Andrea (27:02.889)
which is DE powder.

Rudy (27:05.663)
No, diatoms. No, diatoms themselves.

Andrea (27:07.049)
Yes, it is.

Andrea (27:12.361)
Mustard algae.

Rudy (27:15.263)
DE powder is the very, very well preserved shell of a diatom. The diatom is the actual living thing. No, because you inferred that it was, in saying it was DE, you were inferring that it was dead, right? There you go. I'm talking about the real deal. This shit's alive and it's making its way across the Atlantic, piggybacking on this dust storm. And there's proof of it.

Andrea (27:21.223)
Right, so I was pretty much correct. I see, so not yet fossilized.

Andrea (27:33.094)
Got it. I understand what you mean now. Ew.

Rudy (27:45.855)
because they've tested air samples from the dust. And the microscopic examinations, they used a whole bunch of energy dispersive spectroscopy in order to determine what exactly was in there. And they found that...

There were various diatoms, several different strain or genre, alongside with pollen from ragweed, wormwood, cornflower, and other grasses. They also found silicon, calcium, and aluminum.

So all of that stuff, listen, so check it out though. Here lies a problem.

Andrea (28:25.702)
Yay!

Rudy (28:34.335)
The diatom needs very specific things in order to grow correctly.

Andrea (28:41.798)
Needs what?

Rudy (28:43.199)
It needs very specific things in order for it to grow, for it to thrive. One of them being slow moving water. It needs slow moving water. This is why most commonly starts in dead spots in the pool where the circulation isn't up to snuff.

Andrea (28:48.326)
Gotcha.

Rudy (29:02.559)
It needs ambient light. Can't handle direct sunlight, doesn't like it, know how, wants to move out of the way. Which brings up a good point, because what do diatoms need to be able to move?

Andrea (29:20.166)
Vitamin C, carbon, chlorine, carbon dioxide, calcium.

Rudy (29:27.039)
closed.

Calcium. Calcium! The higher the calcium level, the easier it is for diatoms to move, which means it's easier for the diatoms to get to the correct spot so that it can thrive. It likes a low distance vector.

Andrea (29:46.597)
so they like a hard water so they can walk.

Rudy (29:50.303)
Kind of sorta. Kind of sorta. They like low disinfection, but they're gonna get that in a dead spot. Right? They also like the things that all other algaes like. Nitrates.

Andrea (30:06.884)
Wait a second, isn't algae already plural?

Andrea (30:14.212)
He's had allergies.

Rudy (30:17.695)
LG's like.

Rudy (30:24.767)
They also like the things that all other algae species, are you happy? All other algae species like.

Andrea (30:25.092)
Continue.

Andrea (30:32.356)
Thank you. There we go. That's better. Yes.

Rudy (30:35.679)
That was the word that I shortened that you didn't approve of.

They also need nitrate.

Andrea (30:44.516)
We like correct grammar here. Nitrates.

Rudy (30:47.199)
Check your city water report, pull up your city water report, do it once a year. It will let you know exactly what you have in that water and in what quantity, measured in parts per million and parts per billion. These are numbers that you can use. Some of these things are gonna be things that you test for. Some of the things you see are gonna be things that you don't. You will see things that you don't, that you can test for. Then of course, you'll also see things that you don't test for that you probably can't.

test for inexpensively or easily poolside. But the water report is there for you. It's a good idea to know what you're putting in your pools. And the good thing about the water report is, is it covers all of your pools in the county. Here's the starting hand. Here's the hand you're dealt. Where do we go from there? This is what you got. We speak about evaporation. And what leaves when we have evaporation? What leaves the pool?

Andrea (31:44.868)
Water.

Rudy (31:46.111)
Anything else?

Andrea (31:49.668)
chlorine, anything liquid that's not a dissolved solid.

Rudy (31:57.023)
So only water leaves the pool, correct, during evaporation. Everything else gets left behind, which means as the pool water gets topped off, we're adding more of all of those things that the city water report said the water contains.

Andrea (32:07.14)
Good luck.

Rudy (32:16.031)
And right now...

Andrea (32:16.1)
You know, that's actually a good point. And I don't know why it took me so long to realize this because, well, I guess because I've just been testing, I've just been doing pools in so many different counties, but that would save a lot of like having to test the source water at a lot of pools.

Rudy (32:31.071)
Well, yeah, because you can just look up what it is. They already do that for you. Here's what it is. So we got that. So that's super cool.

Andrea (32:34.404)
Obviously, yes. Good point. See, I Google my own city's water quality report just for like shits and giggles, but I don't actually clean pools in the city I live in. So now what I'm going to do is Google those two cities, the ones that I work in. I'm going to Google their shit when we're done with this. Thank you.

Rudy (32:58.719)
So diatoms also need nitrates. They need orthophosphate, which we're just pumping straight into the pools now because we're adding it to the municipality. And guess what else? Diatoms are the only living thing on the planet known to consume silicates.

Andrea (33:15.076)
Well, wait, I have a question.

Andrea (33:28.9)
You said orthophosphate specifically, so there's different phosphate, there's different types of phosphates. So the ones that we use lanthanum chloride for, that's orthophosphates.

Rudy (33:32.255)
correct.

Rudy (33:43.359)
I don't think we have a way to distinguish between orthophosphate and other phosphates. I can tell you this, any sequestering agent that you've added to the water is a phosphate -based product. So you're adding phosphates to the water. Every time you add a stain preventative of any type, you're adding phosphates to the water. That's not the kind that algae uses.

Andrea (33:44.292)
No.

Andrea (33:59.492)
Right, so all metal treatments and stuff like that.

Andrea (34:09.316)
and some salt.

Some salt contains phosphates because they have stain removers. But that's not.

Rudy (34:13.183)
But after it's chlorinated, after phosphates are chlorinated, they become orthophosphate and then algae can actually use it. But when it's just, when, right, just phosphates it can't use. But orthophosphate it can. But your test is just for phosphates, period.

Andrea (34:26.756)
Uhhh...

I see, okay.

I see, okay.

Rudy (34:35.967)
So here lies the problem. Like I mentioned a moment ago, diatoms are the only living thing on the planet known to consume silicates. So if you look at all the things that we're doing to the pool water,

And I might add in there that diatoms do also prefer water with a pH on the higher side of the acceptable range. That's a lot of information we have here about what diatoms like, about what diatoms need to thrive. We know they're coming in on the dust storm. We also know, guess what? We get the same thing from the other end when California has those.

Andrea (35:02.788)
7 .8.

Rudy (35:20.927)
wildfires, the smoke coming in that travels hundreds of miles and does carry spores with it as well of different types of fungus, different types of algae, those types of things. It could make it all the way here.

Andrea (35:29.444)
that come all the way to Florida?

Rudy (35:35.487)
It could. So everything's coming in. Dust storm, California fires. California is getting beat up with these same things as well. Look at the things that we have here that I said that mustard algae needs, that diatom needs. And then the best way to prevent it is to control what you can. Take away what we can out of those things that it needs. So like I said,

Andrea (35:35.556)
Interesting.

Rudy (36:05.503)
They prefer a higher pH. So what do you want to do?

Andrea (36:09.7)
Lower that bitch. Drop that hoe.

Rudy (36:11.967)
They prefer a calcium hardness level greater than 277 parts per million.

Andrea (36:20.132)
That's where we're going to run into some problems in Florida because I know that certain places have very high calcium levels in the tap water. And there's no way to drain.

Rudy (36:30.463)
How high though, Andrea? I will tell you what. Comes out of my tap at 150 parts per million.

Andrea (36:37.572)
I mean, some places out west come out at like three, four hundred.

Rudy (36:42.719)
Okay, but that's not where we're running into a problem at all, because like I said, what we're supposed to do is handle what we can handle. And if you're in an area where the calcium hardness level is higher than that, obviously that's not one of the things you're gonna be able to handle.

Rudy (37:02.559)
It's the hand you're dealt. We have to deal with that. Calcium hardness level is high. Got it. I can, though, drop the pH.

Andrea (37:10.436)
I was just making a point. Sometimes you can't.

Rudy (37:15.039)
I got it. You did good. It was a good point to make. What was valuable information? It's one of the things that in those areas, those people can't take care of.

Andrea (37:26.756)
So drop the pH. Maybe if, you know.

Rudy (37:34.943)
Seven five or less, the lower the better.

Rudy (37:40.671)
So we have that. Slow moving water, dead spots. What do you do? How do we remedy this? Dead spots in circulation. Yeah, it likes slow moving water with low disinfectant levels. That's gonna be your dead spots.

Andrea (37:48.42)
What did you say? Dead spots?

Hmm

Andrea (37:58.884)
I would say check the direction that the returns are pointed. Maybe you can adjust that. Maybe you can adjust the pump speeds, which is my favorite thing to do.

Rudy (38:10.911)
Absolutely, manipulate your return jets. Make sure you're getting the proper circulation. You don't want them all aimed up at the surface. There's no reason for that. That's just silly. Increase the speed at the pump. This is a whole system. I know the person who sold you the pump said to set it this way. And these folks said you want your calcium level over there. And somebody else said, now I want the pH here. Guess what?

All of these things are part of one living system and you've got to make adjustments to everything to tweak it to give you the best results for your specific pool that you're taking care of. And every pool that you take care of on your route, it's not cookie cutter. It's not the same. You need to go through this process for each and every one of them to figure out what works best. But what is the same on every pool on your route in that county is

your filled water, the source water, and how that dust cloud is going to hit. So nitrates, it'll let you know in the water report if you have them. We test for nitrates at the pool, something that we should keep tabs on. I know we don't have a good way to lower it.

Andrea (39:04.324)
source water.

Rudy (39:25.471)
We do have to replace water to do so. Check the nitrate level from your fill. Absolutely.

Andrea (39:29.252)
your recommended test kit.

Andrea (39:34.788)
No, I mean what kind of test kit would you get that they have? But from where like to have strips right? It would be a strip or do they have like a drops?

Rudy (39:37.087)
nitrate test kit.

Rudy (39:44.831)
You know, if any of the big guys have a nitrate test, let them let us know about it. But right now, I know the most common means of folks in the industry of getting tests for nitrates are from fish stores, aquariums, those types of places.

Andrea (39:47.524)
NOOOO

fish stores? Wait, don't aqua checks? Doesn't aqua check? I don't know. Go ahead. I think they have a brand. I think I think aqua check has a nitrate. I think they do. I'll have to check.

Rudy (40:04.191)
Do they? If they do, that's fantastic. Okay, cool.

So we got, we're checking on the nitrates, phosphate levels. That's one of the things we can control.

Rudy (40:24.255)
Isn't it?

Andrea (40:27.48)
I mean, somewhat.

Rudy (40:27.871)
Look at nitrates, phosphates, and in this case, silicates as a three -legged stool. Can't do much about nitrates.

Rudy (40:41.183)
What did you just do?

Andrea (40:54.982)
Hello.

Rudy (40:56.863)
Did you intentionally shut yourself off? Yeah, you shut yourself off.

Andrea (40:59.206)
I can't see you. No, it just, you were talking and all of a, no, you were talking and all of a sudden I got a, I look up and it says you've been disconnected. Would you like to reconnect? And so I clicked the yes.

Rudy (41:12.383)
Okay, well cool. So I can't see you either, but regardless, we're almost to the end of this. So the things that you can control, dead spots in circulation, do your best to compensate for those. Manipulate the jets, do what you gotta do, increase the speed of the pump, Andrea, spot on. PH, you can control that, keep that on the lower end.

Andrea (41:19.302)
Yeah, I can't see you.

Rudy (41:37.791)
Calcium if you're in an area where you can control your calcium hardness and definitely control your calcium hardness if you can't

Andrea (41:38.277)
A voice.

Andrea (41:43.429)
You said you can't control law?

Andrea (41:48.549)
You said you can control what? You skipped and I couldn't hear you. pH, yes. I agree. OK, lower end, yes.

Rudy (41:51.487)
pH.

Rudy (41:55.647)
Yeah, keep that on the lower end. Calcium hardness, you either can or you can't control it. How's that? If you can control it by all means,

Andrea (42:03.557)
There's no in -between about rabies.

Rudy (42:07.647)
Keep it lower than 277 if you can control it. If you can't, you gotta deal with the hand you're dealt. Let's focus on one of these other things that you can control, okay? Silicone.

Andrea (42:10.117)
Sorry, that was a deep cut movie reference.

Hmm

Andrea (42:23.077)
And same thing with phosphates because phosphates come out of the tap where iClean pools at 1500. So it's hard for me to lower that.

Rudy (42:30.879)
Exactly.

but you can lower it. That's one of the things that you can control. It's, well, you know what you're looking at here is having phosphate remover become part of your weekly maintenance routine in those areas.

Andrea (42:36.837)
As long as they don't add more water.

Andrea (42:46.916)
I already have. yes, absolutely. I'm just saying, as soon as somebody tops it off, I'm screwed.

Rudy (42:50.719)
silicates. You don't easily have

You can't easily lower those, but you know what? You can also test for them. There are test kits available to test silicates. So you can test those levels. And I would test them and compare it.

Andrea (43:09.826)
for silicates.

Okay. that's right. Didn't Wayne say?

Go ahead.

Rudy (43:20.351)
I don't know what Wayne said, but.

Andrea (43:23.234)
Wayne said there used to be one from that other company.

Rudy (43:25.983)
There are plenty of them out there. There's a lot of silicate tests out there. So you can test silicates. So test the silicate level of what you have in the pool compared to what you're getting from the fill. If the silicate level in the pool water is much higher than what you're getting from your fill water.

Andrea (43:31.266)
price.

Good to know.

Rudy (43:44.991)
it's a good time to drain and fill, at least partially to get those numbers lower. So the big things that we can control then, phosphates, pH, water speed, right? Dead spots in circulation, possibly calcium hardness level, everything else, nitrates, silicates, things that we need to keep up on because we may find ourselves.

Andrea (43:56.29)
It is

Andrea (44:02.242)
It's...

Andrea (44:06.851)
possibly.

Rudy (44:12.511)
draining and refilling in order to lower those levels. That's a way to go if we are indeed actually testing for those things.

All the time, tell me you don't hear this. You get people who are devout phosphate remover product users all the time. And then you get those who are not. You get those who think it's a waste of money. You get those who say, you know what? I've been in the industry for 30 years and nobody's ever said anything about phosphate removers for the first 10 of that. And then they just popped up. I didn't use it then. Why should I use it now?

Andrea (44:33.762)
Mm -hmm.

Yes.

Andrea (44:40.482)
and then gimmick.

Andrea (44:52.354)
Or I like the people that when you say, I have phosphates and they go, all you have to do is get to break point chlorine, chlorination. All you have to do is shock it. All you have to do is this. All you have to do is that. And just get the chlorine levels up and you're good. Buddy, no. Sometimes yeah, but sometimes no. Thank you.

Rudy (44:52.767)
I've just explained.

Rudy (45:12.415)
Well, here's the thing. Anybody who says that I didn't have to use it 10 years ago.

Rudy (45:21.151)
why should I have to use it now is because the water is not the same as it was 10 years ago. We started out with an example. We started out with the reason, not even an example, the reason why water is not the same as it was 10 years ago, which means all of these other things become more important. Now, if you're not having, can you have a higher phosphate level?

Andrea (45:21.474)
Were they not doing pools 10 years ago?

Yeah.

Andrea (45:32.162)
Rudy (45:49.983)
And if everything else is in check, be fine. Yeah. If something else is higher, can you lower something else? I mean, it's all of these things. If we look at it like how we do the saturation index, we take from one we give to another. If one's too high, we lower something else. We can do that. We can employ that same philosophy of treatment here with these things that I just mentioned in order to keep our risk of mustard algae to a minimum. But left to its own accord,

what we're getting from the city water and what's coming in from the dust, we have an environment in every swimming pool in our area that is ripe for diatoms, for mustard algae.

So control what we can. Now how low do your phosphate levels need to be?

Generally, 500 parts per billion or less is what everyone agrees on, unless it's a salt water pool, in which case then you should shoot for 100 parts per billion or less. And why do you want them at 100 parts per billion or less? What do phosphates do to salt cells?

Andrea (46:44.64)
Ideally zero.

Andrea (47:03.168)
because they end in eights and they will ate up your cell.

Rudy (47:11.327)
Remember we said phosphates like to coat things. They'll coat those cells. They'll coat, no, no, no, not at all. They will coat those cells and they will make it harder for it to conduct electrolysis, which means that it won't produce chlorine at the rate that it should.

Andrea (47:12.159)
phosphates, sulfates, and they'll eat them up, right? Eight, eight phosphates will eight. I'm sorry, I'm just joking. Coat.

Rudy (47:34.943)
And that can be problematic.

Andrea (47:36.734)
and you will have a difficult pool to deal with.

Rudy (47:42.303)
I wanted to talk about this now because it's affecting us this week. Your city water is what your city water has been and that's been changing over the course of the 10 years, the course of the last decade. And a lot of folks have noticed that mustard algae problems have become a much bigger problem over the last decade. We're about to be hit and it happens every year. We're getting hit with a dust storm this week. There's a bigger and badder one coming.

Andrea (47:45.662)
Thanks.

Rudy (48:12.287)
behind it, which will hit us if not next week, the week after. And it's bringing with it phosphates, silicates, and live diatoms.

Andrea (48:23.293)
nitrates.

Andrea (48:27.486)
So it's like the wicked witch riding in the tornado laughing at Dorothy, and we're all Dorothy.

Rudy (48:30.111)
So we have a perfect storm thing going on.

Rudy (48:39.423)
and arriving at her favorite buffet, your swimming pool. Because if your swimming pool has all of these things we just spoke about, she's gonna show up. She's not gonna leave, she's moving in. And you know what it's like when you have a side chick move in, it never goes well.

Andrea (48:44.381)
Thanks.

Andrea (48:56.125)
She is a freeloading ass bitch. I don't I don't know about sidechicks

Rudy (49:00.287)
I'll tell you what.

So but seriously though, side chick, side guy, whatever. So.

Andrea (49:05.277)
Okay.

Andrea (49:12.476)
Hmm.

Rudy (49:12.895)
Seriously though, we're laying out a buffet. If we go with the tap water, just... If we go with the tap water as is, we are laying out a buffet of everything Diatoms likes to eat. And guess what? It's traveling in from overseas and when it gets here, it's gonna be fucking hungry.

Andrea (49:14.844)
I would never move a side chick into my actual house.

Andrea (49:35.996)
and hot. It's coming in hot.

Rudy (49:42.335)
Just a heads up, just some tips before we really start dealing with this mustard algae issue. Things you can do, do, control what you can. Look at everything, pick out the items you can control, work on those. Because if you remove one leg of a three -legged stool, what happens?

Andrea (50:03.228)
You fall on your ass if you're sitting on it.

Rudy (50:05.855)
And that's what we want to happen to the diatoms. So if you can't touch nitrates and you can't touch silicates, but you can treat the shit out of phosphates, take that phosphate leg out so it topples over on its face. I'm not saying that if you don't treat for phosphates that you're guaranteed to have a problem. I'm not saying that you cannot treat your pool and have the water stay clear and algae free with a higher phosphate level. You're morose.

more than likely adding more chlorine than you would if the phosphate level was lower.

Rudy (50:45.375)
But I just wanted everybody to know that this is coming in and the best way to do it is to treat what you can. And in this case, treating what you can happens to be using phosphate removers, keeping your pH low on the lower side of acceptable, eliminating dead spots in circulation. Try your best manipulating those return jets. And if you can or can't lower your calcium hardness level, that would be advantageous.

Andrea (50:52.124)
I have

One more.

Andrea (51:15.708)
Can I ask one more question before we get going? Because, okay, is there a way to tell the difference between a mustard allergy and another type? And I obviously don't mean black algae, but one of the things I noticed with people is, you know, that's mustard algae. That's mustard algae. Every people will claim every type of algae to be mustard algae, obviously not black algae. Is there a way to determine

Rudy (51:17.983)
Yeah, just fire away.

Andrea (51:45.756)
it's mustard algae specifically or say like a yellow algae or a green algae I don't know are those all the same thing

Rudy (51:51.551)
Yellow algae is also mustard algae. Yeah, yellow algae, mustard algae. What's the other word for it? I forget, but they're all the same thing. They're all referring to diatoms. And you know, it's the funniest thing. I saw one of the manufacturers in the industry earlier this year said, hey, we tested mustard algae and guess what? We discovered that it was diatoms. This is

Andrea (52:07.832)
Even the green algae?

Rudy (52:20.255)
old news. This is stuff we've known for decades. That's been very, very well documented. Please get caught up to yourself over there, whatever you're doing, because you're not helping us if you're treating the wrong thing. If you don't know what it is, we need you on board with what we're on board with. That's what makes your products work. So

Rudy (52:42.143)
What were you saying?

Andrea (52:44.439)
I asked if there was a way to test if something was mustard algae or a different type of algae.

Rudy (52:53.791)
Outside of bringing it somewhere where a psychologist could perhaps look under underneath a microscope, we go by characteristics. And one of the biggest characteristics of mustard algae, and please do keep in mind that there are over 10 ,000.

different types of diatoms. But the most common we tend to see is the kind that settles on the floor. It looks like sand and then it dusts up when you hit it with a brush lightly. So if that's the case, if that's what you have on the floor, give it a little nudge with the brush. If it dusts up and it settles out right away, you're dealing with sand. If it dusts up and doesn't settle out for a day or two, now we know we're dealing with mustard algae.

There is also a more tenacious type, or I'm sure several hundred out of these tens of thousands, if not several thousands, that stick to the wall.

Andrea (53:49.526)
that doesn't brush out.

Hmm.

Rudy (53:55.583)
and is near impossible to get off with a brush. And it does have a greenish tint to it. That's the bitch. And that too is also diatoms. Mustard algae. And that's a little bit more challenging. Absolutely.

Andrea (53:59.542)
Right, that's the bitch.

Andrea (54:09.878)
I see.

Andrea (54:15.67)
Yeah, for that one, I like to super chlorinate the pool. And actually what I've been doing lately is I have been dropping my pH like super low lately because I've been running into a problem where, well, I've been, you know, it's the summertime now. So the kids are home and they're using the pool and they don't want you to put shit in the pool, but they're using it and they don't want you to put stuff in. So it's like algae city over here, right?

Rudy (54:27.263)
Good.

Andrea (54:42.646)
So instead of adding chlorine, which obviously I do, but instead of like going crazy with the chlorine to where I have to be like, you have to wait like four hours now or you can't go until tomorrow, I've just been dropping the pH and then the algae brushes off a lot easier and then you can chlorinate the water after you brush it. Yes.

Rudy (54:42.975)
Mm -hmm.

Rudy (55:00.287)
When you say, let me ask you, when you say super low, how low do you go? How low?

Hello, here you go.

Andrea (55:10.294)
So, do you know, okay, so you know that I have had an issue where I thought that I was experiencing chlorophenol red where my chlorine was super high and turning my pH purple. Turns out that that is actually not the case. It's not actually purple, but the pH is above 8 .2 is all I can say.

because the color of my test is so dark. So I've been adding like, and people are gonna freak out, but I've been adding like a whole ass gallon and a half of acid to some of these pools where the pH is that high. And it's been helping. So the normal dose, the normal dose wasn't bringing it down low enough. Well, no, I'm starting at a 8 .0.

Rudy (55:39.263)
Okay.

Rudy (55:56.159)
so you don't know how low you're getting.

Andrea (56:05.558)
you know, 8 .2 or greater and then now I'm coming back after I've heavily dosed it with acid, I'm coming back to finally now like 7 .8. But some of them, when I have like a lot of visible algae, I'll be adding like two whole gallons, depending on, you know, the size of the pool. So I'll be dropping it down to probably 7 .0 in some cases.

Rudy (56:16.799)
Okay.

Rudy (56:33.503)
It's old, old, old.

Andrea (56:33.622)
and then I come back the next day and the algae just brushes right up off of the wall. It's the most amazing thing. Then you can add, you know, your chlorine while the algae is brushed up into circulation and then, you know, kill it that way.

Rudy (56:41.567)
Rudy (56:51.551)
An old pool guy trick, old pool guy, pool gal trick from way, way back in the day was to drop the pH to six, blast the shit out of it with chlorine, and kill everything in the water. We know chlorine's effectiveness is pH dependent. At 6 .0, we're way over 100 % effective. So, and then just blast the shit out of everything.

And that was an old pool guy trick, pool gal trick. And we kind of got away from that from a little bit because not everybody was very careful to rebalance the water afterwards. And we had a lot of pools get pretty fucked up because of it. So we do, if we're going to go that route, you need to make sure that you stay on top of it. It's not a route that I recommend going anymore. There are other ways to go about it than dropping a pH to six.

Andrea (57:22.038)
and then just bring that pH back up.

Andrea (57:34.326)
That's the problem.

Andrea (57:44.982)
Well, and I'm very careful. Well, I haven't intentionally dropped it to six. I have intentionally dropped it to, like I said, maybe a 6 .8, 7 .0. But I also only do it if I know that I have a decent alkalinity. I'm not going to do it if I have an alkalinity of like 60 or a carbonate alkalinity of 50 or 40 or whatever.

Rudy (57:58.303)
Thank you.

Andrea (58:13.942)
I'm not gonna do it then, or at least I'll fix it before I try and do that because I don't want to mess up the heater, I don't want to mess up any of these surfaces because a lot of the pools that I deal with... I was... well, I guess it's... A lot of them I deal with are pretty new because I do work for a builder. So some of them are older pools, you know, but the newer ones, I don't want to mess them up, you know, so you do have to be very careful.

Rudy (58:33.247)
Mm -hmm.

Rudy (58:41.759)
understand.

Andrea (58:43.606)
And also, like I mentioned, if you don't know what carbonate alkalinity is, you do have to be super, super careful because you could have a test of total alkalinity at 80, but unless you check that stabilizer, CYA level, cyanuric acid, you could actually be dealing with an alkalinity of like 40, you know, and then you dose acid and wonder why you have copper staining. So you do have to be careful, but it does work to drop the pH super low to get

that algae to unstick.

Rudy (59:17.407)
It's also important to note that in this discussion, at least this week, we're not talking about ways to treat mustard algae as far as the chemicals that are available in the industry. We're really not. What we're talking about here right now is setting up your pools so that the water is less conducive to mustard algae. Getting rid of the dead spots in circulation.

Andrea (59:42.102)
lowering the pH.

Rudy (59:42.687)
having the pH on the lower end of the acceptable range, adjusting your calcium hardness lower if that's something that you're able to do.

Andrea (59:51.126)
Same thing with phosphates.

Rudy (59:52.127)
Watching those nitrate, phosphate, and silicate levels, knowing that you can easily drop phosphates, you may need to replace water to get the nitrate or the silicate level down. Just compare it to what the filled water is. You'll know if it'll help you or not. If the filled water has a lower level of silicates than the pool does, then yeah, replacing water will help. If it doesn't, then there's no reason to.

Same thing with nitrates. If the nitrate level out of the tap is lower than the nitrate level in the pool, then by all means, go ahead, replace water. Best thing that you can do for it. Control what you can control.

But do you understand that every pool's a patient and every pool guy or gal is the doctor and when we treat our patients we treat them bedside, poolside and that is the absolute best fucking place in the world to make decisions about the health of the water in that person's backyard.

Andrea (01:00:34.902)
and don't what you can't.

Andrea (01:00:53.174)
And with that, we cue the ending theme song music. Whatever that might be.

Rudy (01:01:02.723)
I like to touch myself.

Andrea (01:01:08.342)
my goodness, it's a little weird.

Rudy (01:01:10.655)
I thank anybody else when I think about you I touch myself up

Andrea (01:01:18.582)
That is lovely. You're a great singer. I wish I could see you. I wish I could have seen that.

Rudy (01:01:25.099)
I have my moments. I have. Yeah, I have my moments. But with that said, like Andrea said, like us, love us, say something nice about us, refers to a friend. Check it out. If you have a question or something that you'd like us to talk about, send us an email. Talkingpools at gmail dot com and we'll get you out a nicely embroidered. What the flock? Talking Pools podcast hat.

Andrea (01:01:32.214)
for the scene.

Rudy (01:01:52.383)
So until next time.

Andrea (01:01:53.238)
Well, you stole everything that I usually say.

Rudy (01:01:58.335)
I'm sure I didn't say something that you usually say. There must be something there. Something else. Something we missed.

Andrea (01:01:58.998)
rude.

Andrea (01:02:02.966)
Nope, nope, that's it, I'm done. I need to go to bed. I am cranky. It's 8 .11 in the PM right now. I am literally seconds away from turning into a pumpkin, okay?

Rudy (01:02:07.583)
you

me.

Rudy (01:02:15.871)
So until next time, be good, be safe.

Andrea (01:02:22.646)
What's your problem, bro? Bye!