Hi - I just found this forum after having to take over care of our pool from the pool service. Long story short, this summer our pool started to get a continuous mild case of green algae despite having a weekly pool service. This is a big deal in Texas when the only thing you can do with your kids on a blazing hot day is throw them in the pool. The service couldn't fix it for over a month, so I fired them. My husband started trying to balance the pool, and despite his best efforts, it kept going back to green after a week or 2 of clear. Finally we called in someone who diagnosed a couple of suction leaks in the pipes which kept the filter from really clearing the pool. This was repaired 2 weeks ago. By then we had a totally dark green, algae filled pool. At this point, spouse was down from some surgery and I was on my own to clear it out. This is where your forum came in pretty handy. I have been using the SLAM method on the pool in a pretty disciplined manner - brushing daily, testing 2 times a day, backwashing frequently. I even did 3 clean outs of our filter in the first week and added back DE each time. This all paid off as we now have a clear pool - so thank you guys. My new Taylor testing kit came in the mail last week and I started getting better data than our Leslie's pool strips.
2 questions now:
Question 1) The pool is clear, but I am still losing chlorine over a 2 day period. I added chorine to shock level 2 days ago and right now the levels are:
2.8 FC
0.2 CC
7.4 Ph
50 ppm TA
245 ppm CH
80 ppm CyA
Based on what I have seen, the chlorine will be gone tomorrow. The chorine loss is slowing down, but still happening. Am I still in SLAM mode? Or is this a different phase?
Question 2) I think I need to tackle raising the Alkalinity now as it has been low throughout this process. I ordered baking soda. I also see that the CyA is high. Does the Cya level matter? The Taylor "table" says to add 12.6 lbs of baking soda to our 30K gallon pool to raise it 30 ppm. I am planning to do this today and want guidance that I am headed down the right path. Also, should I had half the baking soda now, and half later, in case it doesn't take that much?
Thanks in advance for the advice. I love my newly clear pool and don't want to lose momentum!
2 questions now:
Question 1) The pool is clear, but I am still losing chlorine over a 2 day period. I added chorine to shock level 2 days ago and right now the levels are:
2.8 FC
0.2 CC
7.4 Ph
50 ppm TA
245 ppm CH
80 ppm CyA
Based on what I have seen, the chlorine will be gone tomorrow. The chorine loss is slowing down, but still happening. Am I still in SLAM mode? Or is this a different phase?
Question 2) I think I need to tackle raising the Alkalinity now as it has been low throughout this process. I ordered baking soda. I also see that the CyA is high. Does the Cya level matter? The Taylor "table" says to add 12.6 lbs of baking soda to our 30K gallon pool to raise it 30 ppm. I am planning to do this today and want guidance that I am headed down the right path. Also, should I had half the baking soda now, and half later, in case it doesn't take that much?
Thanks in advance for the advice. I love my newly clear pool and don't want to lose momentum!