New to Washington from Florida, inherited 2 yr swamp
- Thread starter BattleOfYakima
- Start date
Thanks, have the rest of the CYA hanging now. Have brushed, tested, and added several times. Thinking I might try a vac to filter sometime today? Brushing is kicking up leaves that I don't need to be wasting bleach on and leaf rake after brushing is pretty frustrating by myself. Going good overall. Beautiful green, which reminds me, time to take a picture now that the lighting is good.
CC was .5 at the beginning, now always coming up as 1.0. I've seen others with much higher CC. Is 1.0 a common CC during a SLAM that has had a pretty steady just above shock FC? Is it just that CC is being eliminated at roughly an equal pace of creation?
CC was .5 at the beginning, now always coming up as 1.0. I've seen others with much higher CC. Is 1.0 a common CC during a SLAM that has had a pretty steady just above shock FC? Is it just that CC is being eliminated at roughly an equal pace of creation?
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The CC will jump and down as the FC does it's job! If you find a solid patch of algae the CC might even jump high. Maintain is the word of the day/week! Maintain the FC at or just above SLAM level!
Kim:cat:
Kim:cat:
Will do! Didn't even have to add last hour. My estimated pour last time was pretty heavy handed! An hour later and it was still FC 14.5. 95% of the cya has been dissolved at this point and yet PH 7.2. Maybe the aeration from brushing, maybe that 130 TA doing its thing so that PoolMath painted a little more worst case forecast. No matter - I'm happy!
This hour was FC 13, so in full sun (but not yet directly overhead) hourly FC drop was 1.5 ppm! Not bad! I'll keep up the hourly FC testing and brushing until the sun gets behind the big tree this afternoon, then switch to longer intervals assuming it has become predictable.
How should I aim the return? I found it pointing straight, which might be best since it crosses the shorter dimension of the pool and crashes into a wall, presumably generating some circulation in each direction around the pool...but I wonder if I should aim it towards the center of the pool or towards the center of the far end or where is best to aim the return. Thanks!
This hour was FC 13, so in full sun (but not yet directly overhead) hourly FC drop was 1.5 ppm! Not bad! I'll keep up the hourly FC testing and brushing until the sun gets behind the big tree this afternoon, then switch to longer intervals assuming it has become predictable.
How should I aim the return? I found it pointing straight, which might be best since it crosses the shorter dimension of the pool and crashes into a wall, presumably generating some circulation in each direction around the pool...but I wonder if I should aim it towards the center of the pool or towards the center of the far end or where is best to aim the return. Thanks!
Just did another hour, FC 12.5 only lost .5 FC...okay then... bumping it back up to 14 so it can lose 1.5 and still be 12.5 
(suggestions welcome on my target shock FC to never let it dip below 12. I'm currently just using max recent hour loss + .5.
Filter pressure going up much slower now. I was hoping it would actually need more frequent back washing due to getting more unwanted particulate. Hmm.
(suggestions welcome on my target shock FC to never let it dip below 12. I'm currently just using max recent hour loss + .5.Filter pressure going up much slower now. I was hoping it would actually need more frequent back washing due to getting more unwanted particulate. Hmm.
Returns.....I put some ping pong balls in and watched them to see what was best from my returns. The cats got a kick out of it as well hehe.
FC target=what your pool likes at this moment.
Kim:cat:
FC target=what your pool likes at this moment.
Kim:cat:
Good day. FC was 12.5-15.5 entire day. HTH CYA was perfect. Brushed a dozen times, vacuumed to filter twice, two backwashes, PSI new low of 9 after 2nd backwash. Have enough bleach to finish the slam, but will need MA for after slam since my
EageInsanely high tree pollen here; clogged skimmer basket three times between my hourly checks. Water improved. You can really smell that battle when the wind goes from still to gusting in your face... Mmmmmmm THE UNMISTAKABLE SMELL OF CC! Took the daily photos.
Only one new question: ladder is out. What dilution of bleach and water do I use to wipe it down and kill algae on it?
EageInsanely high tree pollen here; clogged skimmer basket three times between my hourly checks. Water improved. You can really smell that battle when the wind goes from still to gusting in your face... Mmmmmmm THE UNMISTAKABLE SMELL OF CC! Took the daily photos.
Only one new question: ladder is out. What dilution of bleach and water do I use to wipe it down and kill algae on it?
50/50 in a spray bottle. Spray down, use straw broom to scrub if on ground to help back and knees. Hose off and respray if needed.
Kim:cat:
Kim:cat:
Another good day, just too much Pollen taking up my time skimming, clogging my skimmer basket, consuming my FC. FC consumption varied more than I thought, so I encourage anyone doing their own slam and is reading this to really be sure to test at minimum 3 times a day when you can. If you have a really bad pool you really do want the XL option OR to at least get the big bottle/an extra of R-0871 testing chemical because each time you test your FC during a SLAM you will use at least 2 drops times your shock level (for example, if you have a traditional pool with CYA 30 your shock FC level is 12, thus if you're like me you are really trying to keep it no lower than 12.5 and no higher than 15 because you would prefer to not bleach your liner white with absurdly high FC. So even if you only test three times per day, you're using a minimum of 75 drops of R-0871 per day for between one and two weeks, or 500-1000 drops total for the SLAM of a badly neglected pool. I only do the CC test occasionally when curious until the water is crystal clear since knowing my CC doesn't change anything - I still have to keep FC at shock until crystal clear water and OCLT are both passed, then I can see if my CC are gone, but until then, it doesn't really have consequence.
I did have to add PH 8.2 hose water after a back wash today, so I doubt I'm still at 7.2. I think if I ever do another nasty pool slam I'll get the chemistry to do ph on shock water.
Happy Mother's Day to all those who have brought a life into this world or who have lovingly nurtured, supported, or impacted the lives of others in a maternal way. You are all amazing.
I did have to add PH 8.2 hose water after a back wash today, so I doubt I'm still at 7.2. I think if I ever do another nasty pool slam I'll get the chemistry to do ph on shock water.
Happy Mother's Day to all those who have brought a life into this world or who have lovingly nurtured, supported, or impacted the lives of others in a maternal way. You are all amazing.
FC held remarkably last night! Looking forward to testing CYA and PH once SLAM is over!
I'm curious... to test PH during a SLAM without using a neutralizer, could you take a sample of water and expose it to sunlight until FC fell under 10 or would the PH also be significantly altered and no longer representative? Alternatively, left inside not exposed to sun for a longer duration?
I'm curious... to test PH during a SLAM without using a neutralizer, could you take a sample of water and expose it to sunlight until FC fell under 10 or would the PH also be significantly altered and no longer representative? Alternatively, left inside not exposed to sun for a longer duration?
Another good day. Only setback is that the brush head is now at the bottom of my now cloudy blue pool. Everyone else is is disbelief and calling me magic. I've done two SLAMs in Florida on cartridge pools, but this is my first sand slam. The water loss due to backwash and rinse is quite significant. So, I had no choice but to add today. I let it fill to the max and eagerly awaited FC to finally reach 10. Then I waited another hour, tested PH and was delighted to see only 7.4! Two conservative rounds of MA returned me to PH 7.2 and I was back to SLAMING. I am now using the vacuum head to brush the bottom. I should be able to retrieve the brush tomorrow. I hope so, the vac head is way slower.
I have no idea about the PH test-sitting it out. That would be a good "experiment" to do. Hummmmmmm I will have to try that one.
LOL on the brush head! where oh where have you gone??????
Glad to hear you are seeing the progress! Yeah the back wash does take a lot of water! BUT once you get clear it will be easy to care for!
Kim:cat:
LOL on the brush head! where oh where have you gone??????
Glad to hear you are seeing the progress! Yeah the back wash does take a lot of water! BUT once you get clear it will be easy to care for!
Kim:cat:
Another day of progress. Very blue and cloudy. Vacuum head is visible at the bottom but edges are blurry.
Update to anyone concerned about siphon vacuuming dark green and brown sludge from swamp bottom onto grass - all grass that was "watered" with the nightmare goo is doing terrific! Many more earthworms than the rest of the yard, especially after backwashes. They all just go crazy. Hundreds of them. If only I was a fisherman or composter.
Update to anyone concerned about siphon vacuuming dark green and brown sludge from swamp bottom onto grass - all grass that was "watered" with the nightmare goo is doing terrific! Many more earthworms than the rest of the yard, especially after backwashes. They all just go crazy. Hundreds of them. If only I was a fisherman or composter.
Great job so far! Feel free to share some of those pictures you are taking you can host them on Photobucket, or something similar, copy the IMG link and paste it in your post.
you can host them on Photobucket, or something similar, copy the IMG link and paste it in your post.
Will do. Today I knew I would be gone all day so I brought it high enough (and let it run for an hour) to not fall below shock until I got home late tonight. It worked. Unfortunately I couldn't leave the pump running while I was gone because the pollen and green seed pods clog the skimmer completely in only a few hours. Same reason I can't run it an entire overnight. What can I do to... I don't know, quadruple or quintuple the size of my skimmer without going to a bigger skimmer box? Is there an in pool skimmer box? A diy pre skimmer?
Yeah, it's a pain. We have lots of trees and when they are busy it is just ridiculous. We have two skimmers but that doesn't really matter! There are times when the skimmer baskets fill up to the lid in 15 minutes. And we are netting in between. Lucky for our pool that we love it and lucky for our trees that we love them too.
Indeed lucky for your trees. I trimmed all the branches that were hanging over or within 6 feet of the pool yesterday. At least I can vac and skim without pole hitting them now. The debris still "snows" down from the other branches though. Like Christmas in May.