Day 4 of slam

[Vtfanatic]

Numbers from this AM are:
FC = 3
CC=7
CH = 275
Alkalinity = 100
CYA = <20

Water is getting there but still taking awhile. It is blue but visibility is still a little ways off and I continue to get a white foam on top of the water. Granted I am in VA so we have had a ton of rain over the last few days. Will that impact the process? Thanks in advance.

- - - Updated - - -

To add, PH = 7.5 and I added the stabilizer 3 days ago.

 

[Texas Splash]

The rain is really not an issue at all. More than anything I would be concerned with ensuring your CYA is at least 30 (test again tomorrow) and ensure your FC is at SLAM level for that CYA. With a CYA of 20, your FC should be 10. With a CYA of 30, your FC should be 12. So watch those closely so that the SLAM can work like it's supposed to.

 

[Vtfanatic]

Still struggling to get CYA up and to hold FC. Overnight FC went from 10 to 2 and CYA is still under 20. I have the stabilizer in the sock in the skimmer. Thoughts on why I cannot get up CYA and I am losing so much FC? CC did go from 6 yesterday to 4.5 so that is coming down.

 

[Texas Splash]

Looking back at the start of this thread yesterday, it seemed you should've been able to just do a regular SLAM since you had some CYA and FC, but that's a huge drop in FC overnight, and if CYA is being removed that has me concerned about other things. This is what I would like for you to do right away if you can hang around the area for an hour or two (have lots of bleach ready just in case):
- Bring your FC up to 10, then test it again in 10 minutes. Don't do anything else but be ready to test FC in 10 minutes
- If the FC drops below 5, increase it right away and continue with this 10-min drill; ideally after 10 min you want to be assured most of the FC is still there 10 minutes later
- Once you are assured that after 10 minutes the FC is holding closer to an FC of 10, then increase FC to "12".
- Test CYA again under bright light conditions outside to see if it's at 30 yet. Squeeze the socks to get all that stabilizer out and working. If it's not 30 ppm by tomorrow, you may need to add a little more.

 

[cowboycasey]

you can squeeze/knead the sock untill all CYA is dissolved ( I take it you added enough to take CYA to 30 )

Your FC is falling because it is being used to kill whatever is in your water, that is exactly what you want

once all your CYA is dissolved, you want to keep your FC above 12 at all times, that means you can take your FC above that to 14 and then continue to test as short of time as 2 hours, the more you test and keep above 12 the faster the SLAM will go (no need to get up at night to test )

I hope this helps

 

[Vtfanatic]

Thanks for the tips. I kneaded out the stabilizer in the sock and will test CYA again in the morning. That appeared to help some as the FC quit dropping as dramatically. I put in stabilizer 5 days ago and majority of it was still in the sock. I went at it pretty hard today. I can now see the bottom of at least the shallow end so I just need the water to really clear up and I should be good but appear to be getting closer. I will really pop it one last time before bed and will repost numbers in the morning. Thanks again.

 

[Vtfanatic]

Overnight numbers. First off, I did monitor every 10 minutes yesterday as suggested above. It was not dropping that rapidly, however it was dropping 1-2 every 3 hours.

Last night I had the FC = 10 before going to bed.

This morning it had dropped to 3
CYA now is 20. I am not really sure what CYA was prior since it never really registered.
cc = 1

This AM I have brought FC back up to 10 and added stabilizer to bring CYA up to 30.

 

[Vtfanatic]

Afternoon update as I just got home from work

FC = 3
cc=.5
CYA = 25 (between 20 and 30)

Overall numbers look good but water is still cloudy and I am losing 7 ppm FC over 8 -9 hours. I can see the bottom of the shallow end and can almost see the bottom of the deep end at 8 feet. Thoughts?

 

[Texas Splash]

It's tough when you have to leave the house for a while, but I'm sure you know that the FC has to be elevated right away and try to maintain it at the SLAM level as best as you can. Consider your CYA 30 and shoot for an FC of 12.

 

[Vtfanatic]

Could I have an ammonia problem? I feel like I am beating my head against a wall. I have been pouring gallon of bleach after gallon of bleach for at least a week now. I just tried to pull FC up to 12 and 10 - 15 minutes later it is already starting to come down. Do I keep just trying to attack this with more bleach or do I need to do something differently at this point? I feel so close yet so far away. Again I can see the bottom of the shallow end and almost the deep end but it is still cloudy. I have probably used close to 50 gallons of bleach at this point. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Texas Splash]

If you had ammonia, you wouldn't have any CYA. It would've been converted as well. The fact you can hold any CYA and FC pretty-much rules-out ammonia. But what you do need to watch in the early stages of a SLAM is maintaining the FC as much as possible. It is in the first few days that the algae tears-up the FC and visa-versa. The FC must outweigh the algae in ratio to win. Do your best to maintain the FC at the 12 mark based on your CYA and it will eventually hold better 7 better each day.