New to Forum & battling invisible algea?

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R&S

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Apr 22, 2016
38
Hamilton, Ohio
My pool looks great but is not uncommon for it to lose 9.5ppm during the day and 3ppm overnight. I initially had my cya at 45, but a leak in the connector on the pump may have lowered it slowly. It is closer to 30 now. I added two trichlor 3" pucks to raise it a little to 35. I have the new part, not yet installed. I have been slamming for two weeks somewhere between 14ppm and 20ppm every morning and night. One week ago I started running the pump 24 hours a day and cleaned the cartridge. It had a lot of cotton from our popular trees. We no longer have this floating cotton. There is no visible algae but I must need to shock more often during the day?? I am going through 2 or 3 128 oz 10% liquid shock a day as it is. I usually only go to a local pool store for liquid shock, but I thought I'd have them tell me my phosphate levels. It was 200. Of course they sold me PhosFree and said I should add 7 oz. I have not done so. Does it help occasionally or avoid it at all cost? My husband does use a liquid fertilizer on the lawn. I wasnt sure if it could get in the ag and cause problems. We have a lot of cotton that gets in my pool in June. I tried to use hose in the skimmer basket to remove a lot. We rarely swim in the pool. We have used it like 10 times this summer. Do I figure in my loss and add ppm to my normal shock level which is 14ppm? So if I lose 3 a night, I shock at 17ppm? Here are my test results:

FC 9.5 at 8 pm (was 18ppm at 6am)
CC .5
PH 110
TA 7.7
CH 150
CYA 35
 
If your pump wasn't running fully 24/7 the first week, you weren't likely getting the full benefit of the SLAM. You should be testing as often as possible. Every time you fall below the target, you are slowing the SLAM. After the loss slows down, you can go a little longer between tests. The OCLT is usually done at the beginning, to see if a SLAM is needed, then again at the end, to determine if you need to continue or not. (Usually after the clarity is good, CC's are low, and you aren't losing A lot of FC during the day.)
 
I am following the slaming directions but only testing twice a day, 8 am and 8 pm and running the pump 24 hours a day. How many times a day should I check? 4? Since the pool has looked so good I was in denial of how difficult this was going to be. The previous years 12 hours of pump running with shocking and filter cleaning worked after a week and a half and it was slightly cloudy water with a plume of algae dust at the bottom when brushing. No algae that I can see this year. Do I return the unopened phosfree chemical? Is it helpful? Thank you.
 
You are essentially playing pattycake with your algae bloom......dabbling at the SLAM but not really following it.

An algae bloom needs to be hit with a sledgehammer. That's what the SLAM will do but you must combine all the components of the SLAM to make it work.

Make a decision to keep up the chlorine, run the pump 24/7, brush the pool, vacuum the pool, etc.

Phosphates are irrelevant to pool water management.
 
Re: New to Forum & battling invisible algea?

Ok. Thanks everyone. I will return the phosfree and check fc about 4 times a day. Might as well buy liquid shock while I am at Leslie's if they give me a credit. I'm going to check every 4 hours during the day and keep doing the over night test. I used to buy 12.5%. Is that non existant? I have a 6 day vacation in one month. I want to get this in order so I can plan how I am going to keep algae from growing in that time I'm gone.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok. Thanks everyone. I will return the phosfree and check fc about 4 times a day. Might as well buy liquid shock while I am at Leslie's if they give me a credit. I'm going to check every 4 hours during the day and keep doing the over night test. I used to buy 12.5%. Is that non existant? I have a 6 day vacation in one month. I want to get this in order so I can plan how I am going to keep algae from growing in that time I'm gone.
 
Great!

But, I will say that the more often you check and re-adjust back to shock level the faster this whole thing will go. If it's the weekend and you are off work doing it every hour or two will really help.

12.5% does exist, but generally it's at stores that use returnable 2.5 gallon carboys in "high use" areas. Think Arizona, Texas & Florida.
 

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MarianParoo said:
If you have a Menard's near you, today is the last day of their sale in 12.5%. It's $1.77/gallon with rebate.
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Thank You! I had no idea Menards sold Liquid Chlorine and 12.5%. The price is great. I bought 12 of them tonight. I usually go to Watson's Pool Supplies and buy 10% case for 9.99. Tonight I had a light bulb moment and realized my skimmer is partially black in color since opening. I'm going to have to scrub that tomorrow. I also noticed in the places at the bottom where my pool liner is not perfect,wrinkles and some smooth concave divits, that it is starting to look a different color. Maybe it is algae. I tried to brush but doesn't seem to budge. Do you know if it is good to run my cleaner, "Dave the Diver" during slam or just keep the surface water going with the jets only? or a little of both? I checked the water every 4 hours today and brought back up to 14ppm. Thanks
 
R&S said:
Thank You! I had no idea Menards sold Liquid Chlorine and 12.5%. The price is great. I bought 12 of them tonight. I usually go to Watson's Pool Supplies and buy 10% case for 9.99. Tonight I had a light bulb moment and realized my skimmer is partially black in color since opening. I'm going to have to scrub that tomorrow. I also noticed in the places at the bottom where my pool liner is not perfect,wrinkles and some smooth concave divits, that it is starting to look a different color. Maybe it is algae. I tried to brush but doesn't seem to budge. Do you know if it is good to run my cleaner, "Dave the Diver" during slam or just keep the surface water going with the jets only? or a little of both? I checked the water every 4 hours today and brought back up to 14ppm. Thanks
Click to expand...
I think Menards does a couple of Buy One - Get One Free promotions on the chlorine each year.

As to your cleaner, it should be fine to run and may even be a good idea in case it may be harboring any algae inside it.
 
MarianParoo said:
If they give you a store credit instead of a refund, buy a pool toy or liquid chlorine.
Click to expand...

I tried to take back the unopened chemical to Leslie's. The owner was not a pleasant guy. He wanted to know why I wanted to return it. I tried to not get into the reason why as to avoid an argument, but he pushed for it. So I told him of my simple method and that I had not opened the bottle and did not want the clog up my cartridge filter and use a chemical I did not really need. He told me "I did not know him" and as far as pushing chemicals people don't need. He would not even give me a credit. It does say on receipt no chemical returns. I told him I would probably stop coming here as it is a convenient location but I am treated better at Watson's pool supplies. He tried to change his tune and say for me to try the pool magic phos-free and if I was unhappy still he'd give me my money back. Now I am reminded why people AVOID POOL STORES and shop at their local walmart for bleach.
 
tim5055 said:
See, he got upset because he discovered you would not be financing his family's trip to Cedar Point this summer.
Click to expand...

That made me laugh! True. True. I am frustrated because I have been running my pump 24/7 since Friday night and checking chlorine level 4 times a day. I am almost out of R0871 drops and have more on order. My pool is losing about 15ppm during the Day and 3 ppm at night. It looks clear. If I did not test I would think it was fine. I need to do an OCLT tomorrow. I have slept past the sunrise two days in a row. It tested 11ppm at 9:30 am today. I shocked at 14 ppm last night. I havent tested the ph and ta because the chlorine has been high but may do that when/if I allow it to drop. I have been bringing it up to 14ppm. Keep in mind I was running it 12 hours a day and shocking twice a day for like 3 weeks previous to Friday.

I do have a couple questions. If I know my pool will drop 3ppm overnight and I am aiming at 16ppm (thinking about moving it up to 16ppm) can i account for that the night before by adding an extra 3 ppm = 19ppm? Can I do the same during the day or does the pool just consume more that way? Also, I haven't brushed a lot. When I do, there is no visible stuff coming off the walls. Is that where I am going wrong? Also, I need my husband to remove filter cover and he rarely does that for me. We did it 2 weeks ago. Should I test for ammonia or just keep at it?
 
I am still slamming my pool. I have been running pump 24/7, doing 4-5 fc checks a day, did 8 checks yesterday, since July 8th. Targeting 16 ppm. Before that slamming twice a day at 14ppm pump running about 12 hours a day for a two week period.

a day ago numbers:
fc = 10
cc = 1
ph = 7.6
TA = 90
CYA =40 (checked 5 days ago, was 35. I added two 3" trichlor pucks) I thought it would help with daytime chlorine consumption)

This morning: 13.5 fc
1cc

Lost 2.5 overnight and have 1 cc.
Water still looks great,
fixed the part with a leak on outside of ag pool at pump valve,
scrubbed weird black stains on skimmer box off.
went in water with a sock on my foot to see if i could scrub anything on bottom that appeared to be dark in wrinkles of liner. Nothing came off, nothing felt slimy.
Cleaned cartridge filter, not bad, a few flying ants and some accumulated dirt
soaked my testing tube with bleach to clean it
had to add 2 inches of water to pool and rain added 1 inch this week.
losing 15 - 18 ppm each day and 2.5ppm at night

I don't feel like I'm making progress.
Check for ammonia?
lower fc and try the phos-free (7 oz) since I can't get a refund on it?
or Raise it to mustard shock level for 24 hours?
How long was your slam process??

I am going out of town July 29th for 1 to 4 days and again in Aug for 6 days. I want it to hold the fc at night by then. I will have someone here to dump some chlorine in, but they are not pool people. I want to simplify it for them and not explain slam process, just dump in chlorine when wake up and at sun down. I considered having 2 more pucks in automatic feeder to simplify but my cya will go up another 5. I am using 2.83 jugs of 128 oz 12.5% daily. I might have to go back to 10% if Menards does not have it on sale again or still.

I'm usually a patient person, but running out of patience. I want to throw in the towel.:(
 
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