No more green, FC still dropping a bit, water cloudy

[PoolFrog]

I recently SLAM'ed my pool to get rid of a slight algae problem (water wasn't totally green and no surfaces were slimy, but green clouds were coming up off of the bottom when brushed). I also used a polyquat 60 algaecide last week to try to help things a bit. The pool has been much better looking this week. All week, the pool has stayed a nice blue color, but the water is still cloudy. I've continued to brush each day and clean the Intex filter every couple of days. My CYA consistently tests at 50 (TF100 kit), so I've been keeping my FC at 10 since getting rid of the algae, to try to keep it from coming back.

My CC is down to 0.5, compared to 1.0 previously (as recent as Monday). I don't see any more green stuff at all, not even when I brush or when I clean the filter, but my FC seems to keep dropping by a few ppm (it dropped by 4.5 ppm from yesterday mid-day to today mid-day). There are no leaves or any other noticeable pieces of debris on the bottom. The pool is in full sun, and it's been around 100 here all week. Is it possible that the drop in FC is due to the heat?

Below are my numbers from today:

FC = 5.5 (I added enough bleach to bring it back up to 10 just after testing)
CC = 0.5
TA = 110
CH = 160
CYA = 50
pH = 7.8

 

[jblizzle]

Does not sound like you followed the SLAM Process correctly. For a CYA of 50ppm, you should still be maintaining a FC of 20ppm since you have not passed the 3 criteria to stop. Sounds like you are still failing the clear water/no visible algae criteria and I did not see mention of the OCLT.

 

[PoolFrog]

What's odd is that yesterday, I got an OCLT of just 1 ppm, but today, it dropped by about 4.5. I'm just trying to understand how that could be due to algae when I'm not seeing anymore of it anywhere like I was. That's why I'm wondering how much of that chlorine loss could be due to the heat.

 

[jblizzle]

You said the drop of 4.5ppm was over 24 hours ... so much of that was due to the sun ... that is no how the OCLT is done.

It is normal to lose 2-3ppm of FC in a day in a clean pool when you start at the recommended FC levels. The CYA level sets a % of FC that is lost to the sun ... so if you start at higher FC levels you will lose more ppm to the sun.

Given the cloudy water, I would suggest you keep SLAMing.

What kind of cartridge do you have in the filter? If it is the Intex, I would suggest you may have better luck getting a Filber or Unicel to clear up the water.