Day 12 of SLAM, progress has stalled

[northwestnewbie]

Hello,
This is my first time posting, but I've been on the site daily the past few weeks trying to learn all I can about caring for our pool. Thank you all for such great info.

A little background. We opened our pool about 3 weeks ago to a green swamp. I took a sample to two different pool stores before receiving my K-2006 test kit and one told me I had extremely high copper, the other told me I had extremely high ammonia. I wasn't sure who to believe (so I haven't done anything about those things), but we did know from our old test kit that our PH was below 6.8, the lowest our test would go. So, I got ready for the SLAM by first adding Borax (using pool math for amount). I ended up raising it too much and had to add muriatic acid to get it to 7.4 for the SLAM.

Our K-2006 arrived 12 days ago and we started the SLAM. Our CYA at that point was 40, so we used 16 as our shock level. We are only using Bleach. We kept it at this for a week, vacuuming and brushing sides daily. There was a lot of debris at bottom of the deep end. The water looked better each day for a bit and has turned blue, but we still couldn't/can't see the bottom. I decided to test CYA again at day 9 and got a reading of 55-60 which would be a shock level of 24. So, we have brought our FC to 24 for 3 full days now and have noticed minimal change.

Here's our numbers tonight:

FC- 24
CC- 1
PH- 7.2
TA- 100
CH- 30
CYA- 60

My question is, are we on the right track and just need to continue what we are doing? Or could one of the pool stores be right and we need to deal with either ammonia or copper (or something else) before our pool will clear? Also, is it normal that CYA would change within a week, therefore our shock level changes? Its possible the CYA was an error, but I was confident I was doing it right the first time!

Thank you for any response, my kids are itching to swim with this hot weather we've been having in the Northwest!

 

[duraleigh]

stay the course. You needed the SLAM to get rid of organics in your pool water and you haven't gotten rid of them yet.

Your pool could not hold ANY FC if you had ammonia and copper doesn't cloud your pool, it stains it.

I would bet you have let your FC dip below SLAM value for a while as you have lost confidence in what you are doing.

Don't do that. Keep that FC right at 24 by replenishing it at least 2-3 times daily.

Ask your self each morning, "Does the pool look just a little better today". The answer should be yes.

Are you running the pump 24/7? Brushing often? Backwashing as needed? Does brownish gunk come out when you backwash?

 

[northwestnewbie]

We have been running the pump 24/7, but I have only been brushing once a day after the first week. I have not noticed brownish gunk when we backwash. Thanks for the confidence boost to keep going. We'll keep that level at 24 and not worry about ammonia or copper. Thanks so much for the response!

 

[MJF54]

You mentioned debris in the bottom, are you confident it is all out, or as much as you can get. The large organics left in the pool will slow your process down. Get out as much as you can if you haven't done so already.

 

[northwestnewbie]

You mentioned debris in the bottom, are you confident it is all out, or as much as you can get. The large organics left in the pool will slow your process down. Get out as much as you can if you haven't done so already.

Thanks for the response. It sounds like it's very likely the debris has slowed our process. We were getting a lot of pine cones at first and I'm not completely confident it's all out since we can't see the bottom. I will add more vacuuming to my list as well! Thanks!

 

[aussieta]

take a photo looking down the steps or similar so you can tell depth of clarity
take photo same time each day
you will be making progress
but you are comparing to last time you looked not two or three days ago
anytime you drop below your slam level you start going backwards again
try to adjust chlorine level more frequently and you can go a little over on your target

 

[cowboycasey]

keep going, you will get there

 

[s1njin]

12 DAYS of SLAM?

Jeez. That SLAM FAQ isn't joking when it says it can take days.

I'll happily spend the $$ and add some PolyQuat 60 to my dosing even though its not needed if you have proper FC levels. Life happens; its nice to have the added insurance. I'd lose my mind if I had to shock for 12 days and my kids couldn't use the pool for almost half a month !!! Heck, I'd pump it all into the woods and start over ....

 

[jeremy.rudd]

I just passed my OCLT test this morning.... 8 days and 56 gallons of bleach later! I'm glad since I've cleared out the bleach section of 2 nearby Walmarts. Mine seemed to stall for days 4-7, but I finally crossed the finish line this morning.I say stick with it and you'll get there eventually. I was surprised it took as long, and as much bleach, considering my water was pretty clear to start. I had my doubts on day 4 when OCLT went from 1.5 on day 3 up to 3 day 4. After a year and a half of chlorine readings of 0 at the pool stores, I'm finally algae free and you will be too with a bit more persistence.

 

[jonsimp911]

13 days for a SLAM is a long time. I've opened four green pools in Georgia this season with the information found on these forums.

Your CC of 1ppm indicates that the chlorine is still breaking down organics, so you're definetely not done SLAMing. With that said, if the water is blue or white and your CC drops below .5ppm, you may have a filtration problem.

I know it is not recommended here, but I had to use flocculant on one of the pools I opened this year. CC was below .5, passed the overnight FC loss test and was on day 15 of the SLAM (all of the others took 5 days or less). This pool's (inground vinyl liner 13400 gallons) only inlet was the skimmer. All of my testing indicated that the water chemistry was perfect - it just wouldn't get clear. I added Sink and Sweep, shut down the pump after 2 hours (a sin during a SLAM, I know but the bleach was costing me an arm and a leg!), waited 24 hours, and everything dropped to the bottom. I vacuumed and passed the third and final test ending the SLAM - crystal clear water.

I'm not trying to bust the TFP method, but I'm not sure how much money I would have spent on additional chlorine had I not used the floc. It put the nail on the coffin for this last pool. I was even kind of embarrassed that I kept adding chlorine for 8 days after passing the CC and overnight tests before I used the floc. Thankfully, it wasn't too much because it was only being burned off by the sun (no organics were left in the water), but we have been getting a lot of it down here in Georgia. Either way, they could've been swimming a week earlier :-(.

 

[northwestnewbie]

Thanks for the responses. I definitely see progress today. I can see the 3rd step now and almost the bottom of the shallow end. I have been keeping it a little above SLAM level so there is no chance it will dip below while I am away and the sun is shining. I'm sticking with it!

 

[DaninFLA]

once you start getting closer to the end of your SLAM, you need to get your pool light out (if you have one). there will be a lot of algae behind that fixture and you wont pass your OCLT. you need to completely sanitize the pool, so the light niche is important. also make sure you clean out around the skimmer, water line, ladders, etc.

sounds like you are making progress.

 

[laveenmoose]

Thanks for the responses. I definitely see progress today. I can see the 3rd step now and almost the bottom of the shallow end. I have been keeping it a little above SLAM level so there is no chance it will dip below while I am away and the sun is shining. I'm sticking with it!

Excellent work! Keep going because you're well on your way to a sparkling pool Like many on here, I've been through this myself this year, and with the help of this outstanding community I now have a crystal clear, balanced pool that doesn't intimidate me anymore! Once you complete the SLAM you will have total control of your pool, and there is nothing better than looking at it everyday, watching the sun dance on the water knowing that your efforts and the help from all the great folks on here helped you tame the beast :super:

Edit: Don't ignore the "M" in SLAM, Maintain your pool, check it everyday after you complete the SLAM until you are sure the water is balanced, then you can work on pump run time, and settle into your testing routine.

 

[northwestnewbie]

Could this be what's been holding us back from a clear pool? I keep thinking the water looks so close, but not quite there. After it was mentioned to check behind the light fixture I decided to do some investigating. This pump strainer basket (not sure the correct term) has been stuck and my husband and I assumed it wasn't meant to come out and we were afraid to pull too hard and break it. We would just reach in and clean the debris out by hand. After reading some other posts I decided to use a flathead screwdriver to gently pry the sides. This is what came out, a bunch of debris stuck to the sides. Hoping this helps us finish our SLAM!

 

[laveenmoose]

Lots of places for algae to hide in there. Clean it out, and check your skimmer baskets, too.

 

[Pogueld]

Keep it up. Timing depends on how often you can test and be sure you are at the target FC. The more often you can get there and stay there, the better.

I bet you get there soon!


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