Neverending green pool

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jrowell24

0
Jun 19, 2015
9
Georgia
I have always had trouble with my water not being a crystal clear that I've seen happening on this site. I'm ready to begin a SLAM to take care of this once and for all. I'm attaching a picture below of my water before beginning. It is green tinted (I'd said blue-green) but cloudy and the bottom is nowhere in site. I can only see down to about the 2nd step of my ladder. I feel like I have bought a pool chemical store with all of the stuff I've used in the past several years. None of which gave me the end result I'm looking for.

IMG_0480.JPG

Here are the specs of my pool. It is an above ground, circular 24 foot by 4 1/2 foot with vinyl liner. I use a sand filter (of which the sand was just replaced last summer). It is in complete sun all day and located in Southeast Georgia (with temps close to 100 for the past week).

As of yesterday, my readings using a Taylor Complete Kit were:

FC - 1
Ph - 7.5
TA - 130
CYA - 80

As I said at the beginning, I am getting ready to begin a SLAM and would like some guidance from anyone who has experience in this. I am by no means an expert and feel like I've been led down hundreds of paths to the best way to make my pool right. None have worked yet.

Thank you!

Josh
 
Welcome to TFP!!:handwave:

Please verify that this is a Taylor K-2006 with the FAS/DPD test (powder & drops to get FC)

You are going to need to do at least a 50% water exchange to get the CYA down to a manageable level. Conducting a SLAM at 80 takes massive amounts of chlorine.

Once you have a FAS/DPD test and the CYA in line read the directions on SLAMing your pool in the How To section of Pool School and follow that procedure completely to the end.


  • CC is 0.5 or lower;
  • You pass an OCLT (ie overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less);
  • The water is clear.

When all three are true, you are done SLAMing and can allow the FC to drift down to normal levels.
 
Okay, thanks for the advice and support. I got up this morning to these numbers (I had not started the SLAM yet):

FC: 0
Ph 7.7
TA 140
CYA 70

I have since brought the Ph down to about 7.3 and have just given the pool a shock dose of 5 gallons of bleach. I am now praying for everything to go smoothly and quickly.
 
Just remember the following now that you say you are SLAMming:
- With a CYA of 70, your SLAM "FC" level is 28. It MUST stay at or slightly above that to succeed (Maintain)
- Maintain until 3 objectives are met:
1. Water is clear
2. You do not lose any more than 1ppm of FC overnight (that's the OCLT)
3. CC (Combined Chlorine) is <.5

- Don't worry about the PH until after the SLAM
- At the same time, continue to run your pump 24/7. Remove any “muck” and debris, scrub all parts of your pool to expose any algae, and vacuum/clean (or backwash) filter as necessary. You may have to do this several times. It's a lot of babysitting, but with patience and consistency, you will succeed.
 
One hour after initial bleach addition and my FC is 8.2. My CC showed nothing though. I had thought it would show something if it was working. Maybe I'm confused on that bit though. :-? It must have eaten a lot of chlorine because the 5 gallons I put in at first should have boosted the FC up to 28 according to the chart. So, time to add more bleach and test again later.

- - - Updated - - -

So, it is safe to be swimming with an FC of that level, correct? It's an above ground with only a partial deck so I will need to be in the pool to do the scrubbing and vacuuming. Would you suggest I do that now or later this evening?
 
there you go, that is exactly what you need to do.. try to keep it between 26 and 30 fc at all times as much as possible, try to take it to 32 before bed, you get the most out of the chlorine at night....
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Day one of SLAMming complete. I just did a test at 9:30 and my FC was 15. So, I put 3 gallons of bleach in to let it work its magic overnight. We're having a bit of a thunderstorm. Hopefully that won't affect the progress I've made. I can already tell a color difference. It is more blue than green. Sides and ladder were brushed. I found a good bit of algae on the back side of the ladder and steps. So, that's taken care of. Vacuuming is done too.
 
True Richard. I feel very in control and not helpless. So, I woke up this morning to a BLUE pool with an FC of 28.5. Didn't lose very much overnight. But, another hot one today, so it's bound to burn off quickly once it heats up. So, blue is the first step but I still cant' see the bottom. So, I'm keeping it at that level until it's clear. Thanks for your support everyone!
 
jrowell24 said:
True Richard. I feel very in control and not helpless. So, I woke up this morning to a BLUE pool with an FC of 28.5. Didn't lose very much overnight. But, another hot one today, so it's bound to burn off quickly once it heats up. So, blue is the first step but I still cant' see the bottom. So, I'm keeping it at that level until it's clear. Thanks for your support everyone!
Click to expand...
This is when before and multiple "during" photos help keep you engaged. With multilpe photos side by side you can see the changes that you may miss just looking at it each day.

Keep up the fight, you will get there!!
 
There is no real answer for how long it will take. Kind of like being a kid in the back seat, are we there yet....

How are the numbers looking? Once the CC are .5 or below and you are passing a the URL="http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/136-perform-the-overnight-fc-chlorine-loss-test-oclt"]Overnight FC Loss Test (OCLT)[/URL] it may be time to try the DE in the Sand Filter trick to speed up clearing the water. But, if you are loosing more than 2ppm FC a night hold off on trying that.
 
I'll give that a go tonight/tomorrow morning. I raised it to 30 last night around 9:00 and just checked it at 12:00 pm (i know it isn't a OCLT) and it was only down to 23 so it isn't losing an awful lot. I will now put it back up to 28 and then shoot for the OCLT tonight. I haven't had any CC in the past couple of times I've checked.
 
if your shock level is 28 and you are losing a lot of FC, take it a few points higher. you want your FC to stay at or above the shock level as much as possible. goal is to keep it at shock the entire time, but with big losses quick in FC, you fall below that number. the more contact time at shock level, the faster your SLAm will be over.

if you have a removable ladder, take it out at this point and give it a good bleach cleaning and leave it out of the pool until your SLAM is done. it most likely is holding algae that is tough to reach.

with you being in full sun and running pump 24/7, not surprising to not see any CC. I never showed CC either during my SLAM. it got burned off too quick.

- - - Updated - - -

if your shock level is 28 and you are losing a lot of FC, take it a few points higher. you want your FC to stay at or above the shock level as much as possible. goal is to keep it at shock the entire time, but with big losses quick in FC, you fall below that number. the more contact time at shock level, the faster your SLAm will be over.

if you have a removable ladder, take it out at this point and give it a good bleach cleaning and leave it out of the pool until your SLAM is done. it most likely is holding algae that is tough to reach.

with you being in full sun and running pump 24/7, not surprising to not see any CC. I never showed CC either during my SLAM. it got burned off too quick.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply