First SLAM - finished at last!

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First SLAM - persevering...

Since you haven't been able to test for a while why don't you get your FC level back up to 32 and keep it there as long as you can for a day then try OCLT and see what ya get. Let's see where your CC 's are also.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

I really do think you maybe further along than you may believe. The fact that there are no numbers to go off of for almost a week means that for now, we're kinda starting over. I'd guess as long as you were able to keep the FC up as it appears you were, you were killing off some of the organics. Without the reagent however you really don't know just how much you were adding and losing each day. Don't be discouraged by your current results.

For now......Raise your FC up to 34 tonight after the sun goes down. Test again just before you go to bed.......use this number as your nighttime number for the OCLT. Test again 1st thing in the morning. Over a week ago you had a FC lose of 2ppm overnight. IF you were keeping the chlorine levels up high as you waited for your reagent, you were still killing off stuff. I'd guess that the lose tonight will be less.

Don't get discouraged! You're making more progress than you realize, and will soon be in control.....I promise ya! Let's see what tonights OCLT yields and work from there. Promise ya, you're not doing anything wrong......it's just been a bit of an odd SLAM process with your running out of reagent. Happens to us all!
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

Sun on it's way down now. The two gallons I added this morning should have brought FC up to 37, so I'll be curious to see where it is now. I'll go test and add chlorine if necessary.

I know we are still fighting something because we went through 12 gallons of chlorine this past week--bought six 2-gallon cases at Home Depot on 12/1 and had to repurchase on 12/8! I think I ran out of reagent on Friday morning, and added about 3.5 gallons in the "blind" phase over the weekend.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

LaVidaVi said:
Sun on it's way down now. The two gallons I added this morning should have brought FC up to 37, so I'll be curious to see where it is now. I'll go test and add chlorine if necessary.
Click to expand...

Go ahead and retest. Add enough chlorine to get to 34ish. Then relax until just before bed. Test again for your starting point.

LaVidaVi said:
I know we are still fighting something because we went through 12 gallons of chlorine this past week--bought six 2-gallon cases at Home Depot on 12/1 and had to repurchase on 12/8! I think I ran out of reagent on Friday morning, and added about 3.5 gallons in the "blind" phase over the weekend.
Click to expand...

Working blind always leads to confusing results. For now, disregard the last few days and only worry about the OCLT. It will tell us everything.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

Tested the water and am very confused by the results because they are much HIGHER than I expected!!

I just tested the water twice (once with the 5ml of water method and then again with 10ml of water method to double check) and both times the FC reading came out close to 40!!! So, now I'm wondering if I somehow misread the test results from this morning (meaning FC was higher than 28 to start with). If I really started with 28 ppm this morning and added 2 gallons of 10% chlorine, then a result approaching 40 tonight makes no sense based on what I thought my pool size was, so either the 28 is wrong, the 40 is wrong, or my pool size estimate is wrong.

Wondering if I am doing the testing properly and what parameters might affect accuracy/consistency of results.

Firstly, the kitchen light over my sink where I do my testing is a high-efficiency bulb that gives off a cool/bluish light. This is the main light illuminating my workspace at night. In the morning when I'm testing, yellowish sunlight comes through that same window quite brightly and even though the same lightbulb is on, the intensity of the sunlight overwhelms the bluish color. Could the color difference in the light affect my perception enough to affect the accuracy of the FAS-DPD test?

Second possibility, maybe just grasping at straws, but would the extremely low temperature of the water this morning affect the test accuracy?

Thirdly: how much DPD powder should I be adding? Heaping spoonful isn't very specific and I read that higher chlorine levels could require more, so I've been adding extra (like maybe 3 level spoonfuls of the little blue spoon that comes with the kit when I do a 10ml test and 2 level spoonfuls when I do a 5ml test). So again, could that be skewing my results?

Feedback please!
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

Light should not really affect that test. Water temp will not affect that test.
You can not use too much powder. Too little and you could get a bad result, but if it is a good pink to start, you likely have enough.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

My first guess is that the new chorine might been a little stronger strength than before. Trust your results and go by them. Having the 5ml and 10ml tests confirming each other is more proof that you are doing the tests right. Like the others said, extra powder is fine for this test.

When I said to make sure you run the water through all the plumbing, I mean to say that if you have any water features of any kind, make sure you turn the valves on for those features.

You should not have to get in the pool to remove the light. There is only one screw that holds it in and hopefully someone can reach down and unscrew it from the deck. Many times when the SLAM process has been longer than normal, this is where all the algae was hiding.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

Stronger chlorine makes sense to me I guess. Would chlorine weaken that much after a week in my cold, dark garage though? Or was it just a weaker/older batch to begin with?

5ml FC test this morning showed 39 (OK, to be as precise as possible in my reporting, my hand had a little spasm toward the end and the reagent squirted a little bit instead of coming out as drops so I'm not exactly sure if it's 39 or 40).

Still have the water if I need to do a repeat tests or further tests.
 

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Re: First SLAM - persevering...

So last night you tested 40ppm and this morning you tested 39-40ppm? Granted you were using a 5ml sample, so not really accurate, but that looks to me like an OCLT pass.

Did you test the CC? You should every time you test the FC.

But, do you still see algae in the water?
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

I still have the water sample from first thing this morning so I can redo the FC test with 10ml of water and then do the CC if you think it's a worthy use of 80 or so drops from my new 1oz bottle of reagent.

The water itself is clear of visible algae.

There are still two small spots of what looks like black algae in recesses in the very old and uneven plaster. One is just below the water return and is a fairly deep little pocket. When I brush it with a small wire brush clouds of greenish brown come off. The other spot is smack dab in the middle of the slope to the deep end which makes it very difficult to brush well -- I don't have terrific upper body strength any way so wielding a 12-16 foot pole with water resistance is a challenge at the best of times, and now my pregnant belly is starting to make some maneuvers a little awkward. So far what seems to work best (as far as seeing crud come off the spot) is scraping it with the naked end of a brush/net pole, but I'm afraid I'm damaging the plaster more by doing that.

Neither spot has diminished in size or intensity throughout this process. It's quite possible that I haven't been brushing frequently enough, but with my schedule it will be difficult to increase my frequency very much.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

The water sample is not likely good any more, so I would not retest it with that water.

If you are interested, the Whale Brush makes brushing quite a bit easier as it adds the down force for you. I would not use the back of a brush.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

The spots on the bottom don't appear to me to be algae. We'll address those in a bit. For now it looks like you dropped 1ppm FC overnight. That's a pass. No algae. That's a pass. The CC's are all that's left.

Tonight after the sun drops, test again and raise to at least 34 (if needed). Test your CC level them too. My gut says you'll get good news.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

For pH ... minutes. The chlorine can also start to break down pretty quickly as well. Most of the others are not too affected I do not think.
Hard to say really ... and no real way to know if your results are "off" if you waited too long.

This is another reason why carrying your water to a store is generally not a good idea and best to just go grab your water sample and test it right away.
 
Re: First SLAM - persevering...

It's already dark at this point so it will have to wait until tomorrow. But it looks pretty much the same as previous "progress" photos in this thread if that helps.

Here's one from 11/25/13:
DSC09504.JPG
 

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