Going it alone. Need help.
- Thread starter simonmoll
- Start date
Pool had light algae again this morning.
FC 5 (7.5 last night)
PH 7.6 (7.4)
I SLAMMED the pool Tuesday and Wednesday and it passed the OCLT test on Wed/Thurs and Friday mornings.
Why does algae keep returning?
I scrubbed the pool early and checked FC at 1:30 pm = 4.5 Pool looks good, no green tinge anywhere.
What am I doing wrong?
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CC< 0.5
CYA 40
TA 60
FC 5 (7.5 last night)
PH 7.6 (7.4)
I SLAMMED the pool Tuesday and Wednesday and it passed the OCLT test on Wed/Thurs and Friday mornings.
Why does algae keep returning?
I scrubbed the pool early and checked FC at 1:30 pm = 4.5 Pool looks good, no green tinge anywhere.
What am I doing wrong?
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CC< 0.5
CYA 40
TA 60
Is the water crystal clear with no sign of algae? If not, then you are not done with the SLAM process (which is usually much longer than 2-3 days).
What FC level were you maintaining for the SLAM?
Where are you seeing the algae showing up?
What FC level were you maintaining for the SLAM?
Where are you seeing the algae showing up?
What times were you performing the OCLT? If algae is coming back that fast, you did not pass the OCLT.
I am concerned your FC on may 8 was 15 in morning and 10 at night, loss of 5 during day
if you are targeting fc 5 that would mean fc 5 in morning and fc 0 at night?
you really need to always use fas/dpd chlorine tester
how confident are you of that CYA test being 40
in barbados i assume a lot of sunlight you may need to raise your cya and fc targets
could also be a circulation problem , do you brush everyday, how many hours a day does filter run
if you are targeting fc 5 that would mean fc 5 in morning and fc 0 at night?
you really need to always use fas/dpd chlorine tester
how confident are you of that CYA test being 40
in barbados i assume a lot of sunlight you may need to raise your cya and fc targets
could also be a circulation problem , do you brush everyday, how many hours a day does filter run
No. They lost a third of the FC from 15 to 10, so theoretically if they started at 6 it would drop to 4. Assuming the loss was only to the sun.
"Is the water crystal clear with no sign of algae? If not, then you are not done with the SLAM process (which is usually much longer than 2-3 days).
What FC level were you maintaining for the SLAM?
Where are you seeing the algae showing up?"
FC level was 16 per pool math CYA 40.
Algae all over...very light covering.
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Usually half an hour after day 7pm here and first thing in the morning 6:30.
My FC has not changed over last night yet there is a fine covering of green that shows up when I brush.
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Guess I am going to have to SLAM it and do it for longer and see what happens. Just don't understand why FC not being depleted at night while a green algae builds up?
I know that if I scrub it and add chlorine to bring to FC 5 the pool will look fine for a day but green will be there the next morning.
What FC level were you maintaining for the SLAM?
Where are you seeing the algae showing up?"
FC level was 16 per pool math CYA 40.
Algae all over...very light covering.
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Usually half an hour after day 7pm here and first thing in the morning 6:30.
My FC has not changed over last night yet there is a fine covering of green that shows up when I brush.
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Guess I am going to have to SLAM it and do it for longer and see what happens. Just don't understand why FC not being depleted at night while a green algae builds up?
I know that if I scrub it and add chlorine to bring to FC 5 the pool will look fine for a day but green will be there the next morning.
Can you post some pics?
What is the pool surface? Concrete with plaster? Painted?
I suggest that you raise the SLAM shock level to 20. Remember to brush every nook and cranny. If you have light fixtures, you should check behind them for algae.
And, after this SLAM is completed, I suggest that you maintain FC between 4 and 6, and never below 4. How and when have you been adding bleach during maintenance? It is preferable to add FC in the evening after the sun is off the pool. That way, all chlorine goes to fight any organics and none is wasted by sunlight.
Keep posting and we'll figure this out.
What is the pool surface? Concrete with plaster? Painted?
I suggest that you raise the SLAM shock level to 20. Remember to brush every nook and cranny. If you have light fixtures, you should check behind them for algae.
And, after this SLAM is completed, I suggest that you maintain FC between 4 and 6, and never below 4. How and when have you been adding bleach during maintenance? It is preferable to add FC in the evening after the sun is off the pool. That way, all chlorine goes to fight any organics and none is wasted by sunlight.
Keep posting and we'll figure this out.
I think just floor. I scrub walls but now you mention it I don't see the same green that I see when I scrub the bottom. Is that significant?
The are a lot of palms around but I don't think pollen. I think black algae on the palms and on pool deck / coping stones etc due to whitefly or mealy bug. My old pool guy came today to look at putting in new coping stones and he thought black algae getting in pool all the time from the palms. He uses an algaecide block in the strainer sparingly and says that works well for him on difficult pools.
The are a lot of palms around but I don't think pollen. I think black algae on the palms and on pool deck / coping stones etc due to whitefly or mealy bug. My old pool guy came today to look at putting in new coping stones and he thought black algae getting in pool all the time from the palms. He uses an algaecide block in the strainer sparingly and says that works well for him on difficult pools.
Concrete (starbright or something like that, not painted).
Normally add liquid bleach in morning if FC is (say) at 3.5 like this morning to make sure enough FC during the day.
The latest green came when FC went from 7.5 at dusk to 5 the following morning. Prior to this the FC had been same in the morning as it had been the previous three evenings as it came down from SLAM levels.
Re algae possibly behind the pool light. Can I just unscrew the light fitting to have a look. Presumably I should cut all power to pool room.
My pool is now green again despite following procedures as closely as possible.
I am going to SLAM again and keep it SLAMMED for a few days after it passes OTLC.
Really fed up with the time I am spending on this pool.
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This am:
FC 4
CC 0
PH 7.8
Will do all tests before slamming.
I am going to SLAM again and keep it SLAMMED for a few days after it passes OTLC.
Really fed up with the time I am spending on this pool.
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This am:
FC 4
CC 0
PH 7.8
Will do all tests before slamming.
That's a beautiful setup. Didn't realize from your avatar that the pool was right beside the waterfront, awesome.
As others have said, sounds like your SLAM may be ending too soon... I would be thinking hard about keeping the FC up at shock level for a week even after it seemed to pass all the criteria for ending the SLAM and then treating the "high end of normal" as my minimum FC for a couple of weeks after that, but that might just be my "I'm fed up with this algae, gonna kill it so it stays dead" nature
As others have said, sounds like your SLAM may be ending too soon... I would be thinking hard about keeping the FC up at shock level for a week even after it seemed to pass all the criteria for ending the SLAM and then treating the "high end of normal" as my minimum FC for a couple of weeks after that, but that might just be my "I'm fed up with this algae, gonna kill it so it stays dead" nature
Why did you stop the SLAM from 5/11 post #67? You note that you bring the FC back up to 5ppm. This is why you are not passing and breeding a BLOOM.
Your pics in post #74 look cloudy. It seems that you are seeing progress and letting it go thinking it's good enough. What have all of your OCLT results been? Are you meeting the 3 criteria of 1ppm FC loss, .5ppm or less CC and crystal clear water?
Your pics in post #74 look cloudy. It seems that you are seeing progress and letting it go thinking it's good enough. What have all of your OCLT results been? Are you meeting the 3 criteria of 1ppm FC loss, .5ppm or less CC and crystal clear water?
Re #67 this was a while after slamming and FC had gone down to 1-2 for a short time (8hrs max).
Re #74 it was beginning to go green.
After my previous slam the OCLT results were fine. Three mornings passed with no FC loss at night, CC <0.5, and crystal clear water.
I think I let FC drift down to 1-2 level one day and next day the green started again.
This time I am SLAMMING and brushing for longer.
Started Friday.
Right now I have a crystal clear pool but I am continuing to SLAM and brush and clean cartridge every day.
Will do for two more days.
One previous suggestion was to look for algae behind the light. I am actually worried about doing this as I am not sure how safe it is to unscrew the light under water and then whether it needs sealing when putting back.
You are finished with the SLAM when....
1. Your pool water is sparkling
2. Your CC's are .5ppm or less
3. You can hold your FC overnight without losing more than 1ppm.
2 more days or 20 more days has nothing to do with it.....meet those three requirements and you're done.