Losing my mind with this SLAM

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Kimnlogan

Well-known member
May 20, 2015
73
Springfield, IL
It's been a while since I've posted as we've usually had good luck with the TFP methods for the last 7yrs.. This year we have been at it for 4 weeks or more now and at a near total standstill for a week or more. I work 12hr shifts so getting started it always hard as there are days that I can't retest/maintain. Usually once I have several days off in a row things start coming together but not this year. The water is still cloudy enough that we can barely see the pattern on the bottom of the pool. Last week we let the chlorine drop to 4 (not intentionally.. I just had to work a couple of days in a row) and rebalanced the ph/alk/cya. A couple days later, on Friday we decided to open up the sand filter and give it a wash out as we couldn't remember the last time we did it (probably at least 3yrs). It was, of course, terrible. We washed and washed until all the 'cloudiness' was gone from it but there were still little 'bits and pieces' but WAY less than before. We saw a slight improvement the next day (maybe??) but nothing since. We've run the filter 24/7 for a month or more. We've vacuumed and brushed a million times. I'm almost out of test kit supplies and I'm completely out of CYA testing chemicals so going off my last test plus some strips to give me a general idea (if it looks like 30 I always assume it's 40 to be on the safe side when going to the fc/cya chart). We are still losing more than 1 at night and hard to keep level maintained during the day. My gut tells me we need to change out the sand. Here are this morning's numbers...

pH 7.5
alk 70
FC 13
CC 1.5
cya 40

Thoughts before I fill it with concrete????
 
Until you pass the OCLT several times, there is little else to do.
Have you removed and cleaned any steps or ladders?
 
Throw the test strips away, to start. They've been known to show tap water to have 30 CYA, so there's no such thing as "the safe side" in guessing based off of that junk.

How old are you testing reagents?
 
Kimnlogan said:
It's been a while since I've posted as we've usually had good luck with the TFP methods for the last 7yrs.. This year we have been at it for 4 weeks or more now and at a near total standstill for a week or more. I work 12hr shifts so getting started it always hard as there are days that I can't retest/maintain. Usually once I have several days off in a row things start coming together but not this year. The water is still cloudy enough that we can barely see the pattern on the bottom of the pool. Last week we let the chlorine drop to 4 (not intentionally.. I just had to work a couple of days in a row) and rebalanced the ph/alk/cya. A couple days later, on Friday we decided to open up the sand filter and give it a wash out as we couldn't remember the last time we did it (probably at least 3yrs). It was, of course, terrible. We washed and washed until all the 'cloudiness' was gone from it but there were still little 'bits and pieces' but WAY less than before. We saw a slight improvement the next day (maybe??) but nothing since. We've run the filter 24/7 for a month or more. We've vacuumed and brushed a million times. I'm almost out of test kit supplies and I'm completely out of CYA testing chemicals so going off my last test plus some strips to give me a general idea (if it looks like 30 I always assume it's 40 to be on the safe side when going to the fc/cya chart). We are still losing more than 1 at night and hard to keep level maintained during the day. My gut tells me we need to change out the sand. Here are this morning's numbers...

pH 7.5
alk 70
FC 13
CC 1.5
cya 40

Thoughts before I fill it with concrete????
Click to expand...
Did you end up getting your pool sorted out? Pass the OCLT?
 
Ok... here is where we are.... Pool looks a little better every day but still cloudy. We can now easily see the bottom where we are standing at least but not in the middle/other side of the pool...but can see 'items' like the vaccuum and such if they are across the pool. I FINALLY got my new chemicals today and LESSON LEARNED.... buy new chemicals each year! Some of my numbers were WAY different.

Here are my numbers today with NEW chemicals....

pH 7.5
TA 110
FC 15
CC 0
CYA 70-80 (depending on HOW obliterated you want the dot to be)

Soooo.... thinking we maybe need to try to wash out the sand again????
 
So I posted last week that we've been fighting with cloudy pool for a month... took top of sand filter and gave it a BIG washout (was pretty gross)... was out of some chemicals (and most were old).... pool was still cloudy (couldn't see the bottom) but looking a tiny bit better every day....so fast forward...

Ok... here is where we are.... Pool looks a little better every day but still cloudy. We can now easily see the bottom where we are standing at least but not in the middle/other side of the pool...but can see 'items' like the vaccuum and such if they are across the pool. I FINALLY got my new chemicals today and LESSON LEARNED.... buy new chemicals each year! Some of my numbers were WAY different.

Here are my numbers today with NEW chemicals....

pH 7.5
TA 110
FC 15
CC 0
CYA 70-80 (depending on HOW obliterated you want the dot to be)

Soooo.... thinking we maybe need to try to wash out the sand again????
 
I don't think cleaning the sand is going to do anything, the problem is that the test strips were giving you a false CYA reading that had you under-dosing your chlorine. Now that you have an accurate reading you can bring your FC up to the appropriate level (call your CYA level 80 so your target SLAM level is 32 ppm FC) and you should start seeing more significant improvements.
 

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Donldson said:
I don't think cleaning the sand is going to do anything, the problem is that the test strips were giving you a false CYA reading that had you under-dosing your chlorine. Now that you have an accurate reading you can bring your FC up to the appropriate level (call your CYA level 80 so your target SLAM level is 32 ppm FC) and you should start seeing more significant improvements.
Click to expand...
Even though there are no CC?? (also my hubby was in it today to get some leaves from a storm out and really stirred it up right before I did the readings so thinking these should be a good representation of the pool...not just what was 'on top'.
 
duraleigh said:
I didn't read this whole thread..........have you already tried a sand deep cleaning? Can you post a pic of your pool water?
Click to expand...
Yes... we did... there were still some 'bits' coming out the top while washing but overall the dirty water cleared up and the amount of 'bits' decreased by probably 75% or more before we had to close it back up... but just thinking we might need to do it a bit more? I'll try to grab a pic but having people over here in a few so it may be tomorrow. :)
 
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