New Pool owner, not sure what to do next...

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Then a day or so ago (been SLAMing since Thursday):

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Sorry for using a different site, I hit some sort of limit for attachments.

So, I'm starting to get a little disheartened. I'm keeping the FC levels up, but I don't see things improving too much. The water is still slightly green and cloudy. The OCLT is about 1.5. I know I need to keep SLAMing, but I'm wondering why i'm not seeing an improvement after 4 days. Could I be doing something different?
 
Make sure you are continuing to monitor your filter pressure and backwashing when needed. Also, get in and scrub the walls, steps and every little nook and cranny you can find. I read you scrubbed the steps once already but algae could still be clinging to the walls and steps and on the bottom side of the steps. It is a process and it might take a while depending how stubborn the algae is.
 
A few suggestions for you to try and help it clear quicker

Deep clean your sand filter - http://www.troublefreepool.com/threa...-a-Sand-Filter

Then add DE to your sand filter - Add DE to a Sand Filter

Recheck your CYA, critical for the correct chlorine levels, not an easy test though.


Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Taylor recommends standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body. Use the mixing bottle to combine/gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Then, while holding the skinny tube with the black dot at waist level, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. After the first test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate the CYA reading.
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- Some ppl prefer to fill to a line, glance at the dot, fill to the next line, glance etc

Also check your gauge goes to 0 when the pump is off. If it doesnt you have a faulty gauge. Easy and cheap to replace one of those. Backwash when pressure rises to 20-25% over clean pressure, then rinse and repeat http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/144-maintenance-and-cleaning-of-pool-filters

The more often you test and dose chlorine the faster it will go. Check your pics of your pool, looks a lot more blue than green in the last picture to me :D:party:

Take a picture every day at the same location and start comparing, sometimes the colour change to blue is slow and you dont notice it in person, but you can with the pictures. If you upload them, even better, we live for pictures http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/72545-Posting-Photo-s-Tutorial

 
Hi all, back again!

So, I've been SLAMing since last Thursday. I topped up the FC level Sunday night and went to work (in too much of a rush to get the levels yesterday morning. Twins!). Got home last night and the FC was 13. Then I got in the pool and scrubbed it like a madman. I had goggles and a snorkel and a scrubbing mit. The sides were scrubbed thoroughly and the bottom swept and vacuumed.

I put in a whole 121oz jug of bleach last night to bring it up again. This morning, I took a whole set of readings. They are:

FC = 21
CC = 0
pH = 7.4
TA = 60
CH = 790 (!)
CYA = 50

It's probably placebo, but it may have looked a little clearer this morning, but I can't be sure. So, I know I need to add some baking soda and borax, but the CH level is insane! I intend to test the fill water tonight. I've already been told it's high in copper, but I suspect it's high in calcium too.

Help me, wise TFPers. What else can/should I be doing? Wife wants to get a pool guy, but I'm not sure what he'd do differently...
 
A pool boy will push your FC WAY up so it will last for a whole week. By the time he comes back it will be close to 0 and cause problems with algae. OH and he might want to use pucks which adds either CYA or CH :)shock:) The last thing you need!

Stay the course with TFP. We will get you straighten out. It will take a some time :( but it will be better than ever once it is right.

:kim:
 
Kenny_Login said:
Hi all, back again!

So, I've been SLAMing since last Thursday. I topped up the FC level Sunday night and went to work (in too much of a rush to get the levels yesterday morning. Twins!). Got home last night and the FC was 13. Then I got in the pool and scrubbed it like a madman. I had goggles and a snorkel and a scrubbing mit. The sides were scrubbed thoroughly and the bottom swept and vacuumed.

I put in a whole 121oz jug of bleach last night to bring it up again. This morning, I took a whole set of readings. They are:

FC = 21
CC = 0
pH = 7.4
TA = 60
CH = 790 (!)
CYA = 50

It's probably placebo, but it may have looked a little clearer this morning, but I can't be sure. So, I know I need to add some baking soda and borax, but the CH level is insane! I intend to test the fill water tonight. I've already been told it's high in copper, but I suspect it's high in calcium too.

Help me, wise TFPers. What else can/should I be doing? Wife wants to get a pool guy, but I'm not sure what he'd do differently...
Click to expand...

Your CH is high, you don't need to suspect it anymore. Normally it should be around 200-300. This is most likely not your problem atm, you can ignore it for now.

It helps if you start taking daily pictures of the progress over stairs or any other feature providing gradual depth view. Taken at the same time and in the same lighting conditions these 'progress' pics make it easy to see where it goes.

Please note SLAM requires maintenance of FC level at all times, you can't let it fall on its own. At the beginning FC usually falls very quickly so other members reported loss of level in as little as couple hrs. 2 Days later it would be below min. All I'm saying is the 'M' in SLAM is very important the more constant FC is the shorter SLAM becomes.

Pool guy won't do even what you're already doing and we'll see you back with bigger problems later.

How are your pump / filter doing? They need to be running 24/7 and filter needs to be recently cleaned and have no internal problems.
 
I'll start taking photos in the morning when I test, and see if it helps. It *seems* like I'm making progress, but I can't be sure. I have no frame of experience, so the progress seems minute, if at all.

Sadly, I'm not able to monitor the SLAM levels as much as I want. I measure in the morning before work, and as soon as I get home, adding chlorine to bring it back up to shock. Do you think it's worth going over the shock value to compensate for the lack of measurement during the day? At my current readings the shock is around 20 (9,400ish gallons, CYA of 50). Perhaps take it up to around 25? On Thursdays I work from home, so I can potentially monitor the levels more frequently (and at the weekend, obviously).

The pump/filter is running 24/7. I've backwashed a couple of times. I'm not really experienced enough to tell if there's any internal problems. There's no PSI guage, which I find odd though.

Thanks everyone, your input and help is much appreciated.
 
Kenny_Login said:
I'll start taking photos in the morning when I test, and see if it helps. It *seems* like I'm making progress, but I can't be sure. I have no frame of experience, so the progress seems minute, if at all.

Sadly, I'm not able to monitor the SLAM levels as much as I want. I measure in the morning before work, and as soon as I get home, adding chlorine to bring it back up to shock. Do you think it's worth going over the shock value to compensate for the lack of measurement during the day? At my current readings the shock is around 20 (9,400ish gallons, CYA of 50). Perhaps take it up to around 25? On Thursdays I work from home, so I can potentially monitor the levels more frequently (and at the weekend, obviously).

The pump/filter is running 24/7. I've backwashed a couple of times. I'm not really experienced enough to tell if there's any internal problems. There's no PSI guage, which I find odd though.

Thanks everyone, your input and help is much appreciated.
Click to expand...

In that case you can try to put more FC than shock level in the morning as you say 25 and see how much you have left in the evening. If you see 21 in the evening then the next morning I'd try to bring it to 24 instead. Don't try to raise FC too high as it won't make process faster and you'd be just wasting chlorine to the Sun.

I'm not familiar with your type of filter so hope someone else would help with that.
 
Raising FC above shock level when you leave in the morning would not hurt anything. Also, since you have no pressure gauge I would recommend that you do a backwash of your filter and after you do that put your hand in front of your return eye to judge the pressure coming back into the pool. That will give you a baseline on what the return pressure feels like with a clean filter. Then, every time you add some bleach, feel the return pressure and if it feels like it has decreased significantly, you will need to do a backwash. I'm willing to bet that is why you are having such a slow result is because your filter is getting plugged and not circulating properly. You may want to invest in a new filter or find a way you can monitor the pressure in the filter because that is actually a rather important piece in aiding with keeping your pool clean.
 

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Hello all,

Just wanted to stop by and update everyone. Last week, I popped into a different local (family-run/owned) pool store, as the pool was still green. I'm glad I did. Armed with all the knowledge I learned from this site, I was able to have an in-depth conversation about my pool. The lady who tested my water said the copper was high (which it is) and started to recommend something to remove it. At this point another guy stopped by, and we had a chat about copper, chlorine levels and the water results. He was pretty certain that the greenness was algae still and not copper. He suggested doing a bucket test to verify. I had never heard of this. It entails filling a white bucket with pool water, and dumping in the chlorine, to see if it turns green. The man even *gave* me a bucket to test with, which was a nice touch. His recommendation was to buy 2 gallons of concentrated bleach (shock) and pour that in. So, I did. then waited for morning to come round.

I tried to measure the chlorine level in the morning after pouring in, but I got distracted at 80 drops (0.5 multiplier). So the chlorine level was off the charts! I'm pleased to say, that this did the trick though. The pool was crystal clear! we let the levels drift, and we were able to swim in it last weekend, and hopefully will be able to this coming weekend too.

So, I guess although I was doing the SLAM, I wasn't taking the FC levels high enough to get over the hump, as it were. You live and learn.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I've learned a lot, and will continue to learn, which I'm massively grateful for. Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it. Here's some photos of the process. You can definitely see the change over time.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
 
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