Pool Slam - Unsure of Next Steps

[Texas Splash]

Gotcha! The new sand is good then, and so is the liquid pool shock chlorine you are using. I'm going to go back to the beginning of this thread to see if anything odd stands-out.

 

[Texas Splash]

Not sure if I missed it, but did you have this house/pool last year? I just wanted to rule-out that no one else might have added chemicals to the pool without your knowledge.

The other thing is that you really only just started the SLAM Process on Saturday, so it's only been about 6 days. You started with some very yucky pool water, so the chlorine has some work to do. Hopefully you have been able to remove all debris from the bottom because anything left behind really hampers the SLAM Process. But stick with it. Chlorine works when adjusted properly (SLAM) to the current CYA.

Even with iron in the water, it may remain brown or green during the SLAM, but should begin to go more clear. Continue the polyfill filtering if you can. There are a couple videos on YouTube about polyfill filtering for pools as well.

 

[monicagrace27]

We bought the house in July of last year and the pool was already green and we didn't end up doing anything with it last year.

Thats true... It feels like longer since we have been brushing, adjusting pH and cya, skimming, etc. for 2-3 weeks now. I have been skimming the bottom regularly and have been getting a leaf here and there, so I guess I need to really stay on that until I'm not getting anything at all.

I did retest the cya yesterday and came back with 45 (so 50). I guess we need to just keep on going and adding chlorine as needed. Thank you for the tip! I will keep doing the polyfil as well. Our water is very hard as well so I am guessing we will need to keep the polyfil in anytime we have to add water.

 

[Texas Splash]

We'll keep a close eye on this thread. Because you've moved into a home/pool with an unknown history, there may be benefits to a partial water exchange since there's no telling what teh previous owners added to the water.

 

[monicagrace27]

Okay, I am back! Its officially been over two weeks keeping FC at SLAM level plus vacuuming and brushing and keeping polyfil in the skimmer which we clean every day and... it basically looks the same. I am attaching pictures of the pool from today (they look different but one was taken at 4:00 pm and the other at 7:30 pm today- the sun shining on it really seems to change the way it looks and highlight the green in the pool). My only indication that it may be getting *slightly* better is that when I reach in to collect a water sample to test, I can now somewhat see my hand even down about a foot or just over that into the pool.

I'm not sure if my filter is just terribly slow or what the deal is. Like I said, we changed the sand two weeks ago and the pressure has only gone up by 4 so we have not backwashed yet. Is that normal?

Thank you again for all of your help!!

ETA: The filter has been running 24/7 for the past 3+ weeks.

 

[Texas Splash]

That really looks like a dull, algae-filled pool. I'm not seeing any metal-related stuff in there. Are you even picking up any iron from the polyfill? Going back to how you acquired this pool last summer and just closed it, there could be more (chemically) in the water impacting your SLAM Process. Before we go too much further, can you post your most recent pH, CYA, and FC? It doesn't look like your Poolmath test logs are linked to TFP yet. Also, to avoid getting asked all the time, please add your test kit to your signature. Everyone looks for it right away.

 

[monicagrace27]

That really looks like a dull, algae-filled pool. I'm not seeing any metal-related stuff in there. Are you even picking up any iron from the polyfill? Going back to how you acquired this pool last summer and just closed it, there could be more (chemically) in the water impacting your SLAM Process. Before we go too much further, can you post your most recent pH, CYA, and FC? It doesn't look like your Poolmath test logs are linked to TFP yet. Also, to avoid getting asked all the time, please add your test kit to your signature. Everyone looks for it right away.

Hm, interesting. Our polyfil has been turning orange every day (I let it go two days and it was basically brown) so I thought that was from metals?

Thats true.. I know the previous owner got her pool advice from a pool store and we contacted her a couple of days ago (family friend) to ask how the pool was for her and it sounds like she couldn't get it clear the past two years or so... I'm not sure if she tried hard or not though.

My most recent CYA was 50 and FC was 15.5 which was at 7:30pm today. I had tested earlier in the day around 9:00am and FC was 20.5 so we had a loss of 5 ppm throughout the day. I added the amount of shock based on pool math to bring FC back up to 20 after my 7:30pm test.

And okay, I will add that!

 

[Texas Splash]

Sounds like you're doing goods on two things - capturing some iron and maintaining the SLAM level. But algae seems to be #1 right now, and the elevated FC level allows you to catch more iron as an added benefit. Unless the previous owners bombed the pool with yucky pool store snake oils, chlorine is the #1 way to kill algae. So give it a bit more time, especially since it was left that way for several months. Continue all the tasks on the SLAM page, and take a pic each day to monitor water clarity changes. I'd like to see that water clear soon so that you get at least two months of swimming before preparing for closing.

 

[Corrik]

Don't mean to steal this guy's thunder but is there a limit to what is too much FC? I have never had it take so long to clear my pool up and it seems like I have no forward momentum. Can my chlorine level be too high?

 

[mknauss]

Can my chlorine level be too high?

For your liner. Too much over SLAM level for too long can damage the liner pattern/colors.

 

[monicagrace27]

Sounds like you're doing goods on two things - capturing some iron and maintaining the SLAM level. But algae seems to be #1 right now, and the elevated FC level allows you to catch more iron as an added benefit. Unless the previous owners bombed the pool with yucky pool store snake oils, chlorine is the #1 way to kill algae. So give it a bit more time, especially since it was left that way for several months. Continue all the tasks on the SLAM page, and take a pic each day to monitor water clarity changes. I'd like to see that water clear soon so that you get at least two months of swimming before preparing for closing.

Oh, thats great! We've been really keeping on it this week so my hope is that it will be clear soon. I have a couple more questions though. I did a full test panel this morning and here were the results:
FC: 13
CC:.5
Hardness:350
TA:360
CYA:40
pH: 7.3-7.4

So, after testing, I added chlorine again to bring it up to 20 FC so will retest that in a bit.
Also, we decided to add some DE to our sand filter since we haven't seen nearly as much change as we like. We backwashed the filter and the PSI was 13 after. Then we added DE until the pressure rose by 1 PSI (which ended up being 3/4 of a cup). Now, its been maybe 20 minutes and our PSI is already teetering between 16 and 17. So my question is, we normally would backwash when PSI is around 20. Should we still be doing that now after adding DE? And if we do backwash, will we need to add more DE?

As always, thank you for all the help!

ETA: Here is a picture of our pool this morning. It looks maybe a little less green than last week? Hard to tell.

 

[mknauss]

You should backwash your sand filter when the pressure rises by 25% over clean pressure.

If you start at 13 psi, then you should backwash at 17-18 psi.

DE must be added after every backwash.

 

[Texas Splash]

Also, it looks like your CYA has dropped to 40, probably from all the backwashes, so you only need to maintain an FC of 16 per the FC/CYA Levels. My opinion, I wouldn't bother with the DE right now. Your water is much to green. We usually save DE for the final clarity stages "if needed". Curious, is your polyfill still catching iron?

As I noted earlier, this is a body of water with an unknown history and it was very green. It is the past history and unknown chemicals that concerns me most. I'd say that if you don't see notable improvement by Sunday morning, you might want to consider a healthy water exchange - about half. That should help to remove residual products that may be hampering your progress, expedite the SLAM Process, and perhaps save you chlorine over the long run. Something to think about. During that exchange period would also be a good time to open the filter to examine the sand. I don't think you changed it did you? If not, it may be gummed up from the previous owners or just need a thorough deep clean.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Are you sure you can drain by half and refill to give this a better jump start?

 

[HermanTX]

Since this is an AGP, should you do a cost benefit analysis of continuing to dump a lot of liquid chlorine in the existing water vs. the cost of 20k+ of water in Minnesota? Also need to factor in the time and effort to backwash & clean filter, etc.

 

[monicagrace27]

Also, it looks like your CYA has dropped to 40, probably from all the backwashes, so you only need to maintain an FC of 16 per the FC/CYA Levels. My opinion, I wouldn't bother with the DE right now. Your water is much to green. We usually save DE for the final clarity stages "if needed". Curious, is your polyfill still catching iron?

As I noted earlier, this is a body of water with an unknown history and it was very green. It is the past history and unknown chemicals that concerns me most. I'd say that if you don't see notable improvement by Sunday morning, you might want to consider a healthy water exchange - about half. That should help to remove residual products that may be hampering your progress, expedite the SLAM Process, and perhaps save you chlorine over the long run. Something to think about. During that exchange period would also be a good time to open the filter to examine the sand. I don't think you changed it did you? If not, it may be gummed up from the previous owners or just need a thorough deep clean.

Oh, really? I was thinking DE would help regardless, I don't want to waste time/money, I guess we are just getting a bit impatient. Yes, the polypill is still orange/brown daily. Less than in the beginning, but it is still catching some.

Yes, we could do that. Could emptying the pool by half damage the liner? For some reason, I thought I had heard not to let a pool get low. We definitely could do that if thats what you think would be best.

You should backwash your sand filter when the pressure rises by 25% over clean pressure.

If you start at 13 psi, then you should backwash at 17-18 psi.

DE must be added after every backwash.

Thank you! We will backwash more often then based on the pressure. Pool store had told me when it rises 7-8 psi

Are you sure you can drain by half and refill to give this a better jump start?

We definitely could, I guess I just kept hoping it would get better without.

Since this is an AGP, should you do a cost benefit analysis of continuing to dump a lot of liquid chlorine in the existing water vs. the cost of 20k+ of water in Minnesota? Also need to factor in the time and effort to backwash & clean filter, etc.

Well, cost isn't an issue for refilling as we have well water so don't need to pay for it. It seems that everyone thinks it would be easier to refill? If that is the consensus, then I would do it tomorrow. It has been three weeks since we officially started SLAM with very little progress, so I'm sort of willing to try anything at this point.

 

[Texas Splash]

It has been three weeks since we officially started SLAM with very little progress, so I'm sort of willing to try anything at this point.

That said, I'm leaning towards a healthy water exchange. That long tells me the previous owners probably had all kinds of gunk in there. At the same time, don't overlook the sand filter. If it looks gummy, they may have used floc or clarifiers in the past rendering the sand useless. If the sand still feels gritty and consistent, it may be compacted and channeled a bit and only need a good deep cleaning. But you should be able to easily exchange 50 - 60% of the water while maintaining the pool shell and liner in place.

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

This post will walk you through the anatomy of a sand filter, and then provide a video at the end for how to deep clean your sand filter. The filter used in the photos and videos is a Hayward S180T top mount sand filter. The images are of a similar filter. Obviously not all filters are...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[monicagrace27]

That said, I'm leaning towards a healthy water exchange. That long tells me the previous owners probably had all kinds of gunk in there. At the same time, don't overlook the sand filter. If it looks gummy, they may have used floc or clarifiers in the past rendering the sand useless. If the sand still feels gritty and consistent, it may be compacted and channeled a bit and only need a good deep cleaning. But you should be able to easily exchange 50 - 60% of the water while maintaining the pool shell and liner in place.

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

This post will walk you through the anatomy of a sand filter, and then provide a video at the end for how to deep clean your sand filter. The filter used in the photos and videos is a Hayward S180T top mount sand filter. The images are of a similar filter. Obviously not all filters are...

www.troublefreepool.com

Okay, we may just do that then. Should we drain first then start filling, or can we be filling at the same time?
Also, we did change the sand three weeks ago, so that shouldn’t be an issue at all.

 

[Texas Splash]

Sand - great! I would exchange the water then refill. It's more efficient that way. Once you fill it back up, run a new set of tests, adjust, and go right back into SLAM mode. Continue with the polyfill as well. Sounds like you're having good results with that.

 

[monicagrace27]

Sand - great! I would exchange the water then refill. It's more efficient that way. Once you fill it back up, run a new set of tests, adjust, and go right back into SLAM mode. Continue with the polyfill as well. Sounds like you're having good results with that.

Okay, that all sounds great! My husband is very excited at the prospect of this all going faster and wants to start tonight, so I guess we are going to start tonight! And thank you, I was wondering about pH and alkalinity and whatnot with the refill, it makes sense to do that right away then continue SLAM. Wish us luck!

As always, the advice has been invaluable!