SLAM Process - Chlorine Staying High

[Rhollerud]

A new gauge is cheap. I like the glycerin filled ones from tftestkits. I also remove the gauge for winter to prevent damage.

Center-mounted Pressure Gauge

tftestkits.net

Also, Are you backwashing frequently? Sand filters actually work better when they are a little bit dirty. That’s kinda what the de does- dirty it up a bit so it grabs more stuff.
Try waiting to backwash until pressure rises 25% over clean pressure which would be about 17.5 psi for you if clean is 14. Unless flow slows before then.
Then when you do backwash do it thoroughly until the water in the sight glass is clear & stays that way (there may be some sand). This should take several minutes. Then rinse until the sand is gone from the sight glass. At least a minute or two .
If your sight glass is dirty clean it so you can see what’s going on well. When the mpv is set to filter & the pump is off you should be able to unscrew the sight glass without water going everywhere.

Different lighting but the top is from this afternoon and bottom is from this evening. We can see more of the brush and even caught glimpse of our drain! PSI went from 16 back to 14 after backwashing. He added 2 cups DE (we have a 250# sand filter which seems like plenty for our pool size of 21k gallons).

We’re excited for you! It will be
How Clear is TFP Clear? soon!
The 25% thing is just a good rule of thumb.
For reference my pool is a little bigger than yours & has the same size filter. Without any algae incidents I only backwash a handful of times during the 7 months my pool is open. I have only had the flow slow once in 5 years and it was yesterday after I had added a bit more de after a party & it had quickly risen beyond 25%.
Otherwise I stick to the 25% thing pretty easily. I usually always add 1 cup of de after backwashing.

Thanks! Hubby just informed me the gauge is new as of last year Trying to be patient for those final steps to pass SLAM.

 

[mknauss]

When was the last time the sand filter was opened? Might be a good idea to check if there is the proper amount of sand in it. While doing that, deep clean it.

 

[Mdragger88]

When was the last time the sand filter was opened? Might be a good idea to check if there is the proper amount of sand in it. While doing that, deep clean it.

They did that around june 22nd. So hopefully it’s good to go.

 

[Mdragger88]

Different lighting but the top is from this afternoon and bottom is from this evening. We can see more of the brush and even caught glimpse of our drain! PSI went from 16 back to 14 after backwashing. He added 2 cups DE (we have a 250# sand filter which seems like plenty for our pool size of 21k gallons).

Thanks! Hubby just informed me the gauge is new as of last year Trying to be patient for those final steps to pass SLAM.

You’re getting there! Keep at it

 

[Rhollerud]

When was the last time the sand filter was opened? Might be a good idea to check if there is the proper amount of sand in it. While doing that, deep clean it.

Thank you, we deep cleaned about a week ago and it was gross. It seems to be doing its job a little better now with the help of DE. We replaced the sand with Ruby sand (ceramic) last summer so not sure if it’s living up to its hype or we just had a Crud ton of algae. That second statement is true, for sure.

 

[mknauss]

OK -- proper amount in the filter I assume. Eventually you will put sand back in it. I suspect that is part of your issue.

 

[Mdragger88]

We replaced the sand with Ruby sand (ceramic) last summer so not sure if it’s living up to its hype or we just had a Crud ton of algae. That second statement is true, for sure.

I have a feeling both are true- #20 silica sand is the intended media for a sand filter. Most others are expensive alternatives to a problem that isn’t really a problem & unfortunately they sometimes create their own problems

Sand Filter Use and Care - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[pypeke]

We live in SE Oklahoma. We maintain our pool until October when it is too cold to swim, and we open it early before the pool is warm enough to swim in. We cover it with a safety cover. Late April or the first two weeks of May, we uncover it, and it is never green. SLAM is very quick. Maybe a day or two. If we wait until the weather is warm enough to swim, we have a green pool and have to SLAM several weeks. We use very little chlorine in October and April/May. Maybe change the dates you open and close the pool. Since your pool was green last August, it had many months to get even worse.

 

[CraigChing]

I replaced ZeoSand that the previous owners had in the filter with regular ol’ pool sand and I’ve been much happier with filtration since. The pool is the clearest it’s ever been.

 

[Mdragger88]

I replaced ZeoSand that the previous owners had in the filter with regular ol’ pool sand and I’ve been much happier with filtration since. The pool is the clearest it’s ever been.

Same here, well I’m the previous owner lol but the installers insisted on the zeo (part of the pool package) even though I said I would go get regular sand

 

[Rhollerud]

I replaced ZeoSand that the previous owners had in the filter with regular ol’ pool sand and I’ve been much happier with filtration since. The pool is the clearest it’s ever been.

DE has helped us out a ton through this process but we will likely be looking for a new media in the future!

 

[Rhollerud]

We’re excited for you! It will be
How Clear is TFP Clear? soon!
The 25% thing is just a good rule of thumb.
For reference my pool is a little bigger than yours & has the same size filter. Without any algae incidents I only backwash a handful of times during the 7 months my pool is open. I have only had the flow slow once in 5 years and it was yesterday after I had added a bit more de after a party & it had quickly risen beyond 25%.
Otherwise I stick to the 25% thing pretty easily. I usually always add 1 cup of de after backwashing.

Okay so we passed OCLT and CC is below 5. I am 95% sure the Pool water is clear, however it looks like our liner color has changed. It is now mostly teal (not blue) and there are a bunch of streaks and spots where it’s a yellow/white and they do not come off when vacuuming or brushing. Could we have bleached the liner? Attached are a few pics current and from last summer. In the first photo you can actually see the old blue in the middle. Third photo is from last summer.

Any thoughts? It’s a very old liner, so I’m not devastated just want to confirm we have clear water and are done with SLAM.

 

[Mdragger88]

Can you stick a pole or something in the water so we can see clarity a little better? Looks murky to me but may just be the staining.

 

[Mdragger88]

Its very possible that you have iron stains.
Try crushing up some vitamin c tablets in a sock & letting them sit on the stain a while (15/30 minutes or so). Let us know what happens.
Did you ever try polyfill in the skimmer?

 

[Rhollerud]

Can you stick a pole or something in the water so we can see clarity a little better? Looks murky to me but may just be the staining.

The first photo is from this morning. We have a huge wrinkle in our liner that you can see. The second photo was from yesterday morning with the pole in it, but it is clearer than that now. I personally feel like it’s clear.

 

[Rhollerud]

Its very possible that you have iron stains.
Try crushing up some vitamin c tablets in a sock & letting them sit on the stain a while (15/30 minutes or so). Let us know what happens.
Did you ever try polyfill in the skimmer?

Would the iron stains show up looking so light? I would expect more of a red appearance. Yes, I think I will try the vitamin C to see. We have not yet tried polyfill, we’ve been so busy with the SLAM but I do want to give that a try now that we are in maintenance mode

 

[Mdragger88]

That doesn’t look quite crystal clear
How Clear is TFP Clear?
Can you read heads or tails of a quarter if you throw it in? I would keep with slam until then.
Easier to keep it there another day or so than it is to start over if you ended prematurely.

 

[Rhollerud]

That doesn’t look quite crystal clear
How Clear is TFP Clear?
Can you read heads or tails of a quarter if you throw it in? I would keep with slam until then.
Easier to keep it there another day or so than it is to start over if you ended prematurely.

We are clear! Passed OCLT multiple days in a row, only losing 2-3.5 to sun during the day. You can even see the liner crease in this sunset shot.

Probably have a bleached/faded liner. But I think the entire pool including liner is north of 15 years old

 

[Mdragger88]

Did you try the vitamin c on the stains? They looked yellowish to me in the other picture.

 

[Rhollerud]

Did you try the vitamin c on the stains? They looked yellowish to me in the other picture.

Finally got around to trying vitamin C and what do you know, it came right off! Any recommendations for the stain removal, metal removal from pool, and then how to best filter the well water going forward? Thank you for all your help! I am confident now in that we fought off all the algae and the color of the “water” is due to the staining.