Howdy, I posted last spring about the best way to re-start my solar heater for the season, as I usually get a bad yellow algae outbreak after doing so. Thanks to the pre-SLAMing tip I thought I nailed it this year, however although the pool is crystal clear, I've had two filter cleans and am using a lot more chlorine than usual. I just started a proper SLAM this weekend, and it is taking about 4 gallons a day to keep at 14ppm even though I am "passing" OCLT.
I think my problem is the gunk that is eating chlorine is in the solar panels, because I've been cheating and only running the pump (and solar) sunrise to sunset. So in the morning I pass OCLT because nothing was running through the solar panels, then once I start the pump/solar in the morning the levels take a major dive as water circulates through the solar panels and I have to keep topping off chlorine.
Question 1: Am I destined to fail with my cheating SLAM and need to buck up and run my pump/solar 24hrs? I am hesitant because I don't want to cool the pool down running solar at night and thought the super-chlorinated water sitting in the panels at night would still work. Would cheating take twice as long but use about the same amount of chlorine, or expontentially longer and more chlorine?
Question 2: I searched a lot of threads about clear pools and high chlorine usuage, and a lot of people are looking and finding algae in nooks and crannies they need to remove to finally get the chlorine usuage to return to normal. Can algae grow in rooftop solar panels and since you can't mechanically scrub off the film so the chlorine can get to work, what does one do?
Recent OCLT test:
Last night: 14.5
This morning: 15.0
2 hrs later with pump/solar running: 11.5
Values
CC: 0.5
pH: 7.6
TA: 70
CYA: 35
Temp: 85°
I think my problem is the gunk that is eating chlorine is in the solar panels, because I've been cheating and only running the pump (and solar) sunrise to sunset. So in the morning I pass OCLT because nothing was running through the solar panels, then once I start the pump/solar in the morning the levels take a major dive as water circulates through the solar panels and I have to keep topping off chlorine.
Question 1: Am I destined to fail with my cheating SLAM and need to buck up and run my pump/solar 24hrs? I am hesitant because I don't want to cool the pool down running solar at night and thought the super-chlorinated water sitting in the panels at night would still work. Would cheating take twice as long but use about the same amount of chlorine, or expontentially longer and more chlorine?
Question 2: I searched a lot of threads about clear pools and high chlorine usuage, and a lot of people are looking and finding algae in nooks and crannies they need to remove to finally get the chlorine usuage to return to normal. Can algae grow in rooftop solar panels and since you can't mechanically scrub off the film so the chlorine can get to work, what does one do?
Recent OCLT test:
Last night: 14.5
This morning: 15.0
2 hrs later with pump/solar running: 11.5
Values
CC: 0.5
pH: 7.6
TA: 70
CYA: 35
Temp: 85°
