Think it's time to take back my pool...

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OK, CC jumped up to 1.0 and FC consumption jumped a bit above 1ppm per hour yesterday after removing pool light. This afternoon CC readings back down to 0. Still lost about 1ppm FC per hour so far this afternoon, but it's in bright sun and per the chart above, most of my FC loss could have been attributed to sun. CYA is now measuring 40 instead of 30, may have overshot that, misread originally, or it just took a while to come up.

Found a good youtube video on cleaning my Sta-Rite System 3 Cartridge Filter. Decided to do it even though gauge may be faulty. It did drop 7-8 psi - so if 10 is actually 0 , then my PSI is 15 now. As far as I can tell they could be original filters, or at a minimum 10 years old. Probably a good idea to get a new set.

If nothing else, I'm learning a lot about my pool and equipment as I go along!
 
Let me tell you. Despite not being done with your SLAM, this thread is a perfect example for correct procedure. You are doing a remarkable job and I am sure you will beat this very soon now that you got all that crud out of the light! Go over your pool with a fine toothed comb to find any other nooks that the last bits of algae could be hiding in.
 
once again...the light is holding algae. its seems like a broken record, lol. I would recommend removing the light and instructions on how to do so be added to the SLAM procedures page. almost every time its the same thing...pool is clearing but cant pass the OCLT. recommend removing the light and people are apprehensive to do so. eventually they do it, and find lots of algae hidden :)

seems like we could help people save some time by adding this info onto the SLAM page
 
Still not there.....just ever so minor incremental improvement in FC loss. I charted it out. This is my average FC Loss per Hour for each day of the SLAM. It's still trending down, but man is it painfully slow....

Capture.jpg

Progress had kind stalled thru Thursday, and Friday afternoon is the day I removed the light from the niche.
 
VERY interesting graph! That sure does show how it started going down again once you got the light out. Can you please save this graph and use it to show someone when they are doing a SLAM and we ask them to take their light out? THIS will show them the good that comes from taking everything out.

Kim
 
It helped to chart it out, that way I can see there really is still some improvement happening, albeit slow. After a while, even though the pool is clear and you keep dumping in LC and it keeps being eaten up with not much perceived improvement it's enough to drive a man crazy. Almost crazy enough to buy a bottle of PHOSfree :)
 

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Passed OCLT last night! Will post more charts and summary with lessons learned. In a nutshell, yesterday around 6PM I got in the water with a brush and hit the light niche again. I got a little more crud out that I had apparently not been able to get from laying on the pool deck reaching down. I also sprayed LC/water mixture in all the skimmers and scrubbed, as well as scrubbed and sprayed LC/water mixture on the tile just above water line.

Going to try and pass 2 nights in a row to make sure I'm not crazy.
 
The 1st night pass of OCLT was loss of 1ppm over 11 hours 20 mins (works out to .09/hr).

Night 2 was still a pass in my mind by just a hair. I measured 1.5ppm but it was over 13 hours (.12/hr). If it was a more typical 9 hour overnight it would have been measured at 1ppm. There were 3 heavily-sunscreened people in the pool that evening including our 9 month old who probably peed a couple times over the course of an hour as well :)

I'm going to go ahead and let it drift down under 10 so I can double-check PH and ensure it's accurate unless any experts chime in with concern about last OCLT result.
 
Your plan will work. You can also do the overnight test at any FC level. It does not have to be at SLAM level.

I do one about every other week because it is such a good test to make sure there is nothing lurking in the pool.

Kim
 
SLAM Summary

Background:

Since last August when pool guy attempted to treat metal stains and let free chlorine get down to zero (only visiting once per week) the water was never quite right. Never saw visible algae, but dealt with considerable cloudiness. The problem persisted into this year after opening. I had been a lurker on TFP since I bought the house w/ pool, but had no issues until attempting to treat metal stains. It became obvious this spring after opening that my pool guy was befuddled and was just guessing. I could tell I was going to have to figure this out myself – and figured it would be good for me to know how pool chemicals are maintained regardless of whether or not I continue to have weekly service performed.
Luckily, the previous homeowner was from a family in the pool business and left a Taylor K-2006 behind for us.

After doing some research, and a few test runs adding 12.5% LC, I could tell chlorine consumption was crazy high. I began to suspect ammonia based on my readings in the forum. I got an ammonia test from the pet store and confirmed 2-3ppm.

I started the SLAM on 5/30 and passed OCLT on 6/13. I expected to use a lot of LC given the ammonia, but actual consumption exceeded all expectations. In the end, I went thru approximately ~60 gallons of 12.5% LC, probably closer to 70 if you count the messing around I did in the couple days preceding the SLAM. I certainly was not expecting that considering I had no visible algae. There are steps I could have taken sooner to reduce LC consumption and effort, but in the end I’ll chalk it up to learning experience.

Tips:

  • Liquid Chlorine (LC) vs. Bleach
    • Liquid Chlorine is by far the best deal in my area. 8.25% bleach sells for at least $3 around my area (Indianapolis) and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet had 12.5% Liquid Chlorine for $2.99. Even Menards non-sale price of $3.99 is a better deal than bleach in my area. I did some research and saw others on the forum had good results with Ollie’s, and although I thought the “sniff test” of LC from Menard’s was a little stronger, I never experienced anything in my dosage of the pool with Ollie’s LC to indicate it was below 12.5%.
    • If you have an Ollie’s in your area, don’t buy too much on the first trip and sign up for the Ollie’s shopper card. You’ll get a 15% coupon via email after signing up which reduces your LC cost to $2.54/gal. I lucked out and received some more 15% off coupons via email before my additional purchases. It adds up buying 20 gallons at a time.
  • I recommend removing the light from the niche at the very beginning. As you can see in the graphs below, I had rapid progress, which then stalled. I was a little apprehensive about removing the light, but in the end it turned out to be ridiculously easy. Search YouTube for removing pool lights and you’ll find plenty of examples.
  • Keep the faith! The process does work as can be seen in post after post on this forum. I commend the experienced folks who stick around to continue to provide advice and encouragement. It is easy to be satisfied when you’re seeing pool clarity increase, but in my case I had to continue for over a week past the point my pool appeared to be clear, which does become frustrating and exhausting.
    • I got so discouraged at one point with lack of progress that I did take a sample to a pool store just to double-check my testing results, explained how I was losing FC, and wanted to see if there was something else I was missing. To their credit, their first theory of FC loss was CYA was low (it wasn’t but at least they weren’t making stuff up). They tested water and told me to keep doing what I was doing, but if I didn’t see improvement try adding Natural Chemistry Purge to each skimmer in case something was lurking in plumbing eating the FC.
    • No surprise, their test results were off from mine and my pool service tech who uses a K-2005. The values for FC, PH, TA, CH and CYA were off. Thank goodness my phosphates were only 500 :) I couldn’t imagine making decisions from their results on a regular basis now that I know better.
  • I recommend getting in your pool, which is safe even at shock level, and scrubbing the light niche. I believe I lost more time at the end when I could not pass OCLT, and discovered additional algae and crud way back in the niche that I did not get on the first attempt trying to use a toilet brush while lying on the pool deck reaching down. To help get over the OCLT hump I got in and took care of the niche one more time and sprayed 70/30 water/LC mixture into all the skimmers, making sure to scrub inside as well. I also added LC to the waste canister where the main drain collects debris from the Paramount in-floor cleaning system. I also sprayed and scrubbed the tile at the water line once more (there had been some black stuff visible on some grout lines, and even though it was gone I scrubbed it one more time to be sure).

Lessons Learned:

  • I used the opportunity to learn a heck of a lot about my pool.
    • The obvious – how to test and manage pool water
    • Filter PSI – what to watch for – how to know when to clean
    • How to open my System 3 and clean filter (great video on YouTube – search for cleaning System 3 pool filter).
    • How to remove pool light
    • How to vacuum (I had relied on pool guy when needed, which isn’t much due to cover and Paramount in-floor system).
    • I’ll be much more confident in the future when I decide to re-treat metal stains that started this whole debacle in the first place. Needless to say, I’m done with anything other than regular maintenance for this season!

Pics of Progress

011_Day1.jpg017_Day2.jpg020_Day3.jpg023_Day5.jpg033_Finish.jpg
 
WOW! You did an awesome job! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the write up! I am going to bookmark your page and share it with others who are doing battle with cloudy water and ammonia. THANKS!

Those charts sure do tell the story! The way your pen pointed where the light came out is very telling!

YOU DID IT! YOU beat that monster! :punkrock:

Kim
 

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