Please forgive me!

[RubiDiesel]

Ok. So I was on the right track, ordered a 2006 kit, switched to liquid chlorine and read as much as possible. The tipping point was my pool being a wreck, CYA was like 150 and I needed to drain. I knew going in that I was taking ownership of chemicals going forward. Drained the pool 50%, found a crack in the steps, patched and backfilled that, then my wife chimed in with ‘the pool will be ready by sat for Easton (my sons) birthday, right?’ Oh Crud. Not that I forgot the party, I just didn’t put it together in my head it was so soon and my pool was green and half empty. So I filled it up, leveled the chemicals, CYA is at 68 now, and debated starting to SLAM, being that it’s Monday night, we are gone all day tomorrow, I work wed, thur and Friday, I just didn’t have any confidence that I could get it clean and done in time. So, I caved. Went to the pool store and got a few bags of (non CYA added) shock. I just backwashed all the filters and added it. I’m hoping it’s looking good tomorrow. I will probably backwash again tomorrow night or Wednesday because I’m sure it will be pretty nasty afterwards again.

My question, after that unnecessarily long story is, should I just keep up with chlorine after and see how it goes, or can I test tomorrow and see where the shock left it, then start a SLAM off of that level?

I know I have failed you! Haha. But it was just such a tight turnaround and I didn’t want to play around with my first SLAM attempt without the time to do it right. Any suggestions?

 

[Bperry]

Ok. So I was on the right track, ordered a 2006 kit, switched to liquid chlorine and read as much as possible. The tipping point was my pool being a wreck, CYA was like 150 and I needed to drain. I knew going in that I was taking ownership of chemicals going forward. Drained the pool 50%, found a crack in the steps, patched and backfilled that, then my wife chimed in with ‘the pool will be ready by sat for Easton (my sons) birthday, right?’ Oh Crud. Not that I forgot the party, I just didn’t put it together in my head it was so soon and my pool was green and half empty. So I filled it up, leveled the chemicals, CYA is at 68 now, and debated starting to SLAM, being that it’s Monday night, we are gone all day tomorrow, I work wed, thur and Friday, I just didn’t have any confidence that I could get it clean and done in time. So, I caved. Went to the pool store and got a few bags of (non CYA added) shock. I just backwashed all the filters and added it. I’m hoping it’s looking good tomorrow. I will probably backwash again tomorrow night or Wednesday because I’m sure it will be pretty nasty afterwards again.

My question, after that unnecessarily long story is, should I just keep up with chlorine after and see how it goes, or can I test tomorrow and see where the shock left it, then start a SLAM off of that level?

I know I have failed you! Haha. But it was just such a tight turnaround and I didn’t want to play around with my first SLAM attempt without the time to do it right. Any suggestions?

Its perfectly fine to swim during a SLAM so there was no reason to fool with other stuff. If the bag of shock you used was cal hypo, it can cause cloudyness when used in large quantities like that so be careful. Best to stick with liquid chlorine.

So what are your current test results? Post them up and we can advise. But the CYA test only works in steps of 10 so yours is 60 or 70?

 

[RubiDiesel]

Its perfectly fine to swim during a SLAM so there was no reason to fool with other stuff. If the bag of shock you used was cal hypo, it can cause cloudyness when used in large quantities like that so be careful. Best to stick with liquid chlorine.

So what are your current test results? Post them up and we can advise. But the CYA test only works in steps of 10 so yours is 60 or 70?

My test said 70, the digital test from the store said 68.

Yeah. I saw an article about it being safe to swim, I was just worried I wouldn’t have time between now and then that I could commit a whole day to testing and adding as needed.

 

[Bperry]

My test said 70, the digital test from the store said 68.

Yeah. I saw an article about it being safe to swim, I was just worried I wouldn’t have time between now and then that I could commit a whole day to testing and adding as needed.

First rule of getting a trouble free pool: Never ever believe what a store says.

The second rule is: see rule number one.

A SLAM takes more than one day. If theres algae, uou can safely add 5ppm liquid chlorine each day until youre ready to do a full suite of tests and/or start a SLAM process.

 

[RubiDiesel]

First rule of getting a trouble free pool: Never ever believe what a store says.

The second rule is: see rule number one.

A SLAM takes more than one day. If theres algae, uou can safely add 5ppm liquid chlorine each day until youre ready to do a full suite of tests and/or start a SLAM process.

Haha. That was kinda my curiosity. After me verifying my levels, I wanted to see what they came back with. Surprisingly they came up with the same.

So if I read yours correctly, I can check all levels tomorrow and start SLAM from there?

 

[Bperry]

Haha. That was kinda my curiosity. After me verifying my levels, I wanted to see what they came back with. Surprisingly they came up with the same.

So if I read yours correctly, I can check all levels tomorrow and start SLAM from there?

Yea.

The pool store will get it wrong more often than not. The trouble is you dont know when and theyll sell you a bag of shock or other thing based on those tests and can make things worse.

 

[poollifeguard]

been there, done that. don't sweat it too much!

 

[RubiDiesel]

So here are my numbers this morning

FC 6.4
CC .4
Ph 7.8
Ta100
Cya 90. Which is odd because it was 70 last night and I didn’t add anything with stabilizer in it

If I’m calculating correctly. It’s just under 3 128oz jugs for first step of slam

 

[RubiDiesel]

My question is, if I’m checking the box to slam my pool in the POOL MATH app, it calls for 35FC, which is just under 3 bottles with my elevated CYA. So when I do a test to see what the FC is, I need to put like 175 drops in to see if it held at 35fc? (175 x .2 = 35) Am I understanding correctly? I feel like I need to get another bottle of 871 if it’s that much through the whole process…

 

[ajw22]

My question is, if I’m checking the box to slam my pool in the POOL MATH app, it calls for 35FC, which is just under 3 bottles with my elevated CYA. So when I do a test to see what the FC is, I need to put like 175 drops in to see if it held at 35fc? (175 x .2 = 35) Am I understanding correctly? I feel like I need to get another bottle of 871 if it’s that much through the whole process…

Use a 10ml water sample and each drop is 0.5

Use a 5ml sample and each drop is 1 although the reliability of the results will be sketchy.

You still should get more 0871 on order if you are doing a SLAM with high CYA.

 

[RubiDiesel]

Use a 10ml water sample and each drop is 0.5

You still should get more 0871 on order if you are doing a SLAM with high CYA.

Thanks! I’m going to try to exchange some more water while I’m doing it too. Just kinda in a tough spot because I just checked those levels and added accordingly, but I’m going to be gone for the next 10-12 hours today, so it’s really not a slam yet if I can’t check again until later tonight.

I just wanted to make sure my numbers were not way high and someone was going to point out I’m screwing something up. So my goal (should CYA remain the same) is to keep my pool at 35ppm FC until slam is over then? So for every test, ideally I should be doing 175 drops until it goes clear again.

 

[ajw22]

I just wanted to make sure my numbers were not way high and someone was going to point out I’m screwing something up. So my goal (should CYA remain the same) is to keep my pool at 35ppm FC until slam is over then? So for every test, ideally I should be doing 175 drops until it goes clear again.

More like 70 drops with a 10ml sample.

 

[ajw22]

Have you done the CYA dilution test to confirm your CYA is at 90?

For CYA > 90ppm, repeat the test adjusting the procedure as follows:

1. Fill the mixing bottle to the lower mark (15 ml line) with pool water.
2. Continue filling the mixing bottle to the upper mark (30 ml line) with tap water.
3. Shake briefly to mix.
4. Pour off half of the contents of the mixing bottle, so it is again filled to the lower mark (15 ml line).
5. Continue the test normally from adding R-0013, but multiply the final result by two.

If you need to dilute the pool water further then apply these ratios:[8]

Pool water	Tap or distilled water	Multiply result by
1	1	2
1	2	3
1	4	5

Note that when doing a diluted test not only do you multiply the range of the test you multiply the error rate of the test, so results are a ballpark - not an absolute.

 

[Bperry]

Thanks! I’m going to try to exchange some more water while I’m doing it too. Just kinda in a tough spot because I just checked those levels and added accordingly, but I’m going to be gone for the next 10-12 hours today, so it’s really not a slam yet if I can’t check again until later tonight.

I just wanted to make sure my numbers were not way high and someone was going to point out I’m screwing something up. So my goal (should CYA remain the same) is to keep my pool at 35ppm FC until slam is over then? So for every test, ideally I should be doing 175 drops until it goes clear again.

There is never a need to use the 0.2ppm resolution you used for the first test. So dont do that anymore. Fill the test tube with only 10ml of water and then do the test. Each drop will equal 0.5ppm.

Also double your check your CYA. It doesnt rise or fall 20ppm in a few days. Try and make sure the sun or lighting is the same cause the test can be tricky to do.

 

[RubiDiesel]

Have you done the CYA dilution test to confirm your CYA is at 90?

For CYA > 90ppm, repeat the test adjusting the procedure as follows:

1. Fill the mixing bottle to the lower mark (15 ml line) with pool water.
2. Continue filling the mixing bottle to the upper mark (30 ml line) with tap water.
3. Shake briefly to mix.
4. Pour off half of the contents of the mixing bottle, so it is again filled to the lower mark (15 ml line).
5. Continue the test normally from adding R-0013, but multiply the final result by two.

If you need to dilute the pool water further then apply these ratios:[8]

Pool water	Tap or distilled water	Multiply result by
1	1	2
1	2	3
1	4	5

Note that when doing a diluted test not only do you multiply the range of the test you multiply the error rate of the test, so results are a ballpark - not an absolute.

I will try that when i get back. Thank you.

 

[RubiDiesel]

Follow up. Been gone all day. Kinda started slam this morning before I left, but it’s been like 10 hours since I followed up, so I’m kinda breaking the rules.
Results
CYA shows 80. Yesterday I saw 70. This morning seemed like 90, so I don’t know. lol
FC is 4
TC.5
PH 7.6
TA 10

Pool looks so much better. The deepend is a little green from just adding chlorine to it. The shallow is a better representation of what I came home to. It’s 7pm here now, I’ll probably try to check again around 9 or 10pm.
So will my target for slam go down each day? It’s saying 31PPM now. (May be because my CYA is reading lower than it was). But for the one component of slam to be complete (less than 1ppm loss overnight) I should wake up on that day to it being 30ppm for slam to be complete in that category?

Also, I never used them before, but figured it could only help, I added skimmer socks to grab any small debris I could while slamming, since 8am this morning they are brown, wouldn’t you think they should be green?

 

[ajw22]

You do not need to test CYA every day.

Assume your CYA is 80 and maintain your FC for that level.

Keep raising your FC back to SLAM level. At that FC level losing 1-2ppm overnight is passable for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

 

[RubiDiesel]

You do not need to test CYA every day.

Assume your CYA is 80 and maintain your FC for that level.

Keep raising your FC back to SLAM level. At that FC level losing 1-2ppm overnight is passable for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

I’m just checking because I’ve beenth

You do not need to test CYA every day.

Assume your CYA is 80 and maintain your FC for that level.

Keep raising your FC back to SLAM level. At that FC level losing 1-2ppm overnight is passable for the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

Thanks!
Last night and then again tonight, trying to get a good FC reading was hard. I was looking for 31 I did 10ml, added drops, around 40 it made a pretty drastic change to almost clear, but it had a yellowish brown tint to it, I added up to 80 drops and it didn’t change at all, which would have put me at 40PPM, which was way too high. So thought it was just the lighting because it was dark so I marked it at 20.

Same thing this morning. At 60 drops it changed from pink to the same brownish yellow, kept adding drops and that never went away. So I marked it at 30. Which is about 1ppm drop overnight.

Pool isn’t perfect, but it almost always does this after my old shock method, it’s almost like a yellowish stain where the water is, sometimes only about half high. You can’t scrub it off, no tests show metal, but a bottle of locals stores ‘A+’ takes it off in seconds and it’s perfect. I don’t want to do that yet to see if SLAM fixes it

 

[RubiDiesel]

Sorry, forgot a Pool pic update

 

[Bperry]

I’m just checking because I’ve beenth


Thanks!
Last night and then again tonight, trying to get a good FC reading was hard. I was looking for 31 I did 10ml, added drops, around 40 it made a pretty drastic change to almost clear, but it had a yellowish brown tint to it, I added up to 80 drops and it didn’t change at all, which would have put me at 40PPM, which was way too high. So thought it was just the lighting because it was dark so I marked it at 20.

Same thing this morning. At 60 drops it changed from pink to the same brownish yellow, kept adding drops and that never went away. So I marked it at 30. Which is about 1ppm drop overnight.

Pool isn’t perfect, but it almost always does this after my old shock method, it’s almost like a yellowish stain where the water is, sometimes only about half high. You can’t scrub it off, no tests show metal, but a bottle of locals stores ‘A+’ takes it off in seconds and it’s perfect. I don’t want to do that yet to see if SLAM fixes it

Thats very odd and indicative of something funky in the water. What exact pool store stuff have you added? Whats the sample look like before adding powder or drops?