SLAM Complete: Still Milky

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L

LordNorth

0
Jun 24, 2017
80
York/PA
I started my SLAM on Sunday and by about Tuesday or Wednesday I wasn't seeing any visible algae on the walls or floors, but the water just isn't clearing up. It's clean and 'clear' (not green) but still hazy. So I have continued the SLAM, checking my numbers and adding chlorine 3-4 times a day. I've been brushing what I can see (difficult when you can't see the bottom) running my multispeed pump on high 24 hours a day, backwashing the filter every day, sand was new last year.

Overnight last night, I lost zero Free Chlorine and it tests at zero Combined Chlorine. CYA is at 30 and pH is like 7.7-7.9 range. (Haven't bothered with alkalinity or hardness since directions didn't mention and historically I've always had really great numbers - no reason to believe they would have changed).

Everything looks PERFECT when I test the water, but I still can't see the bottom of the pool, even in the shallow end. I thought it was just a matter of letting it filter since I had a LOT of algae... but it seems like it should have at least STARTED getting better by now.

What else should I be checking that I'm not?

Thoughts? Thanks!
 
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Post pictures of the pool.
Have you done ALL of these?
  • Brush and vacuum the entire pool once a day if you can. Brush inside skimmers, under main drain covers, on weir doors, inside ladders, and behind removable lights if applicable.
Sand filters take the longest to clear the pool.
What RPM are you running on your VSP? Running lower RPM will filter better.
Backwash your filter, note clean pressure. When your pressure rises 25%, clean it again. When you check your filter pressure run your VSP at 3000, then turn down to low speed to aid filtering efficiency.
 
PoolStored said:
Post pictures of the pool.
Have you done ALL of these?
  • Brush and vacuum the entire pool once a day if you can. Brush inside skimmers, under main drain covers, on weir doors, inside ladders, and behind removable lights if applicable.
Sand filters take the longest to clear the pool.
What RPM are you running on your VSP? Running lower RPM will filter better.
Backwash your filter, note clean pressure. When your pressure rises 25%, clean it again. When you check your filter pressure run your VSP at 3000, then turn down to low speed to aid filtering efficiency.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have done ALL of those... EXCEPT running on low speed. I have been running high speed on the pump trying to turn over the water as fast as possible.

As I posted, I am brushing as much as I can see. I run the brush over the bottom of the pool, but who knows if I am anywhere close to getting everywhere.

I don't have any ladders or doors installed yet.

This is at least the 8th year that I have opened the pool and slammed and the first that it has ever taken this long. I will take some photos when I get home this evening.

Thanks!
Chris
 
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LordNorth said:
I have been running high speed on the pump trying to turn over the water as fast as possible
Click to expand...
I am firmly on team 'more flow makes more mixing'.

You can also speed it along by adding DE

www.troublefreepool.com

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Here's photos. Not that you can really see much. It's clean. Just cloudy.

Losing zero FC overnight. Reading 0 CC. CYA is 30. Been keeping FC at 16ppm, checking adding chlorine at 3-4 hour intervals. Bushing what i can see.

This is at least the 8th time opening and i have never had it take this long. 20250503_103852.jpg20250503_103905.jpg20250503_103912.jpg
 
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PoolStored said:
I can't see the entire pool in those pictures, do you have a ladder? Light?
Click to expand...
Here's the entire pool. Sorry it was taken through a screen.

I don't have ladder installed, but i do have lights. I cleaned them out when i started but apparently they gunked up again. I just have them another clean out and did get a load of algae out of them.

I added some DE the filter, hopefully the lights were the big problem. Not sure why I am getting zero FC drop and zero CC though if it is still an algae problem. Thoughts?

Thanks for the help. I'm thinking at this point I'm going to let the FC levels come back to normal, double check all of my values and start from scratch unless cleaning out the lights makes a serious/ quick difference.

Chris

20250503_114529.jpg
 
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PoolStored said:
We don't recommend the use of clarifiers, except in edge cases (fire ash, etc.)
If you pass 3 OCLTs, then, and only then, I'd recommend SeaKlear CHITOSAN clarifier. Don't use anything else. Backwash often.
You should not use clarifiers regularly.

Click to expand...
I never use clarifiers. Usually I can read the date on a dime in the deep end. So far it has passed OCLT twice (other than the clear water part).

As I said, hopefully it was the lights that just needed another clean out.

Thanks for the help.
Chris
 

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LordNorth said:
hopefully it was the lights that just needed another clean out.
Click to expand...
That and and a tall glass of patience. The testing says you have killed the algae. (Or the bulk of it at least).

Now its mostly a mechanical battle. Waiting for the filter to do its thing tests everyone's patience. Sand filters are a special kind of punishment. Lol.

Keep the FC up but its mostly precautionary to guarantee you retain the upper hand in the battle. Brush and vac daily. Wait it out.
 
When was the last time you checked the sand level in the filter? The sand level decreases overtime due to loss during backwashing. If it has been several years, you might want to check the sand level.
 
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I got concerned that perhaps my chemicals were old or that I just couldn't read them, so I took my water into the pool store to get analysis. Overall, I'm really pleased with how close they were - especially for a color-blind guy. pH and FC were both actually a little higher than I expected, which would make sense. TA, CYA, and Salt were all within single digits of my readings. My CH was reading zero and they got 94 so my chemicals are probably shot, but its a vinyl lined pool, so who cares about CH anyway.

I'm posting the pool store results. Yeah, I know my TA is a little lower than it should be and my FC is elevated because its coming down from a SLAM... but other than that... can you see ANYTHING that would make the water cloudy? Its funny since the one thing I got FIVE STARS on was Clarity. When I first looked at the difference between Free and Total Chlorine I went 'Ah... there it is. Still have Algae' except, that it is .7 which means that it would pass the OCLT test.

I'm just stumped other than the, 'Just keep circulating until its cleared up' but it has NEVER taken this long.
 

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LordNorth said:
My CH was reading zero and they got 94 so my chemicals are probably shot
Click to expand...
Why ? Why isn't it their machine thats off ? You're more accurate than they are.

Never cheat off the dumbest kid in class. I dont care he got a couple right this/last time. It's not gonna end well.
LordNorth said:
When I first looked at the difference between Free and Total Chlorine I went 'Ah... there it is. Still have Algae' except, that it is .7 which means that it would pass the OCLT test.
Click to expand...
You need 0.5 CC to pass the OCLT. (TC - FC as reported) *if* we believe the data. You shouldn't be doing the OCLT without clear water either because you don't need multiple fails. 1 is enough to continue slam.

Did you try DE ?
 
Newdude said:
Why ? Why isn't it their machine thats off ? You're more accurate than they are.

Never cheat off the dumbest kid in class. I dont care he got a couple right this/last time. It's not gonna end well.

You need 0.5 CC to pass the OCLT. (TC - FC as reported) *if* we believe the data. You shouldn't be doing the OCLT without clear water either because you don't need multiple fails. 1 is enough to continue slam.

Did you try DE ?
Click to expand...
Meh, theirs may be off, i may be off. In any case other than the CH we were both within the accuracy of the test or close enough not to make a difference.

I do the OCLT because again, what does it hurt? I'm not adding chlorine overnight and I'm testing last thing and first thing anyway. It's not like it takes any more effort or chemicals.

I guess i did misread though.. i was thinking that CC needed to just be less than 1. So i guess that means i should be doing the test to .2 instead of .5. (EDIT: Nope, I just checked and I was correct. According to the OCLT article: "If your daytime FC level is within 1 ppm of your nighttime FC level, you passed the OCLT and your water is clean.")

So that means I should be clean.

Yes added DE to the filter.
 
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LordNorth said:
I do the OCLT because again, what does it hurt?
Click to expand...
It hurts nothing but your patience. 😁

To be fair, i'm up early everyday and i'd probably do them for funsies too.


LordNorth said:
I guess i did misread though.. i was thinking that CC needed to just be less than 1
Click to expand...
That's one of the 'should I slam' criteria. (1+ CC).

To exit slam / pass OCLT you need :

-TFP clear water

- Overnight loss of 1FC or less (IMO C's don't get degrees here, so i count 1 FC as a fail).

-CC's of 0.5 or less. (IMO, if one needs 0.2 resolution to pass, they got a C- at best)

Have refreshers, more will make sense now :
SLAM Process
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test




LordNorth said:
Yes added DE to the filter.
Click to expand...
Any noticable improvement compared to the slow improvement ? How quickly did the PSI spike ?
 
Newdude said:
It hurts nothing but your patience. 😁

To be fair, i'm up early everyday and i'd probably do them for funsies too.



That's one of the 'should I slam' criteria. (1+ CC).

To exit slam / pass OCLT you need :

-TFP clear water

- Overnight loss of 1FC or less (IMO C's don't get degrees here, so i count 1 FC as a fail).

-CC's of 0.5 or less. (IMO, if one needs 0.2 resolution to pass, they got a C- at best)

Have refreshers, more will make sense now :
SLAM Process
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test





Any noticable improvement compared to the slow improvement ? How quickly did the PSI spike ?
Click to expand...
For my OCLT, after I added the 5 drops of R-0003, the solution didn't change color... so I called that a zero and moved on. It obviously didn't pass the 'clear water', but after three nights of passing the OCLT I was, as per the reason for this post, questioning if something else was wrong.

I added the DE until it climbed up 1 psi, it increased another 5-7 overnight, but still not reaching the mark on the gauge to backwash. I've been taking my readings based on speed '3' on my variable speed. I could get the RPM's and be exact, but I figure as long as you are consistent, that's what really matters.

We are going away for 6 days starting on Thursday. I'm going to just turn on the SWG and let it run. If we get back and its clear, all is well. If we get back and it still isn't clear, then I'll start over on the SLAM from scratch.

Chris
 
LordNorth said:
I added the DE until it climbed up 1 psi, it increased another 5-7 overnight, but still not reaching the mark on the gauge to backwash
Click to expand...
Are you using the +10 psi indicator ? I hate those. +10 is 50% at 20psi with full RPM, or +333% at 3psi at low RPM for the exact same dirty filter. Obviously its working for you if you still have flow, but its flawed for the masses.

LordNorth said:
but I figure as long as you are consistent, that's what really matters.
Click to expand...
Bingo. And well done. However you do it, be consistent.


LordNorth said:
We are going away for 6 days starting on Thursday. I'm going to just turn on the SWG and let it run. If we get back and its clear, all is well. If we get back and it still isn't clear, then I'll start over on the SLAM from scratch.
Click to expand...
The good news is you won't be pacing back and forth waiting for the filter. We had one a while back that the OP worked long hours and had little time to devote. While it took a long time to go blue-ish, they didnt suffer at the slow progress stage. The once a day check looked a little better. Lol.

And good news #2 is it won't be from scratch as long as you keep FC above minimum. Itll be more like hitting pause. (y)
 

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