When in doubt, SLAM?

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bbutters

0
Feb 5, 2018
35
Paoli PA
Pool Size
10000
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
My pool has been open for a couple weeks, it’s clear but has a light tint of green that I would consider not typical of perfection. I’m getting it (and my dirty concrete) up and ready now for the season.

The FC bottomed out at zero between my pool tech opening it and me being ready to maintain, so I suppose that is why there’s evidence of some algae and I should SLAM?

Could I swim in the pool tomorrow or the next day if I bring FC up to 16 per the calculation? Is there a “light shock” level or is that just not worth doing.

Here are my results, I added conditioner overnight last night to get the CYA up to a decent level. I know I need to keep bringing up the CH.

FC 6.5
CC 0
CH <200
TA 70
CYA 40
pH 7.2

I’m using liquid chlorine. Photo of current water attached after a brush & vac.
 

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In doubt do an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.
If you let the FC down than the green tint is likely algae and you will likely will need to SLAM Process.

As long as you can see the bottom and FC is up to (including) SLAM level for you pool it is safe to swim.

Are you on well water or city water?
 
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Still not there yet. I might need a good back wash of the sand filter but I just got the CYA up 48 hours ago so I’m a little hesitant on that… maybe worth doing it anyway and catching up on CYA afterwards as needed.C72F8A85-C10C-49DF-B85A-4D05DC302D7C.jpeg
 

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bbutters said:
I added solid/granular via sock in the skimmer. Took a good long time to fully dissolve.
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Then you don’t have to worry about backwashing. That’s for people who dump the CYA straight down the skimmer (which isn’t a good idea for a number of reasons). If you dissolve it in a sock, either in skimmer or returns, you can backwash just fine.
 
Wow- That is a stark difference- i was just thinking the white pool made the water look aqua/teal. With it being so clear I wonder about metals. Have u ever used “blue” containing products or algaecides that weren’t polyquat 60?
Also city water can have elevated iron - some folks near me have noticed this.
You can put a little polyfill in the skimmers while u are at slam level & see if u catch anything.
 
Mdragger88 said:
Wow- That is a stark difference- i was just thinking the white pool made the water look aqua/teal. With it being so clear I wonder about metals. Have u ever used “blue” containing products or algaecides that weren’t polyquat 60?
Also city water can have elevated iron - some folks near me have noticed this.
You can put a little polyfill in the skimmers while u are at slam level & see if u catch anything.
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This season I have not used anything like that, no. Not much city water is typically required anyway, aside from keeping up with evaporation in periods without much rain.
I’m unfamiliar with poly fill being used, seems simple enough though.
 
bbutters said:
Ah good to know, I did see that but I’m unsure how exactly I’d rig that up.
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Use an old sock or pool skimmer sock and hang it on something like you pool pole… you may need to add some counter weight on top of the part over the deck or you may be able to put is across leaving both ends over the deck.
bbutters said:
This season I have not used anything like that, no. Not much city water is typically required anyway, aside from keeping up with evaporation in periods without much rain.
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Metals don’t go away with evaporation or decomposition. If you (or someone else) added over past seasons it will still be in the water unless you had drained/refilled.
bbutters said:
I’m unfamiliar with poly fill being used, seems simple enough though.
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Poly fill is pillow/stuffed animals filling.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
How’s it looking today?
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I covered it last night with a solar cover after vacuuming and testing - at the time I thought to myself, I should check TFP as to whether these covers are a bad idea in general - and I left early this morning without taking a peek.

But yesterday it looked slightly better / bluer, certainly only got compliments on the water, a couple of friends came by and there was some swimming. Another scorcher here today, I'll pull the cover and share a photo late afternoon.

FC drifted down to 12 by 7PM, CC measured 0.5, TA at 80 and CYA reached 50.


AK- said:
Use an old sock or pool skimmer sock and hang it on something like you pool pole… you may need to add some counter weight on top of the part over the deck or you may be able to put is across leaving both ends over the deck.

Metals don’t go away with evaporation or decomposition. If you (or someone else) added over past seasons it will still be in the water unless you had drained/refilled.

Poly fill is pillow/stuff animals filling.
Click to expand...

I ran a CULater pack from Leslie's last year - it was the first year in my ownership with the heater valved in and running (needed a new control board) so I chalked up some increased copper to that. I don't recall how elevated it was, not crazy terrible but I saw the logic so I used the product. Currently the heater is valved out waiting for a new o-ring to arrive.
Aside from that, I was in a mode of using trichlor tabs with routine use of "power powder" and not as routine use of "perfect weekly." I don't recall using anything aside from that, nothing specifically branded for for metal or algae.
 
bbutters said:
I covered it last night with a solar cover after vacuuming and testing - at the time I thought to myself, I should check TFP as to whether these covers are a bad idea in general - and I left early this morning without taking a peek.
Click to expand...
Solar covers are great. They help to protect some of you FC and helps to keep the water warm. The downside is it also protects CC, when you remove the solar cover your CC will be abnormally higher and you will need a hour or two to get it off the pool. CC is what causes the bad irritating “pool” smell.

Edit: the longer (days) the cover stays on the higher the CC level. That may mislead you in thinking something is afoot in your pool.
 
24 hours later, FC down to 10, barely 0.5 CC. I think it’s starting to look bluer but I didn’t get to it before it was in the shade.
 

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