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I was about to embark on a deep cleaning effort, when I noticed that the pressure stayed the same overnight. I turned off the pump and it's still 17 psi. It turned out that the pressure gauge got stuck.... I tapped on it and it jumped back to lower values. Adding this note here for complete...

Thank you!

We recently opened our pool and SLAMed to completion. We then used a combination of brushing and robot cleaner to get most of the debris out. Last night the filter gauge was reading about 16 psi and we did another brush. This morning the pressure was 26-27 psi when we backwashed our sand filter...

Something like this? Wouldn't I then need to seal the top of the collar extension? It is concrete wrapping the skimmer sleeve.

We typically don't keep our pool that high during the summer season, but during Spring when the pool is still closed, rain water usually brings the water level high enough that it may run off from the gap in the picture. Is this by design or would it risk eroding the soil support around the pool?

Thanks. Just got a repair kit and patched it. Your second paragraph is evil :)

We have a vinyl pool, and the liner has a small hole (size about the diameter of a pencil) at about a similar height as the top of the skimmer opening (~5.5 inches from the deck). It is almost never under water. Do I need to patch it or can I leave it be? I don't know about the materials behind...

It turns out that the valve controls the two normal returns and the spa jet is always on.

Ah, I see. I'll test tomorrow.

Thanks. Sorry about the confusion with the red circles on the suction pipes -- I reused an old picture. I thought the second pipe from the right (the one with a ball valve) controls the returns to the pool (which I shut off during winter), but I can do a cautious testing. Not sure why my...

You can see that the right-most pipe is split from the return but does not have a ball valve -- what's the purpose of this line? I don't have any water features or pressure-side pool cleaner (I think). I'm also not sure about the opening below. It has a screwed-on cap but when I unscrewed it...

An update: it just took a little longer for the water to fully clear up without Floc. My water was pretty similar to this color at my last post: https://livingproofmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/How-to-Remove-Dead-Algae-from-the-Pool-Bottom.png (so cyan may be a more accurate...

Aha?! Is it just hazy then? If there are still live algae, I'm somewhat more confused why overnight FC would hold. Any diagnostics you can recommend?

Thanks. The Floc didn't pass through the filter at any time. We did only Recirculate and Vacuum to Waste.

Ah ok. We do continue to monitor overnight FC loss. Perhaps it is the sand filter making this process very slow for us. When we vacuumed (before using flocculant or clarifier), we could see return water being green, meaning that the dead algae was very fine and ran through the filter unimpeded.

Sorry if my arguments sounded that way. I'm sure there are good reasons why SLAM, designed this way, works. I can see the why for the first two stopping criteria, I'm just not understanding the 3rd criteria. Even so, I follow SLAM precisely except for pool opening. Empirically, again for pool...

So to clarify, if we were to continue SLAM until water is clear, the only way to speed up sand filter is to add DE?

I'm not trying to argue. There are perhaps some unaccounted for real-life complications. Just to provide my data points: 1) FC holds overnights; 2) We use Taylor K-2006, having used two different batches of CYA reagents. Point (1) shows that FC is not oxidizing anything at night. If it was...

I got your point regarding the use of flocculant. During the day FC drops from 16 to 4--6 on a sunny day, with a 27000 gal pool this uses a decent amount of chlorine daily. Strangely, FC drops from 6 to 4 daily while not SLAMing. I don't know how to think about this if we assume the rate...

Thanks. I was just reviewing the SLAM process and posted an update :) I'm curious why we have to maintain high FC when all algae is dead? We're now maintaining lower FC level but there is no loss overnight. Not to doubt the tried and true SLAM process, but trying to understand why. In 2019 we...

Currently we have CC of 0.5 or lower and overnight FC loss of 1.0 ppm or less, but clearly the water is not yet clear. Strictly speaking, SLAM isn't done but given the speed the water clears, this uses a lot of chlorine, which we did in 2019, but chlorine is difficult to come by this year.

Got it, but do I just let DE accumulate on top of existing sand? Could you recommend a link that describe what to watch for (e.g., regarding pressure) and how to decide how many cups of DE to add?

We changed the sand in 2019 (bought the house in 2018). And we have been following the SLAM process but I remember that more than 10 days passed the water still didn't clear up, which was why we tried using flocculant. This same situation happened again in 2020. Apart from pool opening, the sand...

We often open our pool late (just did it last Sunday) and typically find the water green. We would then use the SLAM method until free chlorine maintains overnight two days in a row. However, the water would still be very green at this point and we cannot see the bottom at the deep end. In past...

Yes, I'll definitely be more vigilant with checking hard objects under the cover. The pool edges left white-ish lines/bands on the four sides of the cover, and almost all the holes were on these lines. The heavy weight of ice in the winter visibly pulled the middle of the cover downward. Luckily...

Good to know that duct tape will at least hold up in the weather!

We have a safety cover for an inground pool. Over the winter, heavy snow melting and refreezing caused it to be weighed below the surface and tore up a few holes where the cover contacts the concrete edge. A safety cover seems pretty expensive. Are there ways to repair these? Any tricks to...

I'm wondering if there is any consideration whether or not to cover up the openings left by disconnecting the pump & removing the sight glass and pressure gauge on the filter. Should I cover up the pipe and filter holes? If so, what should I use for this purpose? The pool was closed last winter...

Ah, got it. That's a good idea. I always read / thought that these ball valves aren't serviceable.