Once your pool has that certain sparkle, nothing else will do! Was the black substance slimy or gritty?
At my wits end - after 3 SLAMs
- Thread starter run53
- Start date
can't really remember the feel as I'm at work now. But I would say more slimy than gritty. In fact it kind of clung to my fingers when I stuck them in the skimmer. Almost like ESD or magnetized ( I know, strange)
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Of course
Last several nights OCLT has been mostly 0 or 0.5. once a 1.0
Why are you running OCLT every night? There is really no need. However, since you have completed it successfully several times, the conclusion is there is nothing growing in your pool so the issue is with filtration.
Do you have a skimmer sock? I can't tell from the picture...if not that would not hurt anything. Good looking pool! I would swim in it!
I know, I'm wasting lot's of reagent. But I've been having this issue all summer (at least it seems like) so I'm over testing just to make sure. New supply of the XL refill kit just arrived
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No skimmer sock.
Yeah, thanks...the pool actually still looks good. Just lost the sparkle it had yesterday.
When you do the OCLT's are you doing so with the SWG off as it should be for the test?
Do you have a heavy bather load, and if so, do they wear a lot of sunscreen? I can always tell when my wife has been in the pool from a black, oily ring inside my skimmer. She is fair skinned, has a history of skin cancer, and wears tons of sunscreen.
I am leaning that way for sure.....except, why does it turn crystal clear during each of the 3 SLAMs? If it were filtration, why would the SLAM make it sparkling?
By the way, having this forum to walk me through the trouble shooting is great. I really appreciate all the dialogue and ideas.
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Hmmm...interesting. Lot's of sunscreen last week as we were on vacation. Maybe 2 or 3 bathers for short periods of time during vacation. No one has been in the pool since Sunday though. The water sparkled until this morning.
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I test at 8:00pm (pump is off) and again at 7:00am (before the pump turns on), I run the pump from 7:30am to 7:30pm
Just a quick but HUGE THANKS to everyone who is trying to help solve my sparkle problems. As you can see by the pictures, it's not a huge issue as the pool still looks very good and certainly swimmable, just not perfect to me.
I'm sure with all your help, we will solve it. I love all the questions you are all asking and your interest in helping me. The questions give me different things to think about. But as Durleigh pointed out, it's either filtration or organics. I will do another OCLT tonight and if it still looks good, I will inspect/clean/recharge the filter cartridge.
Maybe the black silt in the skimmer is just a red herring. Or maybe pools just don't sparkle all the time. Or maybe my old eyes are blurry
I'm sure with all your help, we will solve it. I love all the questions you are all asking and your interest in helping me. The questions give me different things to think about. But as Durleigh pointed out, it's either filtration or organics. I will do another OCLT tonight and if it still looks good, I will inspect/clean/recharge the filter cartridge.
Maybe the black silt in the skimmer is just a red herring. Or maybe pools just don't sparkle all the time. Or maybe my old eyes are blurry
During the previous SLAM you had your FC too low because of the pool calculator, why not go ahead and get your FC up to 28, and perform the OCLT. Maybe the extra FC is what you need...if you still pass, it can not be anything other than filtration. Just a thought!
I test at 8:00pm (pump is off) and again at 7:00am (before the pump turns on), I run the pump from 7:30am to 7:30pm[/QUOTE]
The water should be circulating for about 30 minutes prior to testing so that the chlorine is evenly distributed throughout the water when testing. Not sure how much it would skew your results, someone with more know how might know.
The water should be circulating for about 30 minutes prior to testing so that the chlorine is evenly distributed throughout the water when testing. Not sure how much it would skew your results, someone with more know how might know.
The water should be circulating for about 30 minutes prior to testing so that the chlorine is evenly distributed throughout the water when testing. Not sure how much it would skew your results, someone with more know how might know.[/QUOTE]
That seems like a legit point. I will start the pump at 6:30 and turn off the SWG until I finish the OCLT test.
Maybe worth a shot.......I never did get to "true" shock level since I was using the wrong calculator
But the confusing part is that the water was sparking last night when the pump turned off. And it passed the OCLT this morning (again) but the sparkle was gone in the morning. So, if I pass OCLT, how can it be organics? And if the filtration is the problem, why did the sparkle go away when the pump was turned off overnight?
If I slam again, I know for sure it will sparkle again. So, one of my conclusions is that I am doing OCLT incorrectly and I really do have organics. I have all new refills for DPD powder and Reagent (just ordered the XL kit) so that must be ok.
If the loss of sparkle is from sunscreen, particularly that still staying on the surface, then there are several ways to address this. First is to wait since it will dissipate between slow chlorine oxidation (only some components react with chlorine) and getting caught in the filter. You can increase the pump run time and/or speed (longer run time at slower speed is less expensive) for improved circulation/filtration. You can use skimmer socks. You can even use a slime bag though with your DE filter that should be unnecessary (by the way, some people have found that cellulose fiber gives them more sparkle than DE).
With the chlorine level increased, then some of the sunscreen or other substances that lower the sparkle can get oxidized faster, but again not everything gets oxidized by chlorine so this is only a partial solution and it's more costly to have the chlorine level be higher since you lose more daily.
If increasing circulation/filtration isn't helping and you don't want to maintain a higher than normal chlorine level, then probably the use of enzymes would be the next step. This is extra cost and of course unnecessary, but it is another option that you could consider. If you will always have this extra organic demand in your pool, then you can consider using supplemental oxidation systems such as ozone but now we're talking about much more substantial expense.
With the chlorine level increased, then some of the sunscreen or other substances that lower the sparkle can get oxidized faster, but again not everything gets oxidized by chlorine so this is only a partial solution and it's more costly to have the chlorine level be higher since you lose more daily.
If increasing circulation/filtration isn't helping and you don't want to maintain a higher than normal chlorine level, then probably the use of enzymes would be the next step. This is extra cost and of course unnecessary, but it is another option that you could consider. If you will always have this extra organic demand in your pool, then you can consider using supplemental oxidation systems such as ozone but now we're talking about much more substantial expense.
I am trying to decide if that silt/slime in the picture I posted is sunscreen. How much sunscreen are we talking about to make a pool not sparkle? Like I said, probably only 2-3 bathers in the pool (although heavy sunscreen users) all last week and no one in the pool since Sunday. Yet just today, the sparkle was gone.
It's hard to see in pictures, since the pool water is still very clear. However, I'm used to keeping it "sparkling". It lost it's sparkle and I can tell the difference. Perhaps I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill.
not sure if this will help, but do you have a fire pit or tiki torches nearby? I know that I get similar black residue from our firepit if the wind is blowing certain directions.