Getting ready to SLAM salt water pool in low but ok salt range - recommended?

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LaurCay

LaurCay

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LifeTime Supporter
Oct 24, 2015
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Rosharon, TX
Very new to maintaining my pool and I've been educating myself on this site for a few weeks now. Many questions, but after replacing water (slowly by garden hoses over five days draining and refilling) to get my CYA level down in order to start the SLAM I notice my salt level dropped from 3400 to 2800 using the Taylor test kit. (My FC level also dropped from 15 to 1.6) I am focusing on balancing the pH and the CYA, is the salt level important for the maintainance portion of SLAM?
 
Not really. You will have your SWG off during the SLaM so the salt level won't matter. You can go ahead and add the required amount of slat in while you are SLaMming and have it dissolve while you are working on clearing that algae.

What is your CYA level and what does your pool look like?
 
No need to worry about the salt. It wont have any effect on the SLAM at all.

Dont adjust your CYA any higher either. It wil just mean you need to use more chlorine during the SLAM. After SLAM, if you want to adjust it up to SWG pool recommendation, then do it at that time. Your pH of 7.2 is good for SLAM now.
 
Thank you for the information regarding adding salt and adjusting CYA at a later time. I started SLAM at 3:30 and tested FC at 5 pm and it was at 33! My target was lower than that, 22. What does this mean and what target am I testing for to maintain?
 
Use Pool Math to determine how much bleach you need to add to bring FC up to the shock level. Put all your test results and info on the pool and it will tell you how much to add to get to your shock level (in your case FC 22), then test and keep it at or slightly above that level. It's going to take a lot of bleach. Just to get the initial shock level will require about seven jugs of bleach. Test and return it to shock level as frequently as possible. Pump stays on and SWG off until the SLAM is complete.

When you begin the process it will consume vast amounts of bleach, but if you keep it at shock level the algae begins to die faster than it grows and the amount of bleach needed starts dropping. Anytime you let the FC drop below 22, the algae will be growing faster than you are killing it, and you will be losing ground. So test often and keep the FC at shock level.
 
There is no point in keeping that high. You may want to go a bit over the 22 maybe 25 or so, just to insure that it doesn't drop too much before you test again but not that high.

Use Pool Math as your guide.
 
If you targeted 22 and got 33 it means either your pool is a bit smaller then you think as far as water amount is concerned, or you might have forgotten to change the % strength on the Pool Math page, or the jugs you have are real 128 oz gallons and Pool Math is still set too 96 oz, or a combination of all these.
 
Wow, you are correct pabeader. I should have set the readings to 8.25% and 121 oz and should have only added five jugs. Took a reading at 1:30 and still way too high. Will follow up here later today with progress in case anyone would like to follow my SLAM.
 

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Glad I could help. Just a quick note. Even though it was pretty high, it wasn't so bad as to cause issues with equipment.

Is your SWG off? You really don't need to on during a SLaM and will want it off for sure while doing the OCLT later.
 
Thank you Texas Splash! Holding steady at FC 30 and brushed the pool in the am. Plan to vacuum this evening. I am not able to backwash. I clean the filter regularly; acid washed it three days ago. The cartridges have already been replaced once at some point, not sure why my husband decided to do that - I think it was a long run between cleanings and that is why. Anyways, the cartridges are now as clean as I can get them and they went from algae green to stained brown, not original white. I am thinking this is okay since the fiber looks intact. The only concern I have is scaling inside the filter, but I don't think I would see that, because we have had that on our tile. The salt cell has never been inspected and I need to look into how to do that. The top manifold was cracked badly and I am assuming this is part of what led to the algae bloom?
 
The good thing about TFP care is that once you complete your SLAM and pass all 3 criteria, your water will remain crystal clear year-round as long as the proper FC/CYA ration is maintained. Even if you suspect your SWG is damaged, you can always augment FC production for now with regular liquid bleach. And since the weather is trying to cool-off a bit here in TX, FC consumption will slow down giving you more time to research repairing your SWG. As for your cartridge filters, I'm not sure what type you have, but if they are the typical paper/pleated cartridges, be careful about acid washing. The acid will certain make them look better, but sometimes the acid can actually damage the filter's porous qualities. Many folks recommend doing a deep-soaking overnight using something like TSP (hardware store) or Cascade powdered dishwasher soap. I used to do that myself, but then for my single Hayward cartridge I just found it easier to order a new single filter cartridge on-line. :)
 
I am running out of my kit's titrating reagent for chlorine. I didn't foresee that. At 4 pm today FC was 24 and I put in 1/4 gal because I knew I'd be out of house for awhile, and that would bring it up to 25, target is 22. At 7 pm I put in the rest of that jug plus 2 more for overnight and because I am reserving what I have left in reagent for a test in the am, hoping I have enough for that. Am I basically out of luck because on order it won't get here until Nov 5-10 and pool store doesn't have the concentration I need. Any suggestions? Maybe I should post a new thread on this? Thanks for all help.
 

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