Why won't this stuff Die?!
- Thread starter Mksmith
- Start date
Should I drop the PH before I start? It just rained, a lot, here.
Yep, time to SLAM. After you get your FC up to about 28 ppm, keep adding to bring it back up as it depletes and KEEP BRUSHING and Vacuuming.
And yes lower your pH to 7.2, the result for pH with the FC at 17 is not reliable look at the article about slam in pool school
8,400 gal 3K GPH pump, SWG CG-28669, TF100 test kit, speed stir, K-1766 Taylor salt test.
The corner stone of TFP
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
8,400 gal 3K GPH pump, SWG CG-28669, TF100 test kit, speed stir, K-1766 Taylor salt test.
The corner stone of TFP
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
My test kit arrived earlyI ordered extra so hopefully I should be good. My results are as follows:
pH 7.8
FC 17
CC 0
CH 200
TA 110
CYA 65
Entire bottom of the pool is green and puffs up green when you brush it. I have been adding the 1 gallon of bleach and brushing each night.
your chlorine is too low. You need to bring it to slam level, maintain it there, brush a lot, and run your pump 24/7 until the slam is over. With cya of 65 you need 28 FC
Just an update. I have been maintaining a FC of over 30ppm since Monday evening, brushing twice a day and have vacuumed the entire pool to waste. There has been no significant drop in chlorine overnight (<1ppm). All horizontal surfaces and slopes (not sidewalls) produce a brownish plume when brushed, every time they are brushed in the evening and morning. Shallow end water is pretty clear, deep end is much cloudier and difficult to see the main drain. There has been no significant increase in pressure at the pump but I did backwash once.
A few suggestions for you to try and help it clear quicker
Deep clean your sand filter - http://www.troublefreepool.com/threa...-a-Sand-Filter
Add DE to your sand filter - Add DE to a Sand Filter
Recheck your CYA
Also check your gauge goes to 0 when the pump is off. If it doesnt you have a faulty gauge. Easy and cheap to replace one of those
Oh and post of photo of how your pool looks now
Deep clean your sand filter - http://www.troublefreepool.com/threa...-a-Sand-Filter
Add DE to your sand filter - Add DE to a Sand Filter
Recheck your CYA
- Some ppl prefer to fill to a line, glance at the dot, fill to the next line, glance etc
Also check your gauge goes to 0 when the pump is off. If it doesnt you have a faulty gauge. Easy and cheap to replace one of those
Oh and post of photo of how your pool looks now
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Thanks Caco. I have actually done the deep cleaning of the filter and will post an updated pic in the morning when the lighting is better. Overall the water is not as cloudy so I think the filter is clearing that part up. We have bumped up the frequency of brushing to 3x per day. Morning, around 2pm and then again around 7pm. Every time we brush, there are poofs of yellowish/browninsh whatever it is around the brush. This covers the entire bottom of the pool. We have been running the filter 24x7 since we started the SLAM process and I have actually bumped the FC up to mustard shock level but that coating is always on the bottom(feels slippery too). I have vacuumed to waste twice now but it keeps returning. I'm getting differing opinions as to what it is and I understand it is difficult to tell from a picture or a description but I'm kinda baffled as to why that level of chlorine for that period of time has not killed whatever form of algae it is. My question is, if it's dead then why isn't it gray?
Oh and to make things even more fun, my Hayward SWG stopped working so now I have to troubleshoot that while trying to clear up this mess.
Ready to give up and close the pool for the remainder of the season and start this battle up earlier in the season next year.
Oh and to make things even more fun, my Hayward SWG stopped working so now I have to troubleshoot that while trying to clear up this mess.
Ready to give up and close the pool for the remainder of the season and start this battle up earlier in the season next year.
If you have FC loss < 1 ppm overnight and FC level is correct then the pool should be usable. Whatever you got doesn't sound alive to me. Did change in chlorine levels changed its appearance? Can you simply vacuum it to waste next time it settles on the bottom? Picture would probably help.
Overnight test looks like it was successful. FC last night 40.5, FC this morning 40.5. Whatever is on the bottom is still there. Hard to see in pictures but does plume up when brushed. Only difference this morning from previous mornings this week was large clump in the middle of the shallow end. Overall pool looks much better (The large spot in one picture of the deep end is a rust stain from the pool light). I'm just a little nervous about bringing the chlorine back down.
just to confirm- your SWG cell was off this night? If it was still adding FC then FC loss test is not valid- you're looking for pure loss when no additional chlorine was added.
Can you just vacuum whatever it is to waste?
Yes, SWG was off last night (One of the resistors on the main board is fried)
And yes, I can and will vacuum it to waste. My problem has been that it keeps coming back. I'm hoping that this is the last of it. If that is dead algae, why is it black or green? Always thought dead algae was a grayish color.
honestly- I don't know. OTOH if your tests are correct nothing would survive 40 ppm of FC, even in my original water with 300 CYA. Your loss at FC this high was 0 which is better than expected so try to vacuum it and I just hope this either was the last of dead stuff or something non- biological which fell off the water due to high FC. Is your filter internals in tip-top shape? No internal cracks, recently cleaned, etc? People add a little DE to the sand to improve fine particle filtration.
I hear ya. I really didn't think anything would survive. I got the TF-100 test kit so I'm pretty sure my tests are correct. My SWG is broken so I know that is not throwing things off and my readings were good before I started (I just had to adjust PH down) My wife just got some of what was in the picture in the clump and honestly it looks like it's alive when mixed up in the water. I plan on adding bleach to that sample to see what concentration kills it. Other than that, idk what to do.
As far as filter in good working order, sand is new this year, I checked all parts when I replaced the sand. I've done the deep clean. I've pulled the pool light and cleaned in there (I'm going to pull it again just to see)
I wish you lived closer
- I have good binocular microscope we could use to take a look at that thing.I wish you lived closer
lol We actually have a scope at home too. My wife has been trying to identify it. So we decided to do a little science experiment. Took the sample of the algae that we pulled from the pool and put 1/2 teaspoon of pool water and algae into a container. Algae was green. Added 2 drops of the bleach we are using in the pool directly to the 1/2 teaspoon and waited. The green disappeared. So it definitely does appear to be alive and surviving 40+PPM FC. We are going to try to get a little more scientific than 1/2 ts and 2 drops of bleach and try to figure out what concentration we need in the pool to kill this stuff. I think at this point I'm on some kind of watch list with the amount of bleach we've been purchasing.
can you see cells in that scope? You need that kind of magnification, I think > 1,500x -it's been years since I used mine. Don't jump to conclusions yet- change of color might mean good old chemical reaction with no biology involved. If you live the sample with green stuff in the water without adding chlorine next to the pool in sunlight- would it increase in quantity? Something biological would start multiply and visibly increase in size over 2-3 days especially since you won't be adding chlorine in there.
you can estimate concentration of chlorine you used for your experiment by taking the same teaspoon and filling it with water up to the level you used using the same dropper, then using simple math: 10,000 x Bleach_Percentage x 2 / Number_Of_Drops_To_Half_Tea_Spoon. 10,000 is scale from % to ppm, the rest you know. It will be very high; say for 50 drops: 10,000 x 10 x 2 / 50 = 4,000 ppm. This is just to give you an idea what level of concentration was involved.
Concentration was about 1600ppm... Don't think we're gonna hit that. I think we're gonna keep 40ppm for one more day, vac that stuff out and try dropping the chlorine to a swimable level. Don't have much of the season left so we'd like to at least use the pool some this year. We will keep a sample next to the pool as you suggested as I'd be curious how quickly it grows.
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Why is your chlorine at 40 ppm? Did I miss something? With a CYA of around 60, shouldn't your FC be about 24 ppm?
Mainly because its not dying. Its still green and multiplying. We bumped it up and its still living. I would put money on the fact that if we dropped the chlorine down to normal levels for a swg pool it will be back in a week. I'd love to be wrong and I'd be happy to be wrong.
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