New to the pool and need some advice

[Teald024]

There are 3 criteria to know when you are done with the SLAM:
Clear water
CC below 0.5ppm
OCLT is 1ppm loss or less

Unfortunately you have not passed the first part which is clear water. There is no need to perform the overnight test for the sole purpose of the OCLT. But you should check chlorine in the morning to make sure you don't have to add more chlorine. Keeping FC at SLAM level shouldn't be difficult if you're not using much to kill stuff.

 

[jasonengland]

So back from vacation. I could visibly see the bottom of the pool for the first time but it was still cloudy. I went to pull the basket filter from the pump because it had debris in it. I made the mistake of leaving the pump running when I took the pump lid off. It let out a plume of dirt water back into the pool. Today I can see the third step on my latter. I have the rest of today off. Should I just sit tight and keep doing what I am doing or can I step up the the DE? I also vacuumed yesturday after my disaster because I could see the bottom a little. I was able to fill up my skimmer so I was able to get some more debris out.

 

[Teald024]

Its time to try the DE. Read This article about adding DE to a filter. Read the article. Pay close attention to the filter pressure. Made sure the DE is for pools and not the garden nor cooking type.

 

[jasonengland]

I stuck to the SLAM at 16ppm or a few ppm above 16, as I can only add Liq Chlorine 3 times a day due to work. The pool is getting much more clear. i can see little silt and debris pockets on the pool floor finally. i plan on giving a good vacuum tonight seeing there is still plenty more cleaning to do. I am going to appropriately empty the pump basket tonight too. After this and few more days of monitoring I will step-up to the DE as i feel I am am slowly getting a hold of this beast. Thank you both for sticking with me as i still have some challenges ahead to get it crystal clear. hopefully being in CT i will get 2 months of swimming LOL

 

[jasonengland]

I stuck to the SLAM at 16ppm or a few ppm above 16, as I can only add Liq Chlorine 3 times a day due to work. The pool is getting much more clear. i can see little silt and debris pockets on the pool floor finally. i plan on giving a good vacuum tonight seeing there is still plenty more cleaning to do. I am going to appropriately empty the pump basket tonight too. After this and few more days of monitoring I will step-up to the DE as i feel I am am slowly getting a hold of this beast. Thank you both for sticking with me as i still have some challenges ahead to get it crystal clear. hopefully being in CT i will get 2 months of swimming LOL

 

[Teald024]

Good job keeping your FC up. Sounds like a good plan with the vacuuming. When you're done, hop in and enjoy your pool, there shouldn't be any reason why you can't swim if you're FC is below SLAM.

 

[jasonengland]

The dirt pockets on the floor are keep coming back after I vacuum. I assume this is because the particles are too small for the filter to catch. Is this my true indication for the de? Also how clear is do I need to be to do the over night test and stop the slam? I have been through 44 gallons of bleach. And it is hitting my wallet hard.
I also took out my latter two days ago and brown water was dripping from the last step. I feel that may have been polluting the water too and am now afraid to add it back in. What should I do?

 

[jasonengland]

So i passed the over night test and have kept the latter out of the pool for now. dirt pockets on the floor are reducing daily as i vacuum, but are still there daily. I added DE twice one day and the pressure went real high in 1 hr so i stopped doing that for the moment. I was adding only .25 of a cup to raise the filter pressure 1 psi.

However i seem to loose 4ppm on a non-sunny days. Today is my first sunny day with FC at swim level (5-7ppm). I put the FC up to 11ppm first thing this morning and am anticipating a 6ppm drop.
Is that normal?

 

[Teald024]

So i passed the over night test and have kept the latter out of the pool for now. dirt pockets on the floor are reducing daily as i vacuum, but are still there daily.

However i seem to loose 4ppm on a non-sunny days. Today is my first sunny day with FC at swim level (5-7ppm). I put the FC up to 11ppm first thing this morning and am anticipating a 6ppm drop.
Is that normal?

The typical FC loss is 3-4ppm daily. Higher end on sunny hot days or heavy bather load. If you're seeing 6ppm, then you are still likely fighting some organics in the water. That could explain why you are still getting "dirt" pockets. It could be dead algae. Glad to hear it's getting better though. You've been at this for quite a while.