On the right track?

[RobertScalchi]

Looks like you're doing the process good by ordering the new filtration cartridge, The Duda diesel bag, and using the skimmer socks. One little note however. When the skimmer socks load up with debris on suction side. The pressure on the gauge does not go, up it actually goes down because it's creating a negative vacuum since its pre-pump, and the more the sock loads up it creates an obstruction. Make sense?

It's like me taking a Shop-Vac and saying my negative vacuum is 30 PSI and my positive pressure is 30 PSI. If I were to partially put my hand over the hose on the vacuum side, my vacuum would go down to 15 psi, and my pressure would go down to 15 psi.

From my own personal experiences it's hard to trust even the top of the line cartridge filters. I have a brand-new Pleatco cartridge filter in my system, and a lot of gunk still gets past it and works its way into my Duda diesel bag. Even though my water is crystal clear, and water chemistry perfect I do get a lot of pollen and debris from the woods, here's a picture of my Duda bag loaded up after a 12-hour pump run, even with the new cartridge and the skimmer sock in place.

 

[Ericwood73]

OCLT was 2. That sounds good, but the weird thing is that my measurement last night was 6.5 and this morning was 4.5. By the time I got around to checking it last night, I didn't want to add more and wait up for it to stabilize, so I decided to let it go with 6.5 overnight. But every morning, regardless of what the level was the previous night, I'm reading 4.5 ppm in the morning. I'm going to do a test tonight where I make sure I get it closer to 12 when I take the reading, but I strongly suspect it will read 4.5 tomorrow. Based on my understanding, I'm not sure why there would be a lower limit on how low the chlorine could go overnight, unless there was a fixed amount of organic material added each night.

 

[mknauss]

Be sure you are running your pump overnight with a OCLT. With the SWCG off.

 

[Ericwood73]

Be sure you are running your pump overnight with a OCLT. With the SWCG off.

Yep. Pump has been running 24/7 since I started my SLAM. I have not installed the SWG yet. I was waiting for the SLAM to finish.

 

[Ericwood73]

Day 13 of SLAM.



New Pleatco filter is in and working like a champ. The FC last night after sunset was 4.5. Unfortunately I found out the bleach my wife bought had fabric protection in it, so I opted to not put any in. This morning, I had an FC of 3. Only 1.5 ppm loss! The day before it was 10 ppm at sunset and 6.5 in the morning, which is a FC loss of 3.5. This blows my theory that FC would be 4.5 in the morning regardless of the level at night, and combined with today, I'm seeing a trend that is in the right direction. I think the pictures support that in that you can clearly see the third step now. Also the third ladder step is visible from across the pool.

It occurs to me that it will take alot longer to filter the cloudiness out from the deep end which goes to 8 feet as I have no main drain I have jets angled downward slightly and I've been brushing to try to create some vertical circulation, but with no main drain, it seems to me I have little flow from the deep well to the filter. I've been hooking up my vacuum and throwing it in the deep end for an hour or so each day to try to get some turnover of the deeper water. Not sure if it is making a difference or not, but I'd love to see this cleared up soon so I can install the SWG and the family can use the pool this weekend. I'm thinking of letting them in even if SLAM is not done as long as the elevated chlorine levels don't bother them.

 

[vinmazz]

Gotta keep those FC levels up! Should try to avoid letting the FC level drop below 12ppm during the SLAM as it slows down the process. Definitely headed in the right direction.

 

[Ericwood73]

OCLT result for last night was 5, from 11 after sunset to 6 this morning. Sun was up this morning, but no direct sunlight on the pool. CC reading was 0. I'm not sure I trust the OCLT. The results have been all over the place and seem to have no correlation with the visibility improvements. We can clearly see the third step now, and can see the walking ledge that is about 3 feet down.

 

[Ericwood73]

We passed our OCLT with only .5 ppm loss and 0 CCs! I plumbed in the SWG yesterday and I've bumped CYA to 70 in preparation for turning it on. Deepest water is still cloudy, but that is just going to take time for the filter to turn over the deep water with no main drain. I ran with Duda bags overnight; they don't seem to have accumulated much dirt and I'm not noticing a substantial increase in the rate of improvement of water clarity. I wonder if the benefits in increased filtration are offset by the reduced circulation. Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement. Next step after SWG will be to tackle the fiber optic system, that only shines faintly when I turn the color wheel on (and not at all with the color wheel off). I'll probably replace with an LED at some point. i'm sure those fibers are shot.

 

[zea3]

Stay on the high end of your FC target and brush the pool daily until the cloudiness is gone. Brushing will help get the cloudiness into circulation to be picked up by the filter.

 

[domct203]

If your filter has been running 24/7, and you have been brushing daily, it’s very unlikely that only the deep end is cloudy, it’s just that the deeper water is showing the particulates that remain and it looks that way.

Clear water is one of the criteria that must be met to end a SLAM.

I hope you didn’t end too early.

Keep the FC on the high end of target as recommended, and keep an eye on FC demand.

 

[Ericwood73]

My SLAM is officially over. Pool is crystal clear, SWG is up and running and maintaining the FC with no bleach additions. My wife and daughter and I enjoyed the pool last night. The only problem I have now is now that the pool is clear, I can see all kinds of dirt on the bottom. I vacuumed with my cheap suction side vacuum in the skimmer inlet and it looked like it was picking stuff up, but a few minutes later it was back. I also have large numbers of dead bugs on the surface. I skim them out, but I just get more. I'm thinking that all I'm doing is stirring them up on the bottom and they come to the surface. I wonder if I should just buy a robot cleaner.

 

[zea3]

Your cartridge should be able to pick up and hold any dirt you vacuum. Check and make sure your cartridge is in good shape, all bands intact, no holes or tears, o-rings lubed with silicone pool lube.

 

[Ericwood73]

I think the problem is the vacuum. I think it disturbs the dirt/dead bugs/whatever but doesn't get it into the suction. Maybe I moved the vaccum head too quickly, but I thought i was going slow. Took me an hour to brush, vacuum, and skim the whole pool.

 

[zea3]

Do you have a main drain? If so set all the suction to skimmer before you vacuum.

 

[Ericwood73]

Unfortunately no. The previous homeowner who installed my pool figured he could DIY it with apparently very little knowledge.