First ever SLAM due to green pool

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You're doing all the hard work and paying attention to the process........that's why it's working.

This last bit of cloudiness can be very frustrating so keep that pump running 24/7 until it clears. (The electricity consumed by a SLAM is not as much as most people think so don't be overly concerned.

I just noticed that pump and filter in your sig. Is that a full-rated 1.5 single speed pump. There will be a "SF" posted on the motor plate.......that's the "service factor" let us know what that is. Amperage will help, too. Should be around 13 I think.....let us know and I'll tell you what I am thinking.
 
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You got it. The SF of 1.0 means it is a full1.5 HP pump.....probably producing 50+ gpm in your pool.......I'm not sure exactly.

Your filter is only rated for 44 gpm so the filter is a little small for the pump. Ideally, a 60 gpm filter would be a better fit.

Where I am going is an overpowered filter can, on occasion, "push" tiny particles through the laterals and back into the pool, making clearing difficult. Let's see how your pool does over the next 24 hours and go from there. Has the pool been crystal clear in the past?
 
Yes sir, the water is usually very clear and you can see every detail on the bottom of the pool, it was like looking thru glass. But the filter being a bit to small, may explain why the PSI rarely ever shows an increase and why I always have to vacuum to waste which caused me to have to add more water every time I vacuumed the pool all summer. Over the summer I basically ignored the lack of increase in PSI because I discovered I had to backwash every other week (even though the PSI didn't show an increase) if I wanted to keep the floor of the pool clean. Every day there are always acorns, leaves small, dirt etc deposited in a circle in the middle of the pool due to the waters strong circulation swirling everything to the middle and depositing it there. In the beginning I would daily just dip out the things that had gathered in the middle and sweep the pool and then just enjoy the crystal clear water and the beautiful clean pool floor. I continued this daily cycle until one evening I went out to find a crystal clear pool with thick brown mud like dirt all around the bottom of the pool in a wave like pattern smeared in the direction of the water movement, this same mud like stuff was also on the walls about midway down and again smeared in the direction of the water movement. So before we could swim that evening I went to work, With the filter set to "filter" I vacuumed the pool, and in doing so I also discovered I had to push down rather hard on the vacuum head and use its bristles to scrap and scrub the mud like substance loose from the bottom of the pool, (in many places simply letting the vacuum head pass lightly over the bottom of the pool wouldn't remove it), after vacuuming I then swept the pool floor and walls, water was still crystal clear and beautiful and now the floor and walls were as well. Next morning the mud was back again, so I again vacuumed & swept the pool and that evening it was back again. I was baffled, so I repeated my cleaning process again but this time I set the filter to vacuum to waste as I removed the mud and then backwashed the filter even though it showed absolutely no increase in PSI, this time it worked and we enjoyed the beautiful clean pool with glass like clear water for weeks. But After a few weeks this exact same thing and my response to it happened again, So I then learned that If the pool wasn't vacuumed to waste each week and the filter wasn't backwashed afterward, then the brown mud like substance would keep showing up. Vacuuming to waste and adding water every time I vacuumed became tiresome so Once I got lazy and I tried just Sweeping the mud like dirt up, stirring it up and into the pool water hoping the filter could filter it out without me vacuuming to waste and adding water, but that didn't work, it would just settle back to the bottom within hours even though I kept the pump running 24x7 and the water remained beautiful at all times and testing water daily only revealed the need for small amounts of Acid for PH balancing. So from this experience I had learned that to keep the floor of the pool clean I would just have to accept the responsibility to, add new water to the pool while vacuuming with the filter set on "waste", then backwash & rinse the filter at least every two weeks regardless of what the PSI or testing revealed. I found myself questioning rather the mud like substance that I had to deal with was perhaps not dust and dirt but in fact maybe an algae so I did do OCLT test many times when the mud showed up, but the pool always past the test each time. Do you think perhaps the filter is the problem and maybe there is something I could do to prevent me from having to add water and vacuum to waste so often?

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Friday Day 7 of first SLAM

7:00am- FC: 28.5 (Added 1 quart, 2 cups
6:00pm- FC: 27.5 (Added 2 quarts, 3oz

Vacuumed & swept again this evening. Got a little creative today while changing the thru wall skimmer baskets panty hose prior to vacuuming, I thought about the skimmer basket that is located on the pumps motor, so I decided to try something outside of the normal and also added a knee high panty hose to the pump motors skimmer basket before vacuuming. After vacuuming I checked the pre pump skimmer basket panty hose and it was weighted heavily with white stuff, so I changed it out and inserted a new one and I will run the pool with that in place throughout the night. It may or may not help to filter out the dead algae, but it certainly didn't effect the PSI in anyway, so I'll leave it on there throughout the night and then check it in the morning to see what all it captures, if it seems to help clear the floating dead algae then I will continue to use one there until the pool becomes TFP clear. Just curious if anyone else has ever tried this and if so, did it help?
 
I turned the thru wall skimmer off this time during vacuuming and used the extra outlet that is lower down on the wall of the pool to do the vacuuming today. Of course once I completed the vacuuming, I turned the wall skimmer back on and now have the nylon on both of them. I checked on them at 10pm and they both have a nice little collection of small debris inside of them, but it looks like the pump motor skimmer does have quiet a bit more collected inside of it than the wall skimmer does. I'm anxious to look at things in the daylight tomorrow and see if this experiment has made a difference in the clarity of the water.
 
If you are collecting debris in nylons, I think your filter is not functioning correctly. I can't remember, have you taken the lid off to inspect the filter and the sand bed? That debris should not be able to make it's way through a WORKING filter.

I still don't know what that white debris might possibly be, but I know your filter is capable of capturing it when it's working properly
 
We have not taken the top of the filter yet, (waiting for Husband to be home to assist me with that task). I didn't capture much of anything in the pump skimmer nylon last night but I did capture some things in the thru wall skimmer nylon. I also scooped out some really odd nasty junk from the spot in the middle of the pool where the swirling water deposits debris. I will upload pics of the little green balls of mushy gunk that I retrieved from the middle of the pool and also of the white stuff and more of the green balls of gunk that was captured in the nylon inside the thru wall skimmer basket over night. I am puzzled by what this stuff is. I can say for sure it was not in the pool or in the skimmer when I vacuumed last night so it got in the pool during the night last night. Its very nasty looking little green balls.
 
Certainly some kind of vegetation....looks like seed pods covered in algae.....could be left over from that algae-laden netting? I don't know but I think it's seperate from the white cloudiness.

Is your pool still improving?

If your filter sand looks good on the top, I wouldn't stop there. I would suggest you uncover the laterals so you can inspect them

Set the sand aside on a tarp or something and scoop out enough sand to where you can remove the laterals and inspect. I know it's a big job but, I am thinking as above.....if your skimmer nylon or pump basket nylon is catching visible debris, you have damage or perhaps a misaligned lateral.
 
I believe my husband is going to attempt to take the sand filter down tomorrow. Fingers crossed we don't mess anything up because it will be our first time opening that up since it was installed in July and we have no clue what were doing...LOL...
I normally keep those cut off until I vacuum and then I use one of those mid level port holes to hook my vacuum hose into, then cut line to the skimmer off during the vacuuming of the pool. Other than that, the only other reason they are there is because we didn't know what else to do with them, so we tied them so we could shut them off. Amateur New Pool Owners,,,LOL
 

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