Difficulty with OCLT

[yossarian]

I have been working to clear out the cloudiness in our pool for the past week and a half, raising our FC to well over shock levels each evening, and adding bleach in the morning as well, even though I am starting above shock levels in the morning. I am losing around 2-2.5 FC each evening, but only ending up with CC of .5 or sometimes 0. The interesting thing is that, yesterday, I raised our FC to 19 before I left for work. I returned home and still had a FC of 16.5, despite the fact that it was on and off sunny during the day and it rained and added a decent amount of water to the pool.

I really thought that I had hit the turning point. So I again raised the FC to 19 last night, praying for something of at least 18 this morning. Much to my disappointment, I was at 16.5 this morning, with CC of .5.

Unfortunately, it is really not possible for me to shock all day. So my approach is to make sure I am over shock levels when I go to work. I have been able to stay above shock levels all day and through the night by adding bleach each morning and evening. Is this approach ok?

My CYA is in the 35 range, so I aim to raise FC to 19 each evening before I go to bed and again before I go to work.

I should add that I have not been brushing the walls or floor much as I want to let the dead algae sink to the bottom so I can vacuum to waste. I have already cleaned our filters twice and I want to avoid that for at least a few more weeks.

 

[duraleigh]

I should add that I have not been brushing the walls or floor much as I want to let the dead algae sink to the bottom so I can vacuum to waste. I have already cleaned our filters twice and I want to avoid that for at least a few more weeks.

You have to help your filter get that junk out of your pool. Letting it lay on the bottom is likely why your FC loss is still excessive.

You are not shocking the pool unless you brush frequently (every day) and clean/change the filter every time your psi goes up by 25%

 

[yossarian]

I should add that I have not been brushing the walls or floor much as I want to let the dead algae sink to the bottom so I can vacuum to waste. I have already cleaned our filters twice and I want to avoid that for at least a few more weeks.

You have to help your filter get that junk out of your pool. Letting it lay on the bottom is likely why your FC loss is still excessive.

You are not shocking the pool unless you brush frequently (every day) and clean/change the filter every time your psi goes up by 25%

So there is still organic matter in the junk that is shocked but sitting in the pool? Ugh. I ordered another set of cartridges, but I really have to say that I consider it borderline malpractice to recommend a cartridge filter in the Northeast. I still should not vacuum, correct? If I vacuum and brush, I can get my psi to go up by 25% in less than two hours, and that is with relatively clean cartridges that are only a year old.

 

[JasonLion]

There are various ways to deal with that. Some people add a pipe with a valve to the cartridge filter drain plug hole so they can vacuum to waste. Others simply remove the cartridge for cleaning right after vacuuming.

 

[yossarian]

There are various ways to deal with that. Some people add a pipe with a valve to the cartridge filter drain plug hole so they can vacuum to waste. Others simply remove the cartridge for cleaning right after vacuuming.

Do I have to vacuum as part of the shock process, or can I simply brush and let the skimmers work? I was hoping to either vacuum to waste or have a pool service do an auxiliary pump vacuum that did not rely on my filter. But I wanted to wait until I could get the OCLT numbers to hold and see the bottom of my deep end. Last week, I brushed and vacuumed and made the water incredibly cloudy. It took 3 days to get the cloudiness back to where I started. I cleaned the cartridges the day after I vacuumed. The cloudiness is slowly clearing, but I figure it could take another week or 2 to see the bottom of my pool. I want to do this right, but it is hard to find the time to clean my cartridges during the week, and I really don't have a great way to vacuum to waste as all I have is the drain plug on my filter, which lets out way too much water.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You have to vacuum in order to get the debris out of the pool or you're never going to pass the OCLT. If it clogs the filter every two hours that's what it does and you'll just have to clean them. You will notice that after a little while of vacuuming and cleaning them, the intervals will get longer and longer until it gets clear.

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, the idea is to vacuum, brush, filter, rinse, clean, etc. etc. all during the shock process.

I think of the shock process as two separate functions both happening simultaneously (sort of) and both absolutely necessary for you to shock the pool.

The first function is killing of the organisms with adequate chlorine and done continually.

The second function is cleaning the dead junk out of your pool....done continuously again and by using every means at your disposal as mentioned in the first sentence.

 

[yossarian]

Got it. Just curious. If the algae is dead, isn't it inorganic? Or does it encourage the growth of organic material (e.g. bacteria) and that is what I am fighting against?

Probably a good question for another topic, but does anyone have any recommendations for a vacuum that doesn't rely on a pool pump/filter to just get rid of particles/sediment?