Water not clear

[kermit7012]

I have been out of town most of the summer with someone taking care of the pool, etc. When I returned last week, the pool was green. I raised FC to 17 and kept it there for 3 days. Got rid of the green, but the pool is still not clear. Yesterday evening I raised FC to 31 (the mustard algae level). This morning pool is still not clear and FC is down to 15. Do I need to raise back to 31 and keep it there til the water clears, or what?
Right now:
FC 15
CC 2
CYA 53
TA 120
CH 220
35,000 irregularly shaped plaster pool, sand filter, 1 hp pump, Maytronics Premier robot.

 

[brian4110]

1. You've got CCs.
2. You've got cloudy water.

...so you aren't done SLAM'ing the pool. Keep SLAM'ing. Run the filter 24/7 until done. Open up some POP (pool owner patience).

No need to SLAM at mustard algae level unless you have mustard algae. And it doesn't sound like you do.

Stick with it. The water will clear.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You need to keep SLAMing the pool. With a CC of 2 ppm you're not done yet. Your slam level is 24 with a CYA of ~50. I wouldn't raise it a lot higher than that. Raising it much higher won't make the pool clear faster.

 

[kermit7012]

Pool not clear

Merged by moderator. Just open the thread your want to respond to and add your response at the bottom or hit the "Post Reply" button on the left toward the top". Thanks, jblizzle

I'm sure there's a way to respond to the responses and this is not the correct way but since I don't know what that correct way is I'll have to open a new topic. I'm the one Brian and Bama responded to.
Bama, you say SLAM level is 24. Pool Calculator says it's 17. Or is SLAM level not Shock level? Why do our numbers differ so widely? Any idea. Again, 35,000 plaster pool, 1hp pump (may be 1 1/2, my eyes are old even with glasses and I can't get my head in a good place to read the numbers). CYA 53 (does that mean -53 as you responded?) ph is 7.5. CC 2 (it has gotten as low as .5 since I returned) . CH 220. TA 120. Bear in mind here that while I have gone to TFP several times in the past, this process is still new to me. I have read fairly extensively on the site and I ain't stupid but I'm still confused. The the handy dandy test kit TTF recommends was sitting on my porch when I got back one week ago today and I have tested and adjusted frequently since then, but if my reading (or entering) of the numbers is not correct for some reason maybe that's the problem.
Brian, you say keep slamming. I have been slamming (I thought) for at least three days at a FC (I think) of 17. I can certainly keep slamming, but do I SLAM at 17? 24? 31? Do I need to get 1000 lbs borax and 50 gal muriatic acid (maybe slightly exagerated) to boost the effeciency of the other chemicals? Do I trust the Pool Calculator numbers? They seem to be right on target in predicting how many gallons of bleach will get me to 17 or 31.

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

SLAM level = Shock level ... the Pool School chart and the calculator use a different algorithm ... either will work, but the chart is more aggressive.

For a CYA of 50ppm, you should not be raising the FC level so high ... you should pick a number between 17-24ppm as your SLAM FC level.

There is no point adjusting anything else at this point besides maintaining SLAM level until you pass the 3 criteria to stop.

 

[Smykowski]

Chlorine kills algae, the filter cleans it out. It sounds like you're well on your way to killing it, now you need to wait for it to clear. Be patient, sand filters work a little more slowly than DE/Cartridge. It would not be unusual for it to take a week.

 

[Bama Rambler]

In used the tilde to indicate approximate value. There's no way to measure CYA that precisely. That's why I said ~50.
As JB said, the calc and the chart differ slightly and you can use either. I usually pick the higher.

It's not unusual to be confused in the beginning. We understand and we know that you'll pick it up the more hands on you have. We've all been there.

Just keep testing and raising the FC back to SLAM level every hour or as often as you can. The process goes faster the more often your able to test and adjust.

 

[brian4110]

Your numbers look fine...no need to dump anything other than the appropriate amount of chlorine into the pool at this point. You say that someone else has been taking care of your pool all summer....so you may have quite a bit of algae. It took all summer to get to this point. It might take a few days more to clear the pool. Rest assured that if you keep slamming, it will clear.

If you are running out of patience (don't blame you for that) there are a few things you can do to speed up the process. The most important thing is to test and bump the chlorine levels as often as possible. Morning and night at a minimum. If you can bump the FC every hour or 2, then the process will go faster. The idea is that you want the FC to be at or above SLAM level as often as possible. Don't let it dip below for more than an hour or 2. Another thing you can do is to brush often. Lastly, if you get CCs under control but the water still isn't clear, consider adding DE to the filter.

Good luck!

 

[kermit7012]

OK!!! Thanks to all of you. Patience has never been one of my virtues so I sure didn't want to break my neck being patient while I was doing the wrong thing. You know, like standing in line at the DMV for 2 hours only to find out when you get to the counter you have to have a certified copy of your previous state's Driver's License to get registered in another state or some kind of sh.. like that. And thanks for the explanation of 17/24. I kept plugging in the same #'s into the calculator and getting (strange as it may seem) the SAME ANSWERS. So I'm settling for a happy medium of 21.
Thanks again.
God grant me patience. But hurry.