Reclaiming my pool from the green monster - half way there have a few questions

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Becki

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May 21, 2014
8
Cool, CA
So I started the SLAM on Friday. We had let our pool go last year after learning of a leak in the return lines. We are ready to do the repairs and need to get it clean. When I started the tests were FC 0, CC 0, CYA (below 30 likely 0), PH 7.8 (let me know if you need the others I wrote them down just don't have them in front of me). I brought the PH down to 7.2 as recommended and put stabalizer in a sock in the skimmer as recommended and got started. Brought FC up to 10 and kept brining it up every 30 min to an hour. Filter (DE Hayward Progrid 48) has run almost non-stop. Backwashed twice so far. The FC level held overnight last night but we were gone most of the day and I came home and it tested at 0! I brought it back up but I have a feeling its burning off the chlorine since CYA is so low.

Am I trying in vain if we didn't bring the CYA up before starting the slam? Is it just not getting out of the sock?

It has turned the milky aqua color and I have gotten as much debris off the bottom as I can without seeing. I have been brushing it twice a day as well. Debating doing the clarifier and vacuuming or just keep letting the filter do its job. Thanks for any and all advice!
 
Welcome to TFP!

If you passed the overnight FC loss test, you are making clear progress on killing the algae. Keep adding chlorine in the evening, after the sun is off the pool, to keep the algae from coming back while you continue to work on raising CYA to the correct level.
 
Thanks for all of the help! I just read and re-read both the SLAM and the Defeating algae articles. I have passed the overnight FC level, according to the SLAM article that indicates that there is no longer any algae in the pool. The SLAM articles says to add chlorine no more than once per hour and no less than twice per day. If the algae is gone then how often should I keep adding during the day when it is just getting burned off by the sun since CYA is presumably still low? I went ahead and put chlorine tabs in the returns and in a floater to hopefully keep some cholorine in the pool while I'm at work, even though I've been using the liquid as recommended for the rest of the SLAM.

I haven't seen much progress in the clarity of the pool since Sunday morning. It is still really cloudy. When I last backwashed the filter I no longer got a green flush, it stayed pretty clear the whole time. With the DE filter and the pool at this cloudy stage how often should I backwash if the pressure is holding steady (not showing any increase after reloading the DE after each backwash)? Do I need to take the filter apart and fully clean the grids (I put in brand new grids before we started this process).

Took some pics and will get them up here as soon as I get them loaded to photobucket, hopefully in the next hour or so.
 
sorry to chime in here, but I am sort of in the same boat!

I have to go to work tomorrow and I am super worried that I am going to loose ground. Today I had to replenish my chlorine using 2 1/2 jugs of liquid shock! I will be gone for 10 hours!! My CYA is 20, and I have been keeping it between 12-16 for the past 36 hours.

Last night my pool still dropped from 12 to 4:(

Suggestions??
 
No worries - chime in away, happy to share a place we can all get answers. I was gone yesterday from 8:30a-6:30p and my dropped from 10 to 0! Our pool is on a west facing hill so its gets a lot of direct sunlight. My CYA is still measuring below the readable level (30) on my test kit.

Here are some pics. The first is from before we started on Friday. The second was Sunday morning. There was a bit more clarity this morning, but not a lot. I think I'm going to pull apart the filter and clean it really well tonight.

Becki Pool Before 053014.jpg
Becki Pool Day 2 060114.jpg
 
I'm definitely not an expert, so let those guys chime in, but I recently SLAMed my pool and was successful, even with a busy work schedule. I chose to raise the FC level a few ppms above SLAM level if I knew I was going to be gone for the day (or sleeping at night). That way, it would hold at or above SLAM level for longer. Eventually, it would drop below the SLAM level, but not for as long a period of time. As soon as I returned home (or woke up), I added chlorine (even if it was during the day, with sunlight). It may have cost me a bit more liquid chlorine, but I was able to hold a more consistent SLAM level. I also started on a Friday evening so I could use the weekend to concentrate on the first few days of SLAMming, which are the worst, IMHO.

Something to be careful about -- Raising the FC TOO high can damage pool liners. Normally a few ppm won't hurt, but don't raise it a ton if you are leaving for an extended period of time. Let the experts explain that more.

What test kit are you using to measure CYA? The Pool School recommends 30-50. I live in Las Vegas, where the 100+ degree heat and constant sunlight cooks my pool, so I'm up around 50.

Also, be sure to sweep often. I noticed (even when I couldn't see the bottom), that the walls near the returns and the steps seemed to gather the most algae, so I swept them daily. Then I let my vacuum do the work cleaning the areas it could reach.

Hope this helps... again, I'm no expert, just someone who was successful with a busy work schedule!
 
Becki, you haven't finished the SLAM process until you pass all three tests:
Pass OCLT
CLEAR WATER
No CC's

From the looks of those pics you need to be maintaining your chlorine at the shock/slam # for your CYA level.
 

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I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Mine only dropped to 2 (down from our recommended shock level of 10) instead of 0 yesterday with the tabs in the skimmers and floaters. It held again overnight too. So, we'll see this afternoon. I'm still not seeing an improvement in clarity - completely disassembled and cleaned the DE filter last night - looks the same this morning. Only 3 days since it changed to the grayish color but was really hoping to have some clear water within the week. Just keep swimming...just keep swimming...just keep swimming...
 
I have a DE filter and I have to backwash very frequently when I am defeating algae. Initially I backwash every hour or so on the first day, then I usually backwash 3 times a day the second day, and finally once a day for a day or so... once I am crystal clear, I backwash every two weeks depending on pollen and use. I'm surprised that your pressure isn't changing. When you backwashed, how much did pressure rise from before you added DE to after you added DE? What size is your filter and how much DE did you add?

I suggest opening your DE filter and making sure that you don't have any tears or cracks. It only takes one small tear or crack stop your filter from working properly.

Are you confident of your CYA? You mentioned tabs... tabs which add to your CYA. How many tabs have you added since you tested your CYA. Also, can you post a full set of results? What products are you using?
 
I have all the numbers from before I started the SLAM at home and the brand of prodcuts we are using and will post this evening. We have been using liquid chlorine that I got at Walmart. Since starting I have just been watching the FC. I did try testing the CYA once on Monday and it was still not registering on my test kit which goes down to 30. Will the CYA show up on the test if it has been recently added? I had added the stabalizer in the sock to the skimmer as recommended. Tab wise I have one in each skimmer (we have two) and 3 in a floater out in the pool.

For the filter. The grids are brand new and don't appear to have any defects. We cleaned them last night. The grids were pretty evenly coated in the DE which was a rusty brown color. No big peices of debris. When we first put the grids back in the pressure was around 15, I weighed all of the DE this time and it was more than I had been adding. 30 minutes after putting the DE in pressure was at 30. This morning it was at 35 which is what it had been staying at and going back to after each backwash. We also checked the impeller in the pump last night to make sure it was moving freely per a recommendation I had read on another post.
 
The fact that your pressure is not changing suggests that your filter is not effectively doing its job. I'm concerned that you might not be maintaining your DE filter appropriately. Here is a post that is a very good tutorial: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/3853-Use-and-care-for-DE-filters

1) Was the 15 pressure immediately after you added the DE? If so, you should be backwashing once your filter gets to 18. You should backwash when your pressure rises 20 to 25% above the clean level.
2) When you open your DE filter and remove ALL DE, you should add 100% of the recommended DE for your filter size. Do you know this amount?
3) After you backwash, you should only add 80% of the recommended DE amount because not all of the DE is removed when you backwash.
 
Thanks for the comment kcindc. The recommended DE amount for our filter is 6 pounds. I brought out my kitchen scale and actually measured it out when we reloaded it after fully cleaning the grids on Tuesday evening. Immediately after added the recommended DE the pressure slowly increased to 30, at the 30 minute mark it was at 35 and it has stayed steadily there. We were adding WAY too little at the beginning - glad I measured this time. However, as of this morning (approx. 36 hours since we did complete clean and refill) there isn't an improvement in the clarity of the pool.

Here are our test results from this morning:

FC 12 (held overnight)
CC .5
CYA still below 30 (the dot never dissappears, but it does start to get blurry now which it didn't before)
TA 100
PH - didn't test per SLAM article that said it would be high until the SLAM was done
CH - did this one but forgot exact reading, think it was 170?

Plan for when I get home is to do another sweep with the leaf catcher, do another full brush down and backwash the filter.

We will get there! I am determined to have a sparkly pool!!!
 
Your clean pressure is the pressure within a minute or two after you add the DE, not the pressure after 30 minutes. As soon as your pump's basket is clear, that is what your clean pressure should be. You should backwash when your clean pressure rises 25%. It sounds like you need to be backwashing every 30 minutes. I need to backwash my DE filter every 30 minutes when I first start attacking an algae bloom. If I am battling an algae bloom, I can't run my pump while I am work because the pressure will increase too much while I am away from it.
 
Wow - how do I keep up with mixing that much DE? Just kidding, sounds like I'm in for a treat this weekend (while we are hitting tripple digits)!

On another sad note we had some major equipment issues last night after backwashing. When we turned the valve to just the skimmers the water level must have been too low (it was about an inch over the skimmer ledge) because it started to water fall into the skimmers. We quickly turned it off and added water to the pool. However, when we went to restart the pump we couldn't get the pump filter basket to refil more than half way, there was air in the filter (which we bled off but didn't help) and when we turned the pump off water was moving backward out of the filter toward the pump at our push/pull valve. After running a snake through the skimmer line and filling with a water hose several times we were able to get it back to where the pump basket was filling all the way up but now the pressure out of the return lines is really low and the suction seems really low at the skimmers too. I made the very disheartning decision to leave the equipment off today as it didn't seem like it was doing much. I talked to Hayward today and the gentlemen I spoke with seems to think the issue is the seals in the push/pull valve - parts have been ordered and will be here tomorrow.

Couple of questions (and please let me know too if I should post these on any other appropriate equipment related forums on here):

1) What should I do while I am waiting to get things back up and running? Should I add chlorine tonight and circulate it some to stall any algae coming back or will these be futile if I'm not running the filter 24/7?

2) We know we have a small return line link which is likely introduction some air into the system. However, it hadn't been keeping us from getting strong suction and strong return lines up until last night. Thoughts on whether the bad valve could cause this much of an issue? The return lines were creaking from the air bubbles when this first started last night - no sounds this morning, just the really poor suction and return. The pressure in the filter was still reading the same as when the equipment was working before.

Thanks again for all of your help on here. It has been a long week but I'm determined to get this beauty up and running and beautiful!
 
1) I wouldn't add any chlorine when the pump can't run for 30 minutes.
2) Air leaks are caused by suction leaks which are leaks between the pool and the pump. Leaks between the pump and pool (return leaks) leak water from your system. Check to see if your pump cover gasket is lubed and check all things on the suction side (between the pool and pump).
 
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