Slamming and still murky

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Tricia1969

Tricia1969

0
Aug 21, 2014
28
North Alabama
I'm on day 4 of my first slam after the pool store had me put everything imaginable in, making it worse and worse. Before beginning Slam my levels were :
FC 0.5
CC 1.0
CH 200
TA 120
CYA 30
pH 7.8
Before this, I had drained and refilled half the water to lower CYA and adjusted pH down from over 8.
I've added to maintain FC at 12 four times per day. I have brushed everyday. Sides are not brushing easily like I have experienced before. They seem stained?? I have back washed everyday (even though pressure hasn't changed at all, it is dirty). This morning, I only lost two ppm FC. It is still really not visibly better at all and I'm concerned I'm missing something. It is murky, greenish brown. You can barely tell brushing is doing anything. Attaching pixuploadfromtaptalk1409406594203.jpguploadfromtaptalk1409406609527.jpguploadfromtaptalk1409406620864.jpg

36000 G, IG, sand, vinyl
 
With that much green it is going to take time. Keep at it and it will get better.

The sides may be more difficult to brush since you've loosened the algae hanging on there, which would be a slippery film.

Take some motrin/advil and keep brushing. An alcoholic beverage helps too, if you're so inclined.

No need to backwash daily. Wait til pressure rises 20% from your clean pressure.
 
At 4 days in I'd think you would see a color change also. I really don't see anything wrong with what your doing. Maintain your SLAM level as best you can and give it some more time.
You stated your filter pressure isn't changing. Is your gauge broken and do you have your multiport valve in filtration and not recirculate ? ?
 
If your FC drops below 10 I'd retest the pH and adjust it closer to 7.2 Seeing as you are having an issue with getting some visual results it's best to adjust what you can to help the chlorine do it's job.

Have you also checked in your skimmers to brush those clean and behind any underwater lights ?? If you have a removable ladder pop it out and make sure there isn't anything hanging onto the bottom of the ladders rungs.

I'd make sure the gauge on your filter is working and the reason for waiting for the rise in pressure is due to the filter doing a better job of filtering when it's a little dirty. The dirt it catches actually plugs it up a bit and then it filters smaller and smaller stuff. Backwashing when it's not indicated by the gauge can actually be counter productive to filtering out the stuff you want to remove from the water. Plus, it's a waste of time and water.

Are you testing the water or is that the pool stores results ??

- - - Updated - - -

If you think there is anything down there I'd definitely be raking and or vacuuming to get it out even if you're "blind". The less organic matter the faster you'll see results.
 
Tricia

Are you absolutely sure there's no debris at the bottom that you may have missed with your net?

I struggled once with a situation like this, only to find there was a huge pile of leaves that had migrated from one point in the pool I missed to the deep end, covering the drain and adding phosphates to the water.

Also, consider taking a sample in to a pool place to give you a TDS, total dissolved solids, number. It might reveal your problem if you have bound chlorine or something else that's causing this.
 
I know there is no significant debris. It's like dirt. No drain in the bottom.... And if I'm getting a free chlorine reading, wouldn't that be free, available chlorine? And I so don't want to go to the pool store.... I think I'm going to see if I can vacuum some of the 'dirt' in the morning. Perhaps that will speed things up a little. Ty

36000 G, IG, sand, vinyl, no SWG
 

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Don't worry about phosphates... as long as you have the proper amount of chlorine in the pool they don't matter.... tds is also not important... with so many days and no change perhaps you should recheck your cya level... make sure you do it in full Sun with your back to the sun... and don't be afraid to pour it back into the bottle and test as many times as you like till you as sure about it... never hurts to double check
 
Tricia, you said you were adding to 12 ppm 4 times daily. How much have you lost one hour after an addition?

For example, if you add to 12ppm, then an hour later you're at 6 ppm, you need to add back up and STAY above 12 ppm. Every time you drop below shock level, you are allowing algae to grow faster than your ability to kill it.

So since its Sunday -- try slamming the dickens out of it today and see if you can get ahead. If that means over dosing to some degree to maintain the shock level longer then perhaps mustard level today wouldn't be a bad plan.

If you've gone four days without color change, then I suspect you're not "staying ahead" of the algae and should indeed increase your efforts. After the first day or two of aggressive, constant additions, well, maybe then you'll be able to go several hours between. But right now, I'd hammer it.

While its true that it will take your sand filter some time to clear it, it shouldn't take this long to witness a visual change/evidence that sanitation is happening.

Before you do that though, the first time yo've dropped below 10 when a ph reading is reliable, bring your ph down to about 7.2...That will increase the chlorine's effectiveness. But after you do it once, don't worry about it, as the readings at sustained shock level will be FALSE.

Best wishes! Sorry fr suggesting more labor in your labor Day weekend ;)
 
Haha, labored alll weekend! I vacuumed 'blind' this morning and it seemed to help a little. Also increased to mustard level and will maintain that. Of note.... I pulled my Polaris out before mustard shock and instead of being bleached white, it had a tan film on it that looked and felt exactly like liquid makeup?? What's up with this?? Do I maybe have iron or copper? I have been told that my water supply has some copper?? But, in my initial round of pool store stuff, I did their metal treatment which did not help at all!?

36000 G, IG, sand, vinyl, no SWG
 
Tricia1969 said:
I pulled my Polaris out before mustard shock and instead of being bleached white, it had a tan film on it that looked and felt exactly like liquid makeup?? What's up with this??
Click to expand...

Sounds like dead or dying algae film. I would keep it in during the slam to make sure there isn't any lingering algae waiting to take over as soon as you think you are done. You can also toss in pool toys that might be "infected".
 
Fyi, my FC was 9 yesterday so I retested pH, it was still highish so I added the recommended acid this morning. I think that was probably a big part of the holdup. I am seeing nice improvement now , day 5, and will let all know how long it takes to totally complete! :)

36000 G, IG, sand, vinyl, no SWG
 

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