New Guy, starting SLAM

[DaninFLA]

Hi, bought a house with a saltwater pool a couple of months ago. been swimming in it since then as well. its roughly 8,000 gallons and it has a 15k gallon SWG cell on it. I have the TF100 test kit. at first FC was well over around 5, but started to drop when the weather warmed up. had some green water a couple of weeks ago and shocked the pool, but not correctly. I just poured a jug of chlorine in there and FC went to 24 and that was it. green water cleared out, but never got crystal clear. did more snooping on this site and now I am ready to do it right!

been bumping up my CYA, it was at 30 when I bought it and now its close to 50 based on test this morning. I dumped the rest of my 10% chlorine this morning to get a head start and will be picking up a bunch more on the way home. I do have some yellowish type algae on the sides of the pool so I think I will take it above the mustard level at first then bring back down to the shock level, does that sound right?

oh yeah, brought by pH down to 7.3 or so this morning before I put in the chlorine.

the reason for the SLAM is to get the pool reset. I have been running the SWG/pump for 8 hours at 100% production and haven't been able to FC above 2.0. I figure there are two problems, either the cell is going bad, or I got stuff in the pool that is eating the FC and wont allow it to rise. I would think/hope that is the case.

 

[tim5055]

I do have some yellowish type algae on the sides of the pool so I think I will take it above the mustard level at first then bring back down to the shock level, does that sound right?

No, if you had mustard you would just bring the FC up to mustard level for 24 hours at the END of the SLAM.

SWCG have a finite life span, so dont try to run yours at 100% to "help" the SLAM.. Just stick with your liquid chlorine and remember to brush every day, nooks crannies or anywhere algae could hide.

It would help us if you would add the following information to your signature so we can see it each time you ask a question.

• The size of your pool in gallons
  

• If your pool is an AG (above ground) or IG (in ground)
  
• If it's IG, tell us if it's vinyl, plaster/pebble, or fiberglass
  
• The type filter you have (sand, DE, cartridge)
  
• If you know, tell us the make and model of your pump and filter.
  
• List any other equipment you have: SWG, second pump, etc.
  
• Please mention if you fill the pool from a well or are currently on water restrictions

 

[DaninFLA]

No, if you had mustard you would just bring the FC up to mustard level for 24 hours at the END of the SLAM.

SWCG have a finite life span, so dont try to run yours at 100% to "help" the SLAM.. Just stick with your liquid chlorine and remember to brush every day, nooks crannies or anywhere algae could hide.

It would help us if you would add the following information to your signature so we can see it each time you ask a question.

• The size of your pool in gallons
  

• If your pool is an AG (above ground) or IG (in ground)
  
• If it's IG, tell us if it's vinyl, plaster/pebble, or fiberglass
  
• The type filter you have (sand, DE, cartridge)
  
• If you know, tell us the make and model of your pump and filter.
  
• List any other equipment you have: SWG, second pump, etc.
  
• Please mention if you fill the pool from a well or are currently on water restrictions

thanks, I will wait till the end of the SLAM to get the levels up for mustard algae. to clarify, I am not expecting the SWCG to be helpful during the SLAM, in fact I turned it down to 10% this morning and will be using liquid chlorine. I guess I need to remove my light to make sure there is no algae in there?

- - - Updated - - -

updated my signature...hmm not showing up yet. EDIT: got it!

 

[DaninFLA]

just called around, leslies here has pretty cheap liquid chlorine. $4 for a 2.5g jug of 10.5%. not bad. gotta get me a few jugs, $6.50 deposit

 

[tim5055]

Yea, availability of liquid 10/12.5% chlorine in FL is good.

I might even turn the SWCG off during the SLAM

 

[DaninFLA]

turned off the SWCG yesterday when I got home and stocked up on chlorine on the way home. when I got home the pool was at 14ppm, added another gallon to get it up to 23ppm. added another 0.5 gallons before bed. when I woke up this morning it was at 18.5ppm and put another gallon in before I left. the wife is going to put another 1 gallon in this afternoon and I will check levels when I get home today. one gallon has been increasing chlorine by about 10ppm pretty consistently. looks like the pool is using about 20ppm of chlorine per day right now.

pool store had a sale going on as well, got three 2.5g jugs of 10% for $10, plus it was double stamp day (10 jugs, get 1 free). pretty darn cheap

 

[tim5055]

Your prices are killing me......

 

[DaninFLA]

forgot to add that my CC has been 0 throughout.

 

[DaninFLA]

yesterday was day 3 of my SLAM. water is very clear and brushing the walls/bottom are not producing anything. Chlorine last night when I checked was at 26 and bumped it to 31 before I went to bed. 12 hour overnight loss was 5 ppm, so not too bad. CC is still 0 as its been since the beginning. hopefully gonna pass the OCLT tonight and start dropping chlorine back to regular levels and be back in the pool on Monday

 

[JVTrain]

Make sure you remove your lights, ladders and any other fixtures and scrub them really well. They will hide algae and you won't pass OCLT unless you do so.

 

[DaninFLA]

Make sure you remove your lights, ladders and any other fixtures and scrub them really well. They will hide algae and you won't pass OCLT unless you do so.

taking the light out today actually. nothing else is in there and I have been scrubbing above the water line and under the ledge to get any algae that could be hiding.

 

[pooldv]

Crouching tiger, hidden algae!

Good progress!

 

[DaninFLA]

found the source of my overnight FC drops...algae behind the light, and a lot of it. cleaned it up saturday morning and passed the OCLT last night. even during today i have only lost 1ppm of FC. now to wait for FC levels to drop a bit for swimming

 

[pooldv]

Good news! As long as FC is below shock level for your CYA, ph is good and the water is clear then you are ok to swim. Chlorine CYA Chart