Add cya or slam first?

[Stephani]

Hello. I have been a pool owner for 7 years but new to this forum and way of caring for my pool. Ive read pool school and many of the threads. I have a 15000 gallon vinyl above ground saltwater pool. My ph is7.2, ta 80, cya 30, salt is low at 2650, fc 0, Tc 0. Do I slam with cya at 30 or raise it to 70 to 80 first? I also need to add salt. When do do add the salt?Thanks in advance.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Stephani.

You should always SLAM with a low CYA if possible.

Is your pool green or cloudy? Do you have obvious algae? If not, why are you SLAMing?

and.. Do us a favor... report your test data as follows:

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Salt

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[justinc]

If your CYA is 30 do not raise it until after the SLAM. You can add the salt whenever you want. You will turn of your salt water chlorine generator during the SLAM and use only liquid chlorine.

 

[Stephani]

Thanks so much for the replies. My pool is cloudy and I am losing chlorine. I also had an algae problem last week and in the process vacuumed to waste and replaced 8 to 10 inches total of water. After contemplating your questions perhaps I just need more salt. My sag indicated low salt. I did put a chlorine puck in the skimmer yesterday morning since I couldn't run the swg. The test still showed chlorine at 0.

 

[justinc]

If you had algae, you do need to SLAM. I think Jim just didn't want you jumping to that conclusion and going through all that trouble if it wasn't necessary. But you said the magic words.... cloudy and algae... and 0 chlorine...

Proceed to SLAM

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! A single chlorine puck won't add enough chlorine fast enough to register on the test if you are starting at 0. Until the SWG is producing chlorine again, you need to use liquid chlorine and raise the chlorine level quickly without adding extra CYA you may not need. Use PoolMath to raise your FC level to 10ppm and test your water again in 15 minutes. After 15 minutes if you still have between 6 and 10ppm of FC start the regular SLAM Process testing cycle. If you have less than 5ppm of FC, raise it back up to 10ppm and retest again in 15 minutes. Continue the 15 minute cycle until you hold more than 5ppm of FC. You can add salt at any time, but only use liquid chlorine to slam the pool. Do not turn on the SWG until after the slam is completed.

 

[justinc]

Also, I forgot to say, don't trust the salt cell to report an accurate reading. You should measure it yourself with a reliable kit before adding to verify. You need the Taylor K-1766 salt test if you do not have it.

 

[Stephani]

Thanks. I am at work at the moment and not sure what brand of salt strips I used. I just got the salt level up to 3000 last week and the swg was finally producing chlorine. Then I had a bunch of kids in the pool and they cracked open a homemade weight I had made for my steps. It had algae in it and it went into the pool. my cya level was low. After reading pool school and understanding the relation of low cya and chlorine loss I now understand why I had to put the swg on shock to keep chlorine in the pool. I had slowly added stabilizer too. But with the treatment for algae and vacuuming to waste several times and lots of rain and refilling I was probably losing much of what I had added including salt and cya. I have not been able to get water clear this year either. I've been struggling with this for the last month and finally landed on this site. I am so appreciative of the advice and feel confident that with this guidance I will have a sparkling pool soon. I did also get a taylor test kit two days ago. I will retest everything this afternoon and report back if I have any questions that I cant find answers to. I cant say how much I appreciate your responses and the time you took to answer my questions.