Algae Pool Starting My 1st SLAM

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Today's shot. I am pulling air bubbles in after vacuuming. I think I need to raise the water level slightly. The water level is near the edge of the skimmer.

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I finally got my stabilizer levels coming up. I was at 28ppm yesterday and today, I should be higher as I added more CYA to the pool yesterday. I have been maintaining FC better as a result. I had fun cleaning the pool today after a severe thunderstorm came through last night. There is a tropical depression coming by us on Friday! Whoo hoo! LEAVES FOR EVERYBODY!! The other thing I need to do to get my pool balanced is to add some calcium. I am low right now. Borates will be the final step. I am thinking AUG will be better as I will need to buy 25 boxes of Borax and 7 gallons of Muriatic Acid. Has anyone used the product Ensure? I can get a large enough bucket to do my pool for about $100. I am still trying to SLAM. I have some organics still in the pool. The bottom needs a vacuum as well. The water is still cloudy but, the visability has greatly improved over the last couple weeks.

Current FC is at 8ppm. I need to add about 3 gallons of 8.25% bleach to get that up to 16.
 
My grandpa has been talking about "Ensure" for breakfast, lunch, or as a delicious between-meal snack to help meet your daily nutritional needs.

As for the borax, just did mine this year and like the result :goodjob:
 

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LOL. I guess not only does my pool need to eat healthy, so does grandpa! Where is a cheap place to find muriatic acid at 31.45%? Home Depot had MA but, no % on the bottle.

Getting ready for thunderstorms tonight and the the effects of Hurricane Arthur on Fri/Sat.
 
rockymtns99 said:
I finally got my stabilizer levels coming up. I was at 28ppm yesterday and today, I should be higher as I added more CYA to the pool yesterday. I have been maintaining FC better as a result. I had fun cleaning the pool today after a severe thunderstorm came through last night. There is a tropical depression coming by us on Friday! Whoo hoo! LEAVES FOR EVERYBODY!! The other thing I need to do to get my pool balanced is to add some calcium. I am low right now. Borates will be the final step. I am thinking AUG will be better as I will need to buy 25 boxes of Borax and 7 gallons of Muriatic Acid. Has anyone used the product Ensure? I can get a large enough bucket to do my pool for about $100. I am still trying to SLAM. I have some organics still in the pool. The bottom needs a vacuum as well. The water is still cloudy but, the visability has greatly improved over the last couple weeks.
Current FC is at 8ppm. I need to add about 3 gallons of 8.25% bleach to get that up to 16.
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When you get ready to add borates you should take a look at boric acid from Duda Diesel on the web. I added up the costs and the $30-$40 savings with borax and MA was not worth the time (I don't have any!) and labor. Very easy. Toss it in, brush pool, done! Get some borates test strips from tftestkits.net
Good luck and keep at it! It will be worth the work.
 

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Thanks for all the help everyone! We've been swimming in a nice blue pool. I have run out of bleach but the FC levels are holding MUCH better. A trip to Dollar General will be in my future. I still have some cloudiness but, I see improvement daily. I did buy some calcium to add just to bring it up but, I have not added it yet. I do have some clarifier but not sure if I need it. The filter is working (slowly). I will be vacuuming the deep end to get the last few 'bits' out of there. I am sure that will help.

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kiss4afrog said:
Welcome to the forum Cptnding :wave:
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Thanks!

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cptnding said:
When you get ready to add borates you should take a look at boric acid from Duda Diesel on the web. I added up the costs and the $30-$40 savings with borax and MA was not worth the time (I don't have any!) and labor. Very easy. Toss it in, brush pool, done! Get some borates test strips from tftestkits.net
Good luck and keep at it! It will be worth the work.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip! I will have to check that out. How much boric acid is needed for 32,000 gallons? Is it the same by weight as Borax? I need about 24-25 boxes for my pool if I buy Borax.
 
That picture I posted (post #25) of the borax boxes was my 32,000 gal pool. I used 22 boxes and around 7 gal acid and I'm a good 50+ on my test strips. That isn't all the acid as I already had some in the garage.

For how much boric acid to use the Pool Math calculator has a drop down box so instead of "Borax" just select "Boric Acid"
 
Are there any thoughts on borates and children? I have two small kids 4 & 6 yrs old. I know we are only talking about dosing pools to about 50ppm but boric acid is a mild toxin. I have heard that pets should not drink pool water with borates in it. I am thinking this is a non issue but was curious because, I'm sure others have probably thought about it. I don't worry about them drinking the water so, I am just wondering what others have thought.
 
It is only a problem with pets if they drink all their water from the pool. The kids should not be drinking nearly enough to have any possibility of problems ... and they are easy to "train" to not drink the pool water ;)
 
Are you keeping you FC at slam level until you pass the OCLT rest? Still brushing, vacuuming and testing every hr or so? You don't want your FC level to drop below your SLAM target. You don't need Calcium in a vinyl pool. Adding borates would be the last thing I'd be worried about at this point. Wait til you have a crystal clear pool for that.
 
smforte said:
Are you keeping you FC at slam level until you pass the OCLT rest? Still brushing, vacuuming and testing every hr or so? You don't want your FC level to drop below your SLAM target. You don't need Calcium in a vinyl pool. Adding borates would be the last thing I'd be worried about at this point. Wait til you have a crystal clear pool for that.
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I passed the OCLT. I need to get back to brushing as we've had some storms this last few days. I need to vacuum and get the little specks of tree 'dirt' and the few leaves I can still see at bottom. I am able to see to the bottom of the deep end.
 
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