Can't get rid of CC, been slamming for days. Please help!

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SarahMili

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Dec 30, 2018
35
Glen Rock, PA
I'm new to the TFP method this year and have been learning so much as I go. I messed up last week and have definitely learned my lesson, but at this point, I need HELP!

Against my better judgement and the advice I'd gotten here, I had continued to use frog bac pac chlorinator cartridges (tri-chlor) because we spent a lot of $$ on them and I thought I'd just use them up before switching over to plain liquid bleach. Big mistake because I didn't understand that they would also raise my CYA level. Without realizing it, my CYA jumped from the 40/50 range to 70. As a result, it seems I wasn't keeping my chlorine level high enough. On top of that, I then had overnight company (lots of swimmers who were coated in sunscreen), neglected monitoring my chlorine for a day, and next thing I knew, it had dropped to 0. The pool looked cloudy at that point, but I thought it was from all the sunscreen. Pool never turned green / I never saw visible algae.

I wasn't able to start my SLAM until the next day, which was 6 days ago. Next mistake - probably stopped slamming way too soon because I ran out of liquid bleach. CC was 0 so I foolishly didn't follow the OCLT rule. CC then rose to 1, so I re-started SLAM 3 days ago. This time I lowered pH to 7.5 before starting and we power-washed the filters (which where pretty grody despite being brand new just 2.5 weeks ago). I've been really diligent about staying on top of the chlorine for the past 3 days, running my robot twice a day etc., but my CC has now been going all the way up to 2.5 at times! Do I just need to be patient? Should I power wash the filters again? Pool has looked totally clear ever since starting the initial SLAM 6 days ago.
 
SarahMili said:
I've been really diligent about staying on top of the chlorine for the past 3 days, running my robot twice a day etc., but my CC has now been going all the way up to 2.5 at times! Do I just need to be patient? Should I power wash the filters again? Pool has looked totally clear ever since starting the initial SLAM 6 days ago.
Click to expand...
Definitely keep up with the complete SLAM Process steps.
- Is the pool covered (that has contributed to elevated CC's in some cases)?
- Are all niches/nooks cleaned out and open to the pool water? (lights, steps/ladders, etc)
Is a partial drain or water exchange a possibility to reduce your CYA level? Simply to make the chlorine additions more manageable. FC/CYA Levels
 
splashpad said:
Definitely keep up with the complete SLAM Process steps.
- Is the pool covered (that has contributed to elevated CC's in some cases)?
- Are all niches/nooks cleaned out and open to the pool water? (lights, steps/ladders, etc)
Is a partial drain or water exchange a possibility to reduce your CYA level? Simply to make the chlorine additions more manageable. FC/CYA Levels
Click to expand...
Pool is not covered. We don't have a ladder. There two lights, which look clean to me, but I could try cleaning them (although this would require getting in the pool. Is that safe with FC 28 and CC 2.5?). Would rather avoid a partial drain because we have a fiberglass pool. I have definitely ceased using the tri-chlor and will stick to bleach only from now on.
 
Check the pictures.

Think I may have found my FC demand issue?

Not saying conclusively BUT.... I've been chasing a FC demand issue that maintaining shock levels for days wasn't taming. Have been losing about 6ppm FC per night while trying to achieve the OCLT. Pool is sparkling as if there is almost no water in it. No CC or less than .5. Still consuming...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Richard320 said:
Check the pictures.

Think I may have found my FC demand issue?

Not saying conclusively BUT.... I've been chasing a FC demand issue that maintaining shock levels for days wasn't taming. Have been losing about 6ppm FC per night while trying to achieve the OCLT. Pool is sparkling as if there is almost no water in it. No CC or less than .5. Still consuming...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
I don't think we can take our light out like that. The pool was new last year. Husband says we'd have to replace the whole unit.
 
Update to this post - CC level has remained around 1.5 today. I decided to take my water for a pool store test just out of curiosity to see what they said, even though I really don’t trust them much. They said I had practically no combined chlorine, which I don’t understand. However, they also said my phosphates are over 1300. This isn’t something I can test myself (I have the TF-100). Now, I actually had a pool store test done little over a week ago as well (at that time I was just curious how much their numbers would or wouldn’t match my own). At that time, I supposedly had 0 phosphates. Although I’m still skeptical of their results, I do live on the side of a farm, so I decided to go ahead and add a bottle of PhosAway that I already had on hand from last year.

Could high phosphates cause the high CC reading? Could anything other than farm pesticides have raised my phosphate levels (i.e. sunblock)?

P.S. Didn’t look into removing the lights yet, although I won’t rule it out if I continue to have problems in the next day or so. I really appreciate all of the suggestions and input!
 
**Wasn’t sure if anyone would read to the bottom to see my update in my other post about difficulty lowering my CC during slamming, so figured I would start a new post. Not sure what the acceptable way is to update one’s post on here.**

Update to my post yesterday - CC level has remained around 1.5 today. I decided to take my water for a pool store test just out of curiosity to see what they said, even though I really don’t trust them much. They said I had practically no combined chlorine, which I don’t understand. However, they also said my phosphates are over 1300. This isn’t something I can test myself (I have the TF-100). Now, I actually had a pool store test done little over a week ago as well (at that time I was just curious how much their numbers would or wouldn’t match my own). At that time, I had 0 phosphates. Although I’m still skeptical of their results, I do live on the side of a farm, so I decided to go in ahead and add a bottle of PhosAway that I already had on hand from last year.

Could high phosphates cause the high CC reading? Could anything other than farm pesticides have raised my phosphate levels (i.e. sunblock)?

P.S. Didn’t look into removing the lights yet, although I won’t rule it out if I continue to have problems in the next day or so. I really appreciate all of the suggestions and input!
 
You got pool stored on the phosphates. No way they went from 0 to 1300 in that short a time. And neither of those levels are of any consequence.

The remover they sold you is primarily water. Real phosphate removers cost a lot more, and work really well, when necessary.

Continue following the SLAM Process
 
mknauss said:
You got pool stored on the phosphates. No way they went from 0 to 1300 in that short a time. And neither of those levels are of any consequence.

The remover they sold you is primarily water. Real phosphate removers cost a lot more, and work really well, when necessary.

Continue following the SLAM Process
Click to expand...

That’s what I figured! Thankfully I didn’t take their bait and buy the PhosAway they were trying to sell me today though. When I got home, I discovered I had an unused bottle that they sold me last year (before I was wiser), so after some research, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to add it. I will continue my slam. Thank you!
 

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If your main issue is CC being tested, be sure you thoroughly clean your testing vial with bleach. It has been shown the vials can get 'dirty' and it shows up as CC.
 
And yes, if your CYA is 70, FC of 28 is safe to get in the pool. The 2.5CC (if not a testing error like Marty mentioned) means you would feel stinging eyes and such like public pools give. Does it smell like chlorine?
 
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