- Mar 24, 2014
- 2,455
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- 32000
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- Plaster
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- CircuPool SJ-55
Since you have a pretty good idea of how much bleach you have been adding and how often, you can continue to do that until Monday.
cloudy pool
- Thread starter Brianhempel
- Start date
Need more advice. I mentioned I am out of 00871 (FC test) nobody has it, I ordered it and will be getting it on Sunday (previously said Monday, wrong). I have read on your forums that once the water shows some improvement, which mine has not, the amount of FC being consumed will start decreasing. Bruce was kind enough to reply that I should continue since I am aware of how much and how often i have needed to add bleach. It has been 36 hrs. since the start of my SLAMing, with no improvement with no measurable improvement. Should I still continue with the same amount of bleach as I have been, until 1). I receive my test strips or 2). Start seeing measurable improvements?
I really need help!!!! My pool was still cloudy yesterday, but showing a hint of blue. Today no blue, cloudy very light green. I haven't been able to test FC for almost 24 hours. I have been adding the same amount i did yesterday every 60-90 minutes. I think my FC level must be too low. I read other posts people saying things like I added a bunch of bleach (not measured) went to work pool was cloudy green, came home and it was crystal clear. I am fearful of stopping the slam, because I am worried by Sunday when my 00871 finally arrives, my pool will be a mess. What should I do? What are the dangers if I put too much chlorine in the pool. It is concrete, no liner, solar heated, no heat pump.
I have been brushing the pool daily, cleaning the filter daily. My pressure is 15 with the solar running. The filter is only 3 months old and it is probably the cleanest filter in town!! I am meticulous about cleaning it. I also have a new pressure gauge purchased at the same time.
I have been brushing the pool daily, cleaning the filter daily. My pressure is 15 with the solar running. The filter is only 3 months old and it is probably the cleanest filter in town!! I am meticulous about cleaning it. I also have a new pressure gauge purchased at the same time.
I would recommend using a pro test with diluted pool water. Not perfect but will give a good idea of fc level. Just use 3 parts tap water and 1 part pool water and test. If you get 4 fc multiply by 4 and your pool will be about 16
Jim do you have any other suggestions? Still SLAMing, no change in cloudiness. I started this SLAM on Wednesday mourning. I am still wondering if the stiff brush we used to brush the sides a week ago Wednesday, which started the clouding, released a lot of calcium. The pool had been neglected for some time before we purchased the house. When I received my Taylor 100 kit last Thursday, our CYA was non 0 and our CH225 not horribly low but we have a few streaks of white ( i am assuming calcium) on the sides of the pool and two spots on the bottom of the pool. It looks like white concrete that hadn't been smoothed down. I was told by the pool guy it was calcium being pooled out of the surface. If that was calcium we brushed off of the wall and bottom, could that be what is clouding the pool? If it is how do we get rid of it? Our CH prior to slam was 250. Help would be greatly appreciated. Also, I have searched your forums and cannot find out if our solar heat should have been turned off while SLAMing? Little late now, any harm done by that? It was on.
Does anyone have any answers? or solutions
Does anyone have any answers? or solutions
Brian,
One of the reasons that I stepped back from your thread was the lack of any first hand knowledge of the SLAM process...
I have three TFP pools and they all have been crystal clear for several years of being on the TFP maintenance program. So this is great for me, but means that I have never had to SLAM a pool myself, which is bad for giving advice...
I have read several threads on SLAMing and while some are done very quickly some are not as fortunate.
Let me see if I can find an expert on this subject that can respond.
At this point I would just stay on the course you are on.
Jim R.
One of the reasons that I stepped back from your thread was the lack of any first hand knowledge of the SLAM process...
I have three TFP pools and they all have been crystal clear for several years of being on the TFP maintenance program. So this is great for me, but means that I have never had to SLAM a pool myself, which is bad for giving advice...
I have read several threads on SLAMing and while some are done very quickly some are not as fortunate.
Let me see if I can find an expert on this subject that can respond.
At this point I would just stay on the course you are on.
Jim R.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,946
- Pool Size
- 17888
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- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
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- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Good morning Brian. A few of us are reviewing your thread from scratch just to see if anything needs to be addressed. Hang in there. In the meantime, yes, just continue with a reasonable FC replenishment until you can get another bottle of R-0871. Not sure if you were testing FC this before, but use the 10ML water sample, one hefty scoop of power, and once you count from pink to clear just divide by 2. Example: 24 drops = FC of 12. If you weren't doing it that way before, it may help in the future.
We'll get back with you shortly.
We'll get back with you shortly.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,946
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Okay, a few thoughts of my own after reading everything:
- Recap ... hints or green water will only come from two things: iron in the water or algae. I don't believe you have an iron problem, otherwise the green (or sometimes it turns brown) would've gotten worse with more chlorine. So we have to look at algae.
- Brushing the walls may have dispersed some CH into the water, but shouldn't have any effect on completing a SLAM.
- I have about the same filter as you, so it can get full quickly, but it sounds like you're taking good care of it.
- The cloudiness could be a lot of dead algae simply circulating until it can get filtered-out. The brushing would kick it up more until enough gets filtered.
- You (and your wife) appear to have captured a correct CYA assuming it was a bright sunny day when you inspected the CYA (black dot) tube outside. If it wasn't let us know. As you already know, that CYA is critical to ensuring we have the correct FC SLAM level.
When it comes to a SLAM and proper sanitation, it's a simple as the right ratio of bleach and stabilizer. Sure, we adjust pH first to 7.2 because a SLAM can take a week or two, but the other factors are really just for calcium (scale) and acidity control. For clean/clear water, it's all about the right amount of bleach and time. Your SLAM is still relatively fresh - what, about 4-5 days I think right? Your pool is not a swamp like we've seen in other cases, but a SLAM can still take an easy full week or two as it continues to break-down algae.
Also ensure you've left no stones unturned for algae hiding places. Yes, leave the solar and any other plumbing avenues open for circulation. The bleach must pass through any places where algae could be stagnant or still attached. Did you check behind any light niches, railings, or stairs if you have such hiding places? I even had some algae under my skimmer lid at one point, so be extra picky when looking around.
You have lots of eyes on this thread, so we're rooting for you and will watch/reply as needed. Try to have a good day.
- Recap ... hints or green water will only come from two things: iron in the water or algae. I don't believe you have an iron problem, otherwise the green (or sometimes it turns brown) would've gotten worse with more chlorine. So we have to look at algae.
- Brushing the walls may have dispersed some CH into the water, but shouldn't have any effect on completing a SLAM.
- I have about the same filter as you, so it can get full quickly, but it sounds like you're taking good care of it.
- The cloudiness could be a lot of dead algae simply circulating until it can get filtered-out. The brushing would kick it up more until enough gets filtered.
- You (and your wife) appear to have captured a correct CYA assuming it was a bright sunny day when you inspected the CYA (black dot) tube outside. If it wasn't let us know. As you already know, that CYA is critical to ensuring we have the correct FC SLAM level.
When it comes to a SLAM and proper sanitation, it's a simple as the right ratio of bleach and stabilizer. Sure, we adjust pH first to 7.2 because a SLAM can take a week or two, but the other factors are really just for calcium (scale) and acidity control. For clean/clear water, it's all about the right amount of bleach and time. Your SLAM is still relatively fresh - what, about 4-5 days I think right? Your pool is not a swamp like we've seen in other cases, but a SLAM can still take an easy full week or two as it continues to break-down algae.
Also ensure you've left no stones unturned for algae hiding places. Yes, leave the solar and any other plumbing avenues open for circulation. The bleach must pass through any places where algae could be stagnant or still attached. Did you check behind any light niches, railings, or stairs if you have such hiding places? I even had some algae under my skimmer lid at one point, so be extra picky when looking around.
You have lots of eyes on this thread, so we're rooting for you and will watch/reply as needed. Try to have a good day.
As someone that has done more SLAMs than I would like to admit- I would agree with everything that Tex has said.
Just as some sort of indicator - I have caught the algae fairly early on each occasion - symptoms were insatiable FC demand with a loss of sparkle to the pool. No real cloudiness or visible algae. The minimum time it took me to complete the SLAM was 4 days. This included staying on top of it with regular chlorine additions to maintain the necessary FC levels. From what I can gather you have only been SLAMming for a couple of days. This is one of those occasions where Pool Owner Patience is key.
Just as some sort of indicator - I have caught the algae fairly early on each occasion - symptoms were insatiable FC demand with a loss of sparkle to the pool. No real cloudiness or visible algae. The minimum time it took me to complete the SLAM was 4 days. This included staying on top of it with regular chlorine additions to maintain the necessary FC levels. From what I can gather you have only been SLAMming for a couple of days. This is one of those occasions where Pool Owner Patience is key.
Pat
Thank you for your response. First, we are 100% on board with TFP method. No temptation to resort to pool store for advice!!! I am so confident in my FC testing, I could do it in my sleep. I have been testing the water every 60-90 minutes. We just examined the skimmer and found lots of hidden algae, (new pool owners, had no idea it was there) we are scrubbing that and bleaching the heck out of it. There was so much coming off the water turned like a puff of cloudy white. We are using a mirror to look up underneath to areas we can't see from eye level. I am hoping this is the elusive algae we were searching for. We purchased a bigger bottle of the reagent for CYA and we are continuing to practice reading the levels. I would like to say we are 100% positive, but I cannot. Will brush again and vacuum again, keep an eye on the filter. Pressure is excellent! It is running at about 10 with the solar running. If you have anything else to offer, please feel free.
Thank you for your response. First, we are 100% on board with TFP method. No temptation to resort to pool store for advice!!! I am so confident in my FC testing, I could do it in my sleep. I have been testing the water every 60-90 minutes. We just examined the skimmer and found lots of hidden algae, (new pool owners, had no idea it was there) we are scrubbing that and bleaching the heck out of it. There was so much coming off the water turned like a puff of cloudy white. We are using a mirror to look up underneath to areas we can't see from eye level. I am hoping this is the elusive algae we were searching for. We purchased a bigger bottle of the reagent for CYA and we are continuing to practice reading the levels. I would like to say we are 100% positive, but I cannot. Will brush again and vacuum again, keep an eye on the filter. Pressure is excellent! It is running at about 10 with the solar running. If you have anything else to offer, please feel free.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,946
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Outstanding!
All of those kind of things can really slow-down the progress of sanitation, so it's great you caught it now.Pat
Good news and bad news. After much reading, we think we have mastered the CYA test. We still saw a slight ghost of a black dot when we came up with 40. Additional testing, we filled the test tube and can still see a ghost. So our thought is if our CYA is possibly 0, we, at no point was getting the FC level to where it needed to be to combat the algae. I am guessing, when we emptied 10" of water last week and refilled and let pump run for 3 hours, then tested everything, we read the CYA wrong. Should we stop the slam and add stabilizer (liquid) and if so, I don't know what number to put in pool math for a CYA level. Don't know if it is 20, 10 or 0? Or can we add stabilizer while we are slamming?
Good news and bad news. After much reading, we think we have mastered the CYA test. We still saw a slight ghost of a black dot when we came up with 40. Additional testing, we filled the test tube and can still see a ghost. So our thought is if our CYA is possibly 0, we, at no point was getting the FC level to where it needed to be to combat the algae. I am guessing, when we emptied 10" of water last week and refilled and let pump run for 3 hours, then tested everything, we read the CYA wrong. Should we stop the slam and add stabilizer (liquid) and if so, I don't know what number to put in pool math for a CYA level. Don't know if it is 20, 10 or 0? Or can we add stabilizer while we are slamming?
HI! You are in good hands. I just wanted to pop in and ask about lights. Do you have any? Did you also look all around the returns? I have a toothbrush just for my pool to do around the returns and skimmer face.
Look REAL close at your skimmer door as well. We had one where it was cracked and a algae farm was growing in it.
Right now a picture a day will do you and us the most good. Take it looking down at the same place. This is will help you see the progress your eyes cannot see it day to day.
Kim
Look REAL close at your skimmer door as well. We had one where it was cracked and a algae farm was growing in it.
Right now a picture a day will do you and us the most good. Take it looking down at the same place. This is will help you see the progress your eyes cannot see it day to day.
Kim
Kim
Thank you, I posted at the same time you did. Could your read it and give me insight?
Thank you, I posted at the same time you did. Could your read it and give me insight?
First step-get some water out of your pool. Put that water in a clear glass. Is it clear? My guess is it will be.
If the pool water alone is not clear we will need to visit that. I am going on my guess it will be clear in the glass.
CYA test-oh how I hate this test. Lets do this my way. Mix up the pool water/CYA test regent as you have before. Now pour the mixture to the first line-100. GLANCE in. Do you still see the dot when you GLANCE in? If so pour to the next line. GLANCE in. Do you see the dot at a GLANCE? Keep going until you cannot see the dot at a GLANCE.
Let's define GLANCE to make sure we are on the same page. GLANCE=quick look down at the tube then look away quickly. Do NOT stare as you will see the dot.
You can retest the same water over and over to get an average between you and your wife.
Of course if your pool water is cloudy when you take it out and put in a clear glass we have a different problem.
Kim
If the pool water alone is not clear we will need to visit that. I am going on my guess it will be clear in the glass.
CYA test-oh how I hate this test. Lets do this my way. Mix up the pool water/CYA test regent as you have before. Now pour the mixture to the first line-100. GLANCE in. Do you still see the dot when you GLANCE in? If so pour to the next line. GLANCE in. Do you see the dot at a GLANCE? Keep going until you cannot see the dot at a GLANCE.
Let's define GLANCE to make sure we are on the same page. GLANCE=quick look down at the tube then look away quickly. Do NOT stare as you will see the dot.
You can retest the same water over and over to get an average between you and your wife.
Of course if your pool water is cloudy when you take it out and put in a clear glass we have a different problem.
Kim
Kim,
Thank you, great advice! pool water in glass is crystal clear. Redoing the CYA with your suggestions. Will let you know soon.
Thank you, great advice! pool water in glass is crystal clear. Redoing the CYA with your suggestions. Will let you know soon.