Cloudy water -- time to SLAM?

[GrandizerGo]

The pool water has been super clean until the last couple of days. We've been getting a lot of pollen/seeds/junk plus a bit of rain in the last couple of days. My skimmer sock was completely full to the point of affecting the water flow. Usually I just spray them off but the last couple of days its easier to just replace them.

CYA is 30 and the lowest FC has gone is 3 ppm. CC has never gone above 0.5. I dose with liquid chlorine. Time to SLAM or let the filtering catch up?

 

[Texas Splash]

I would recommend an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Based on those results you should know if a SLAM Process is needed. In the meantime, go ahead and bump-up the FC to about 6-8 and try to keep it strong before the OCLT.

 

[GrandizerGo]

Thanks. I've bumped it to 7.5. I'll do the OCLT but figured I would be losing some chlorine as there is a lot of junk falling into the pool.

 

[CrystalRiver]

The junk is accounted for by allowing a 0.5 loss. Junk doesn't consume FC all that quickly by itself.

 

[Newdude]

+1. It takes a long time for the gunk to start to break down and consume FC. I had crazy oaks and was overrun with pollen, leaves and sticks. None of it ever affected anything. Until whatever blew in the winter sat until spring. Then it was half decayed and all kinds of organics.

Anytime you wonder, perform the Overnight Chlorine Loss Test as said above. It’s probably just the pollen. Good on you for knowing for sure. If it is just pollen, it takes nothing but time, and a lot of it. You don’t *have to* run 24/7 but understand that 12 hours will take twice as long. Mine took about 3 weeks to stop and/or catch up each spring. Once or twice a week do the OCLT to ensure it keeps being just pollen.

 

[GrandizerGo]

It's a gray, rainy day today.
My results from last night until this morning.
19:30 FC 8.0
23:09 FC 7.0
08:00 FC 4.5
CC 0.5

I just added more LC which should bring it closer to FC 8.

I'm still a little perplexed on how it would go from crystal clear for almost two weeks and then get cloudy the last few days. Other then pollen/seeds/spiders/the odd worm, there hasn't been much for debris. I run the robot almost every day. Only chemical additions have been LC and MA.

 

[wireform]

Grand,
You should definitely start a slam as the OCLT proves what the cloudiness is all about. More then 1 ppm overnight is the tell tale of what you have.

 

[GrandizerGo]

Just an update....I didn't start the SLAM because it was cold as heck yesterday. We had snow coming down! I kept FC up around 8ppm and ran the pump/filter 24/7. I cleaned out the skimmer sock three times and the amount of pollen is much less. Pool is looking better. I think there is still a bit of a dullness but we are about 95% there. I'll do an OCLT tonight to determine how to proceed. Pic below taken while robot and pump running.

 

[Texas Splash]

Very nice! I would be surprised if you didn't pass the OCLT.