Complete with Refill Am I ready to SLAM?

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No photos but the water is gettig more cloudy. Decided to get a little more aggressive & have switched to a wire brush. The stuff that came off the walls was unbelievable & I really did not brush thouroughly. Filter completely plugged within the hour. Looks like I am in for a long long process to get this thing cleaned up . I think I am fighting a layer of scale. My question is... why does this not foam when I hit it with muriatic?
 
It feels & looks like a coarse sand. A white plume appeared when I brushed with the wire brush & there were white flakes floating on the surface.
The type of material in the filter has not changed. This is the same stuff as day 1.

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OK, I ran a full test today just to get a feel of the big picture. We have had a lot of rain and I wanted to see where I stand
Note: I have been away all week and my wife has been testing and maintaining Shock FC. Her desire to be confident led to multiple FC tests and running us nearly out of the FC Reagents. Ordered more reagent & instructed her to stop testing and add bleach at the sme dailly rate (abour 96 oz of 8.25% daily. Haven't tested FC in the past couple of days, used the last of the reagents this morning. Expect replenishment delivery on Mon or Tues.

This morning's test results
FC 35
CC 1
TC 36
CH 175
TA 90
PH 8.2+
CYA 55

Looks like the rain water and constant draining to keep the level has helped me reduce the CYA to a more desireable level. Pushing my shock FC level from 28 to 24.

AS stated earlier, I brushed with a wire bush last night because I am still able to rub granules off the pool wall with my hand and do not think the nylon brush is getting the stuff off. After a quick scrub with the wire brush the pool cloued and som white particles are floating on the surface. The filter is now plugging every hour or so with the same brown sandy like substance that i can rub off the pool walls with my hand. I tested some of this that came out of the filter with muriatic acid and get no foaming. At this point I suspect that this is calcium silicate scale that developed over years of neglect.

The photo of the concrete pad & grass shows what has been coming out of the filter.

I know that shock level FC increases PH renders the PH test innaccurate but should I take some steps to lower the PH?

I will remove and clean the light as soon as I finish watching UK beat South Carolina


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Removed the light today. Pretty clean, only 1 clump of algae about 3" x 2" on the back of the housing. Scrubbed everything and re-assembled. I am hoping NOT to do that again until the water warms up.Not an easy task at all hanging over the side of the pool. Could barely reach the thing without dunking my head[emoji15]


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kfpool said:
Removed the light today. Pretty clean, only 1 clump of algae about 3" x 2" on the back of the housing. Scrubbed everything and re-assembled. I am hoping NOT to do that again until the water warms up.Not an easy task at all hanging over the side of the pool. Could barely reach the thing without dunking my head[emoji15]


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Click to expand...

LOL well that's done!
 
You are so close to have a clear Trouble Free Pool! Now comes the hard part POP (pool owners patience). Keep up the great work and well done wife for caring for the pool.

LOL on cleaning the light and burrrrrrr. At least it is done and you can add it to your to do at the end of each summer while it is still warm.

Kim
 
Here are the photos this morning. Pool is quite cloudy & a dull milky green color. It did have some clarity and a bit of sparkle but I did scrub it pretty good with the wire brush yesterday morning and a few times with the nylon. Had to clean the filter 6-7 times yesterday & it was plugged almost solid this morning. (Clean press 9 psi - was at 35 psi this morning) I know I need a bigger filter & will definitely address that soon.
The pool walls are feeing better, when I rub with my hands I am removing almost no grit at all. When I brush with the wire brush the white plume cloud no longer appears (unless I hit a small spot that had been missed); however, When I brush the pool floor with the nylon brush I can expect the filter to plug within an hour or so.

I think I just need to give it a couple of days to allow the filter to clean up the solids I suspended with the wire brush. I have been running the Barracuda 24/7 since Tuesday.

I believe my FC is fine because we overshot that a bit before we ran out of reagents. Hope to get those on Tuesday so I can begin testing again to see where we are.





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The pictures tell the story of your hard work! Now for the finish. It seems to take forever but it will get there. Every day it will get just a little clearer until one day you will look at it and say DONE!

Kim
 

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Received my reagents today and got the following test results

FC - 32
CC - 0.5
CH - 175
TA - 90
PH - 7.5
CYA - 50

Water seems to be clearing after the cloud I stirred up a few days back with the wire brush. Still getting the sand / grit in the filter but plugging has reduced to about every 4-6 hours. I am going to let the FC drop down to the shock level of about 22.

Looks like all of the water chemistry is coming into line but I still have a greenish cast & cloudiness to the water. I am getting little if any grit off of the walls when I rub with my hand & no cloud when I wire brush.

I am still wondering if I have something else going on contributing to the cloudiness.

Running the filter and the barracuda 24/7 & brushing 1-2X per day.
 
You're doing well. As you said, let the FC sink to the proper SLAM/shock level for your CYA of 50 and keep it there along with the other SLAM principles. You've had so much stuff floating around, it may take a little while for it all to get picked-up by the filter and cleaned-out. Later, when you officially complete the 3 SLAM criteria, if the water still has clarity issues, we can help you address those at that time. Hang in there. You're on the right track. Oh, and while you are SLAMming, don't bother testing pH. When the FC is over 10, the pH tends to get skewed and appear high. Just focus on the FC for right now and save your pH reagents. :)
 
Tonight's Test
FC 26
CC 1.5

Water seems to be clearing quite a bit. Brushed some with the wire brush & primarily it clouded up when I brushed the waterline & around the steps. Will wait & see how fast the filter plugs.


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Out of curiosity how much bleach were you adding each day before you test kit got there? That will help the next person when the time comes.

Your pool will get clear. It is going to take some more time. In fact the last 10% seems to take forever!

Kim (cute toes! LOL)
 
It has been steadily consuming a little less than 96 oz of 8.25% every day. Once I knew I was out of the 871 test reagent I hit it a little on the heavy side to make sure I stayed above shock level because I knew I would be flying blind for the next 4-5 days. Naturally, We were on the receiving end of a torrent of rain while I was unable to test FC; subsequently, my adjustments over those four days were based solely on intuition. Luckily; however, the rain helped push the CYA down to a more desirable level but put my FC well above slam level because I overestimated the the effect the rain would have on the FC level. Based on last night's test results, the chlorine consumption rate seems to be about the same. My wife will test about mid-day & I expect the FC to be about 23 so no bleach at that time. I do expect to need to add some bleach this evening based on the daily trend of 4-6 ppm FC loss and the warm sunny forecast... Comforting to have the test kit restocked so I can again make data based decisions.. I can attach the Excel trend charts if you wish :)....Oh the joys of being an over analytical engineer. :rolleyes:
 

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