Confused with keeping Fc at the right levels

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yep needsajet! That is correct. I'm going to do a full retest this morning just to have the numbers. Last time my salt was measured at the pool store, pretty sure it was 3200 ppm. The pool store had us add 8 bags.

Again, thanks for all the help!

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**Update**

Have not started SLAM yet due to my schedule. Passed my overnight loss test. Just took numbers this morning. Know my CYA needs to get up to 70 but was leaving it for a SLAM and until I get more cya tests . Latest numbers:

FC: 5 This seems ok since I was at 6.5 two days ago? So I haven't lost a tremendous amount
CC: 0.5
PH: 7.8 .. will be adding some acid to get it to 7.5 tonight
TA: 90
CH: 175
CYA: 40

I have stuff in my pool still and there was a lot more this morning. I am unsure if we got wind last night and maybe thats the issue since we did get some rain running through. I have no trees or any buffer around my pool. It's grass , concrete( 3-4 ft) and then pool. From this thread, we don't think it's algae because I am passing overnight tests. I tried to take some pictures so you can see what I am talking about. The dirt in the pool is a dark brown. It was hard to get good pictures. The third one is by the seams of my liner. Whenever we get dirt(or whatever it is) in the pool, it always collects in a straight line on the seams. But this is what I am dealing with. I vacuum and it looks to be gone and the next day more comes back. I have more in the pictures because I didn't vacuum yesterday.
 
So at the risk of being overly simplistic, it sounds like you just have dirt blowing into your pool. It is normal, especially when it is dry and windy. It's also normal for it to collect in the seams or depressions in your liner. This is why you have a vacuum.

If you're OCLT is holding and your CC is 0.5 or less I'm not sure why you'd need to SLAM. Just vacuum the dirt up.

I recently put in some fence posts and have small mounts of dirt that I haven't dealt with, I have to vacuum almost every day because the dirt blows in the pool. Unless you want to shell out for a pool cleaning robot, cleaning the pool is a fact of life.

If your pool is staying as clean as you like, particularly when it comes to skimming, you may also consider extending the run time of your pump. The more the water circulates, the cleaner it stays. It's a trade off with your hydro bill.


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You should either get your CYA up now or SLAM at 40 CYA. Running the SWG at 40 CYA is not a good idea. The OCLT should be done at FC of 10 or more, with the SWG off. I suspect you have algae and should probably SLAM it.
 
what an awesome read! She is learning SO quick and doing all of the right things! Jet has been an awesome guide and make sure all of the high points are being hit and covered. NICE job both of your and the others that have popped in to help! Great team work!

Okay here is my idea........Do you have a light of any kind? If so take it out and clean it and behind it!

Does your pool have it's own toothbrush yet? If not give it one. Use it to really clean all around the returns and the skimmer plate.

Your next thing to really look at is the skimmer door (weir door). Look at it REAL close. We had a pool that we could not get to clear all the way up. When they looked at it close they found a tiny crack where algae was growing on the stuff inside it. Once they took that door out (ordered a new one) their pool cleared up......BUT they could not pass the OCLT and you have done a couple of times :rolleyes:

Now for my next trick........John you reading?

Get a turkey baster and suck up some of that "dirt". Squirt it out onto a paper towel inside a colander. Let it dry. We will be able to tell what it is from that. Get as much as you can so we have a lot to work with.

You can and should take a pic of the dirt so we can see it also.

Lets see what is what after you read this and do your homework.

:hug: we got ya! We WILL get your pool figured out. It might take some this and that but it will work out in the end.

Kim:cat:
 
Thank you all. Jet has been awesome. I could do another oclt at a higher fc like Mr Bruce suggested. ? My swg was off when I did it both times. I had jet helping me.

I also agreed with Joey because I have had dirt in my pool before. Like I said, we really have no barrier and my town is a mini windy city. I vacuumed up the dirt but found when I did a pass with the vacuum, it made a clean spot. So I had to vacuum the entire pool. The piles were just the bigger collections of dirt. I honestly don't mind vacuuming.. but it seems odd that I need to do it so much right now. Last year I had to do it here and there. My robot... his name is Jeffrey handled most of it but when it would get very dirty from a storm, I did it. Jeffrey wouldn't be able to do this. Like I said, with jets help... it was almost clear before the stupid sprinkler thing.

Oh my goodness. a toothbrush. That's a great idea! I will definitely do that. I will also look really hard at the skimmers and have hubs do the light.

I vacuumed it.. so when if it comes back, I will do what you said Kim !
Thank you so much for all your input.



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**update.. I woke up this morning and my pool is so cloudy. So I am just going to slam it anyway. .. my husband who is still fighting the trouble free method is beside himself with the pool .. lol. He wants to throw dichlor in because it was what we used to use. So I am going to beat him to the punch with the Liquid chlorine. If I recall, I need fc of 16.I will double check that. So from what I have read. I raise it to 16 and keep it there by checking multiple times a day. I have to reread because I can't Remember when I know I am done. I'm here this weekend, so probably a good time. I also have to lower my pH a bit first. It should be lower than 7.8..i think that's what I read.. Haha. I'm going to let it this morning so hopefully can start the slam later in the morning?

I just re-read everything..

How soon can I slam after adding in the acid to bring pH down? My cc is @ 0.5 and I have passed the oclt. So how do I know when I am done slamming? When my pool water is clear?

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Fair enough, I can tell that it's been difficult.

Please stop using dry acid, which is not recommended for SWG pools. You're building up sulphates which are not needed and can lead to problems. Get muriatic acid (aka hydrochloric acid). Could be paint department, pool department, or mortars and cement, within Lowes or Home Depot. Or possibly a pool store. It's not that tough to work with.

And yep, you most definitely want to get the pH down to around 7.2 before the SLAM.
 
Klean-Strip 1 gal. Green Muriatic Acid-GKGM75006 - The Home Depot

Remember to wear safety glasses just in case of a splash. That's the most important safety instruction. If you get any on your skin, don't panic. Just rinse it off. You can wear household rubber gloves if you like. And when pouring, just stay upwind or hold your breath, but this type has a lot less fumes than the type most of us use.
 

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Most any hardware store should have it. It's a very commonly used cleaner. I hope you can find some, because the buildup of sulphates (which comes from the dry acid) is not good for your SWG.
 
It's hard not to keep thinking about your pool!!

Your pool went cloudier overnight, and not in response to the start of a SLAM. So that suggests a precipitate suspended in the water (two ions that are normally in solution combining to become visible). For example, and not in your case, sometimes this happens in response to calcium being added. Usually it goes away when pH is brought down into range, so I'm interested to hear if it clears up when you take the pH down to 7.2

You've tended toward a high pH level, so maybe that's a part of the puzzle. If it doesn't clear up, then we can abandon the thought, but I'm interested to hear.
 
Just to be clear, I haven't started a Slam yet because I had to bring the pH down and go get the chlorine. I don't have enough. I do have my swg/filter running and we ran it all night. It was cloudy but got cloudier when I was vacuuming. So I would say it got cloudier then. My fc was at 4after a very full sun day so I added the rest of my liquid chlorine last night because I noticed it was cloudy. I have fc of 6.5 right now.

Haha.. this pool is on my mind too

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To be honest, wait a day. If it got cloudy when you vacuumed you probably had the same problem I often do. When it is hot, and my pH is higher that usual and the pool is really dirty and I vacuum, I usually vacuum a little too fast. Some of it gets vacuumed, some of it gets stirred up. I just run my pump a little longer and it's clear the next day.

The alternative is that in vacuuming you disturbed some algea that was killed by the chlorine, but based on the fact that your pool had dirt to start with, I'd personally lean the other way.

If you want to do the slam, do it. It only costs you time and LC. I did one this year when I switched to the TFP method because I wasn't sure if I needed one. Now I know what to do when I DO need one.

Edit. Check your CC, if it's elevated, then you killed something off. If it's not, could be just dirt.
Is it cloudy like looking through lemonade, or can you not see the bottom?

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Think of vacuuming your pool like sweeping your house (as opposed to vacuuming it) while the fan is running; you'll never get all the fine particulate. Some will blow to places you've already vacuumed/swept (and there's always that line by the dustpan if you know what I mean).

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Ok..so update. I did wait a day. Got my ph to 7.4. I vacuumed again and it's very cloudy and has a brown tinge. We have been running the swg/filter 24/7 and nothing has cleared up nor does it look any better. I got up this morning and all the "dirt" or whatever it is ...its sitting on my pool floor again. Anyway.. went to pool store got some liquid chlorine. I checked the ph and we are good there. So I used pool math to add 2.5 gallons of the chlorine. My Fc was at 4. We just added it and are vacuuming up the pool again. Im home so I can check it often...although not sure how much I should. I was going to check in a couple of hours? Should I check sooner to make sure it's at Fc 16?

I remember jet was saying about some clues during a slam...if the cc goes up? Thats a clue to algae in the pool?



**Update again** ..I just went and tested it again at 3pm ..just to make sure I got it up to FC 16. We have a big tub of liquid chlorine so it's hard to measure. My fc is at 19. Is that ok? I know my target was FC 16 at a cya of 40. Im worried now that its too high?
 
No, 19 ppm FC won't hurt anything. Keep it as close to 16 as you can and follow the instructions in the SLAM article as closely as possible.

Checking/raising every few hours is terrific. Check your FC testing supplies to be sure you have enough to get through the testing. If not, order some more. All you need to test is FC for a while, and do CC occasionally as well. It will help us know how the SLAM is going.

Good luck with it and I hope it goes quickly. I'm heading out and will be back later tonight, but there's others here who will notice the thread as well.
 

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