Thanks. We'll take care of the TA while finishing the SLAM. Looks like we're close to that: CC= 0.5 and water is sparkling clear. Last night's OCLT was 1.5. Any idea why the depletion to TA and pH?
CYA disappeard ove the winter?
- Thread starter PolareNJ
- Start date
Should we be concerned about all the sodium in the pool from the massive amounts of sodium hypo and then baking soda we've added? The pool tastes salty.
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PolareNJ,
I'm in the Freehold area and will be getting ready to SLAM myself, for the same exact, zero CYA reasons. How could anything live though the winter we had? I do think its better to open early however. I have a couple questions for you and others.
In the 2 weeks before you noticed this issue and when you Slammed, where you running the Chlorinator? What about while you were slamming? You folks spent 5 days doing this night and day if I'm correct, and since I don't have that time right now, Im running with my Chlorinator on full blast...problem is I don't want to fee the ammonia monsters CYA...I was thinking that the night before I SLAM I'll turn it off.
I tried a half fast slam at the beginning of the week not knowing it would take so long. I feed the pool 40 gallons of 6% bleach before I had to give up and go to work. I did a bucket test and realize that no I have to use about 80 PPM of bleach. Waiting on my Taylor test to come in.
Some people seem to SLAM only at night, but you guys did it both day and night correct? Did you leave your chlorinator on during that time as well?
Thanks for your help...glad your through it, sad I'm not
I'm in the Freehold area and will be getting ready to SLAM myself, for the same exact, zero CYA reasons. How could anything live though the winter we had? I do think its better to open early however. I have a couple questions for you and others.
In the 2 weeks before you noticed this issue and when you Slammed, where you running the Chlorinator? What about while you were slamming? You folks spent 5 days doing this night and day if I'm correct, and since I don't have that time right now, Im running with my Chlorinator on full blast...problem is I don't want to fee the ammonia monsters CYA...I was thinking that the night before I SLAM I'll turn it off.
I tried a half fast slam at the beginning of the week not knowing it would take so long. I feed the pool 40 gallons of 6% bleach before I had to give up and go to work. I did a bucket test and realize that no I have to use about 80 PPM of bleach. Waiting on my Taylor test to come in.
Some people seem to SLAM only at night, but you guys did it both day and night correct? Did you leave your chlorinator on during that time as well?
Thanks for your help...glad your through it, sad I'm not
To get ahead of the ammonia monster you are going to have to babysit your pool for at least 2 full days if not more. I would NOT have any pucks in the feeder. Only use bleach/chlorine from now on.
Kim
Kim
Thanks Kim,
But I need to travel on Thursday and will be away over the weekend and most of next week. I want to have at least 3 days if not 4 to do this thing right. What would you suggest?
But I need to travel on Thursday and will be away over the weekend and most of next week. I want to have at least 3 days if not 4 to do this thing right. What would you suggest?
Joe is there anyone that add bleach while you are gone? If not I am not sure what to tell you.
How about you start your own thread and see what the others have to say?
Kim
How about you start your own thread and see what the others have to say?
Kim
JoeRJGR,
We really didn't know what we were dealing with at the beginning of the season; only that 170 ppm of stabilizer had disappeared. Using the monopersulfate made matters worse as it took 3+weeks for it to disappear and during that time, we didn't know the true reading for the CC and of course, it built up over time. Absolutely get the TF-100 test kit. Anyway, we were using the liquid chlorine until we had to go away and then switched to the trichlor pucks for the days we were away. Note that we added 35 ppm of stabilizer back into the pool before we stared the SLAM and we still seem to have it. We started the slam last week and have not had the chlorinator going at all during the SLAM and probably won't use it unless we're away. Our SLAM has been prolonged by the amounts of ammonia that were the biproducts of the stabilizer that broke down last winter. Once we got the ammonia test strips from PETCO, understood what we were dealing with and got it taken care of, we just followed the SLAM directions. Has been a lot of work, especially the first night (prior to knowing about the ammonia). Subsequent nights we just keep the shock level of FC up until bedtime and (on the advice of other members) then go to bed. Another concern has been trying to keep the Shock level of FC up during the day, when the sun seemed to be burning the chlorine off as soon as we put it in (especially in the beginning.) So yes, this is definitely something you should be home to do.
P.S. We used 12% liquid chlorine for the most part. And we found out that Walmart in Freehold is open round the clock in case you need more chlorine at 3 a.m. Look for the "Great Value" concentrated (8.25%).
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Kim, can you give advice on my concern about the sodium in our pool from the enormous amount of sodium hypo and then baking soda that was added to our pool, which now tastes like salt? Sure hope we haven't created another problem...
We really didn't know what we were dealing with at the beginning of the season; only that 170 ppm of stabilizer had disappeared. Using the monopersulfate made matters worse as it took 3+weeks for it to disappear and during that time, we didn't know the true reading for the CC and of course, it built up over time. Absolutely get the TF-100 test kit. Anyway, we were using the liquid chlorine until we had to go away and then switched to the trichlor pucks for the days we were away. Note that we added 35 ppm of stabilizer back into the pool before we stared the SLAM and we still seem to have it. We started the slam last week and have not had the chlorinator going at all during the SLAM and probably won't use it unless we're away. Our SLAM has been prolonged by the amounts of ammonia that were the biproducts of the stabilizer that broke down last winter. Once we got the ammonia test strips from PETCO, understood what we were dealing with and got it taken care of, we just followed the SLAM directions. Has been a lot of work, especially the first night (prior to knowing about the ammonia). Subsequent nights we just keep the shock level of FC up until bedtime and (on the advice of other members) then go to bed. Another concern has been trying to keep the Shock level of FC up during the day, when the sun seemed to be burning the chlorine off as soon as we put it in (especially in the beginning.) So yes, this is definitely something you should be home to do.
P.S. We used 12% liquid chlorine for the most part. And we found out that Walmart in Freehold is open round the clock in case you need more chlorine at 3 a.m. Look for the "Great Value" concentrated (8.25%).
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Kim, can you give advice on my concern about the sodium in our pool from the enormous amount of sodium hypo and then baking soda that was added to our pool, which now tastes like salt? Sure hope we haven't created another problem...
Hate to say it but after reading about your experience I'm thinking of draining at least 1/2 our water before I start this process..
Thanks for the response...enjoy your pool!
Thanks for the response...enjoy your pool!
Polare,
Did you actually add chlorine during the day then? How long did it actually take before everything held?
Thanks
Did you actually add chlorine during the day then? How long did it actually take before everything held?
Thanks
For every 1 ppm of chlorine added, sodium hypochlorite adds 1.6 ppm of salt. Salt is typically not tasted below 5000 ppm. Unless you already had a very significant salt level before it is unlikely you crossed that threshold. Not sure what you may be tasting but I would guess it is temporary. Also don't drink the water
Sorry if I missed this, have you adjusted your TA and retested yet? Things are getting discombobulated, what is your current situation?
From my HTC One via Tapatalk
We did add the 25 lbs of baking soda and the TA is up to 70. Haven't adjusted the pH yet as we are still SLAMMING. We are still not passing one criteria of ending the slam: the OCLT test (water has always been clear, and CC = 0.5 - one drop of R0871). We are losing 1.5 ppm of FC overnight, but we have had some rain at night, too. However, I think we're close: I checked the chlorine we've needed every day to keep the FC at 16 and it is steadily going down: Saturday added 3.5 gallons over the course of the day; Sunday added 2.5 gallons; yesterday added 1 gallon. This morning the FC = 14.5. We're going to do a complete clean and backwash today to see if this helps. I sure hope so, as I'd like to start bringing the FC down to maintenance and get the pH adjusted.
What do you think...are we almost there?
P.S. we have added about 85 gallons of 12% liquid chlorine during this process.
What do you think...are we almost there?
P.S. we have added about 85 gallons of 12% liquid chlorine during this process.
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I cannot help there. I am sorry.
Can you please start a thread just for that so that those that might be in the know will see it and comment.Kim
85 gallons? Well you have added nearly 800 ppm of salt. Salt is pretty much inert however, so even if it gets high enough to taste it won't hurt your pool. If you are concerned you can get a salt test, but I personally wouldn't worry about it. Also the baking soda won't affect salt levels, just alkalinity and pH. Speaking of which I'm glad you got your TA back up.
You are nearing the end of this, just a matter of waiting out the OCLT. Remember, once the SLAM is done and you maintain proper FC levels for your CYA then you will never have to deal with this again!
You are nearing the end of this, just a matter of waiting out the OCLT. Remember, once the SLAM is done and you maintain proper FC levels for your CYA then you will never have to deal with this again!
JoeRJGR,
Yes, we added chlorine during the day. Once the ammonia was burned off ( somewhere about 45 gallons into the process) we noticed the FC was going up. That was Thursday night and we did add chrorine all day on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, we added only once during the day to hold the FC and yesterday only added in the middle of the afternoon, but the FC had only decreased to 13.5 (from 16.5). We're seeing that the pool is holding the FC better every day (see my last post for trend).
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Donldson, Thank you! You've made my day by saying we'll never have to do this again! While I have you on the thread, once we go over to maintenance doses of FC, how do we manage the daily swing of FC because of sun burn-off? Do we use a higher FC target (say, 8) to make sure we don't dip below a minimum FC during the afternoon (is that 2ppm?)
Yes, we added chlorine during the day. Once the ammonia was burned off ( somewhere about 45 gallons into the process) we noticed the FC was going up. That was Thursday night and we did add chrorine all day on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, we added only once during the day to hold the FC and yesterday only added in the middle of the afternoon, but the FC had only decreased to 13.5 (from 16.5). We're seeing that the pool is holding the FC better every day (see my last post for trend).
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Donldson, Thank you! You've made my day by saying we'll never have to do this again! While I have you on the thread, once we go over to maintenance doses of FC, how do we manage the daily swing of FC because of sun burn-off? Do we use a higher FC target (say, 8) to make sure we don't dip below a minimum FC during the afternoon (is that 2ppm?)
When you are done the first thing is you will want to get your CYA up between 30-50. Once that is done you will use the FC/CYA chart to determine your minimum and target FC levels. After your FC drops down to this level (which will allow you to measure and adjust your pH) then the plan will be to measure your FC every night and adjust to your target. This should keep your FC from dropping below the min. If you are worried you can overshoot the target a bit until you get used to things and find you pools pattern.
Once you do get a pattern and are seeing roughly the same FC loss every day and adding roughly the same amount of chlorine every day then you can start testing FC every couple of days and use the yellow OTO test for daily testing to make sure no major changes happened. It all starts to get very easy at that point and becomes second nature.
From my HTC One via Tapatalk
Once you do get a pattern and are seeing roughly the same FC loss every day and adding roughly the same amount of chlorine every day then you can start testing FC every couple of days and use the yellow OTO test for daily testing to make sure no major changes happened. It all starts to get very easy at that point and becomes second nature.
From my HTC One via Tapatalk
We've been at this for over a week, and the OCLT still shows a loss of 1.5 ppm (we did have a loss of only 1 ppm Wednesday night/Thursday morning). The CC =0.5 ppm (TF-100 test turns clear with one drop of reactant). We have had some rain the past two days. We have kept the FC at 16 even during the day, sometimes 18 when I overshot, consistently since Sunday night. CYA is at 30 - 35, TA measures 75. We haven't been able to do pH readings due to high FC. Pool is sparkling clear.
Should it take his long? Any advice? It just feels like we'll never be done with this and able to enjoy the pool
Thanks.
Should it take his long? Any advice? It just feels like we'll never be done with this and able to enjoy the pool
Thanks.
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The last part---------OCLT is the hardest! It can take a few days to get to. It is almost the most important part because it is the last little part. If you stop too soon it can put right back where you were.
If you FC is just a tiny bit below the SLAM level you can use and enjoy the pool!
Hugs! You have come so far! You can finish it and will never have to do it again so long as you keep your water balanced.
Kim
If you FC is just a tiny bit below the SLAM level you can use and enjoy the pool!
Hugs! You have come so far! You can finish it and will never have to do it again so long as you keep your water balanced.
Kim
Thanks, Kim, for the encouragement. Feels so close...but is still elusive. We'll keep plodding on.
As a follow-up, we passed all three tests for completing the SLAM a week ago (same day as Kim's post). We kept the SLAM level for an extra 2 days to make sure the test results were consistent. We brought the FC level down a little each day. We are establishing the maintenance levels of chlorine needed so we know how much chlorine we need to add at night to make sure we keep the minimum FC during the day, especially when it is very sunny.
Our TF-100 test results are now: FC = 8, CC = 0.5 (1 drop of reactant), CYA approx. 42, TA = 80, pH = 7.5, CH still high at 450. Water still tastes salty, but I'm advised that this will dissipate. Water sparkling clear.
Thanks, all, for your help through this process. We couldn't have done it without you.
Our TF-100 test results are now: FC = 8, CC = 0.5 (1 drop of reactant), CYA approx. 42, TA = 80, pH = 7.5, CH still high at 450. Water still tastes salty, but I'm advised that this will dissipate. Water sparkling clear.
Thanks, all, for your help through this process. We couldn't have done it without you.