Am I really on my way to my second SLAM and still not knowing why?
When I last updated this thread, I thought I had licked this thing, and I still think I have (details below) but can't quite convince myself. Disclaimer: I never vacuumed in the traditional sense after the SLAM or at any time since having the pool installed for that matter. But I also have a Dolphin robot and read enough on here to think running that thing was sufficient, and during/after the SLAM we ran him a lot, cleaned him out each time, and ran him again and again. Things were good. Since the SLAM ended I've been keeping my FC at the high end of the recommended range for my CYA level (was 60, now 70) and yet....
Over the last couple of weeks, have begun noticing a green film along the bottom of the pool when swimming (most noticeable wearing a mask and looking along the decline into the deep end), and have had some stripes show up along the liner seams. Also more recently, in the last week or 10 days, have a white clump accumulating - always in the same spot due to the direction of one of my returns, makes it easy to see when it's back. Test after test comes back looking great, so I haven't thrown in the towel to start another SLAM just yet, and instead have been breaking out the vacuum hose a couple of times a day to vacuum the bottom instead of just relying on the robot.
Now, those details. Just to give an idea, here are some readings since my last update (I test more often, but I'll restrict to weekly since the numbers are consistent in between as well):
| June 10 | June 19 | June 27 | July 5 9:15 pm | July 6 6:24 am (OCLT) | | FC | 13.0 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 8.0 | 7.5 | | CC | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | DNT | | pH | ?? | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.8 | DNT | | CYA | 60 | DNT | 50 | 70 | DNT |
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So as you can see, FC has been staying up there, CC has never been higher than 0.5 (was even 0.0 during several tests in between these data points), I passed the OCLT last night/this morning with a 0.5 drop, and the water is clear except for what has settled on the bottom. When I brush the bottom everything I can see there puffs up and clouds the water until it settles again. I don't recall what puffing actually indicates, I just see it asked all the time!
I'm going to attach some pics now from the phone after I post this update. I'm hoping everything I see is dead, and the numbers seem to agree with that, and maybe it's just a matter of continue vacuuming until it stops showing back up, but wanted to update here in case I'm wrong. Happy to hear any and all opinions.
Pics incoming:
First pic, the white "glob" that always shows up in the same spot, This is along the edge of the incline from the deep to shallow end, directly in line with the deep end return. So it pushes this stuff into the corner and up the hill as far as it can until it stops and builds up here:
This is just "downstrem" of the white glob, where the return jet runs out of steam I suppose and fans out a bit:
A view into the deep end alone a liner seam - as you can see, the water clarity is quite good throughout the column, at least I believe it to be:
Zoomed in version of the above pic:
