Hello everyone!
My husband and I are first time pool owners. We just purchased a new house in Dallas, TX. The previous owner invited us over to show us how he maintained the pool. He was using 2-3 chlorine pucks a week and recommended a weekly "shock" in the summer using what I believe is granulated chlorine (unsure, I did not investigate at the time). My husband and I feel fortunate that we found this website the first week of ownership of the house and decided to adopt the Trouble Free Pool method. We immediately ordered the Taylor 2006-C test kit and purchased liquid chlorine and dry acid. Unfortunately after moving in we discovered algae on the grout lines of the pool and in the fountains (water features) which the previous owners had partially filled with river rock for decor. We started our SLAM according to all of the recommendations on this website (pump running 24/7, vaccuuming & brushing, etc). I removed all of the rocks from the water features as they were coated with algae on the undersides.
The pool is a 9,500 gallon plaster pool. We have a Pentair Clean & Clear Plus 420 Cartridge filter. I am unsure about the pump.
Here were our numbers before we started the SLAM.
CYA: 90
CH: 360
TA: 80
pH: 7.7
CC: 0.4
FC: 4.4
On 7/7 in the evening, I added 11 oz of dry acid to bring down the pH to 7.2 before beginning the SLAM. We began the SLAM the morning of 7/8. I know it is not recommended to attempt a SLAM at such a high CYA level, however the thought of doing a partial drain on the pool was too daunting within the first few days of pool ownership with absolutely zero experience regarding the pool equipment.
We were very diligent 7/8-7/11 to keep the FC level at or slightly above 35. Yesterday on 7/12 at 6:30 AM the FC was at 36.5. We decided to not add anymore bleach that morning as I wanted to perform the OCLT and I feel like the higher the FC level the more difficult it is to be certain the water has turned absolutely colorless in the FC test. On 7/12 at 9 PM the FC was 23.5. We did not run the pump overnight. This morning the FC was still 23.5 with no loss of chlorine overnight! However we performed the CC test this morning for the first time since pre-SLAM and the CC level was 2.0. The pool did have a chlorine smell this morning as well. I know that is a criteria for passing the SLAM, so this morning we added a whole gallon of bleach to bring us back up to the SLAM level.
I am just posting to get some affirmation that we should continue the course. We are starting to lose faith that we will ever get to enjoy the pool at our new house! The only thing I can think of is that we have not cleaned the filters. I think this is the next step however to make sure we complete the SLAM. Is there a walk-through guide on how to clean cartridge filters somewhere on the website? Any advice that you can give for those with zero previous pool knowledge? How much longer do you think our SLAM will take?
My husband and I are first time pool owners. We just purchased a new house in Dallas, TX. The previous owner invited us over to show us how he maintained the pool. He was using 2-3 chlorine pucks a week and recommended a weekly "shock" in the summer using what I believe is granulated chlorine (unsure, I did not investigate at the time). My husband and I feel fortunate that we found this website the first week of ownership of the house and decided to adopt the Trouble Free Pool method. We immediately ordered the Taylor 2006-C test kit and purchased liquid chlorine and dry acid. Unfortunately after moving in we discovered algae on the grout lines of the pool and in the fountains (water features) which the previous owners had partially filled with river rock for decor. We started our SLAM according to all of the recommendations on this website (pump running 24/7, vaccuuming & brushing, etc). I removed all of the rocks from the water features as they were coated with algae on the undersides.
The pool is a 9,500 gallon plaster pool. We have a Pentair Clean & Clear Plus 420 Cartridge filter. I am unsure about the pump.
Here were our numbers before we started the SLAM.
CYA: 90
CH: 360
TA: 80
pH: 7.7
CC: 0.4
FC: 4.4
On 7/7 in the evening, I added 11 oz of dry acid to bring down the pH to 7.2 before beginning the SLAM. We began the SLAM the morning of 7/8. I know it is not recommended to attempt a SLAM at such a high CYA level, however the thought of doing a partial drain on the pool was too daunting within the first few days of pool ownership with absolutely zero experience regarding the pool equipment.
We were very diligent 7/8-7/11 to keep the FC level at or slightly above 35. Yesterday on 7/12 at 6:30 AM the FC was at 36.5. We decided to not add anymore bleach that morning as I wanted to perform the OCLT and I feel like the higher the FC level the more difficult it is to be certain the water has turned absolutely colorless in the FC test. On 7/12 at 9 PM the FC was 23.5. We did not run the pump overnight. This morning the FC was still 23.5 with no loss of chlorine overnight! However we performed the CC test this morning for the first time since pre-SLAM and the CC level was 2.0. The pool did have a chlorine smell this morning as well. I know that is a criteria for passing the SLAM, so this morning we added a whole gallon of bleach to bring us back up to the SLAM level.
I am just posting to get some affirmation that we should continue the course. We are starting to lose faith that we will ever get to enjoy the pool at our new house! The only thing I can think of is that we have not cleaned the filters. I think this is the next step however to make sure we complete the SLAM. Is there a walk-through guide on how to clean cartridge filters somewhere on the website? Any advice that you can give for those with zero previous pool knowledge? How much longer do you think our SLAM will take?
