That's a big pool and sand filters are not the quickest. Just hang in there and keep your FC up. It will come around.
First time pool owner, older pool
- Thread starter Djjones
- Start date
Update 8/11 - I am so excited! I have chlorine showing up in my tests now! And CYA!
Fcc - 7.5
Cc - 1
cya - 30
ph - 6.8<
We also have internet now so I can work remote and baby this pool until the house is ready! Husband left the Polaris running all night on Sunday and it stirred up all the gunk on the bottom, so it was brown again.
we added 4 gallons of chlorine last night and I ran my tests at lunch today. Being ever vigilant of the sand filter! still don’t know when we’ll see the bottom. But any weed I get out of it now is a whitish color. Unfortunately a sizable rat (ewwww) found his way in and drowned sometime during the overnight on Tuesday. Got him out fairly promptly since I’m emptying the skimmers twice a day. Hopefully we are on the right track. I’m hesitant to put the salt in and start up the swg until I can see the dirty stuff to vacuum? Is seeing the bottom going to happen? ⛱
Fcc - 7.5
Cc - 1
cya - 30
ph - 6.8<
We also have internet now so I can work remote and baby this pool until the house is ready! Husband left the Polaris running all night on Sunday and it stirred up all the gunk on the bottom, so it was brown again.
we added 4 gallons of chlorine last night and I ran my tests at lunch today. Being ever vigilant of the sand filter! still don’t know when we’ll see the bottom. But any weed I get out of it now is a whitish color. Unfortunately a sizable rat (ewwww) found his way in and drowned sometime during the overnight on Tuesday. Got him out fairly promptly since I’m emptying the skimmers twice a day. Hopefully we are on the right track. I’m hesitant to put the salt in and start up the swg until I can see the dirty stuff to vacuum? Is seeing the bottom going to happen? ⛱
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Don’t put sand! Or salt in until it’s at least somewhat clear.Update 8/11 - I am so excited! I have chlorine showing up in my tests now! And CYA!
Fcc - 7.5
Cc - 1
cya - 30
ph - 6.8<
We also have internet now so I can work remote and baby this pool until the house is ready! Husband left the Polaris running all night on Sunday and it stirred up all the gunk on the bottom, so it was brown again.
Stick with using liquid chlorine. You need to see bottom before you can even consider starting the SWCG. Per the SLAM process, the SWCG should be off and use LC to maintain your FC up. Keep brushing and removing any debris (or critters) from the pool.
You are on the right track. Just keep at it.
You are on the right track. Just keep at it.
And it has begun! 
Take pictures everyday. It helps you to see your progress.
I did most of my SLAM without running my filter - just had it on recirculate. Is that available with sand?
Take pictures everyday. It helps you to see your progress. I did most of my SLAM without running my filter - just had it on recirculate. Is that available with sand?
Great pool and good start to the SLAM.
I'm concerned about your vinyl liner and severely low pH. That will wrinkle the liner. But high FC causes the pH test to show it higher than it is. Retest pH when FC is under 10. Get pH up to 7.2. Then your FC for a SLAM needs to be maintained at 12 all the time until the water clears. Also you can run the "sad" Polaris to get debris off the bottom if you like. Dead visible algae needs to be manually vacuumed directly to the filter. Brush walls, steps, bottom.
I'm concerned about your vinyl liner and severely low pH. That will wrinkle the liner. But high FC causes the pH test to show it higher than it is. Retest pH when FC is under 10. Get pH up to 7.2. Then your FC for a SLAM needs to be maintained at 12 all the time until the water clears. Also you can run the "sad" Polaris to get debris off the bottom if you like. Dead visible algae needs to be manually vacuumed directly to the filter. Brush walls, steps, bottom.
Like Daily <hint-hint!>
8/15
Fc 12.5
Cc 0
Cya 45
Ph 6.8<
TA 60
View attachment 364804
this is my brush at the bottom.of the shallow end.
- Jun 24, 2021
- 7,542
- Pool Size
- 30000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60
Getting there! I’m REALLY impressed with the progress!!!$
CTFocusST
Well-known member
- Jul 4, 2019
- 224
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Great progress.
The CYA test is logarithmic so you can't interpret visually between the lines. Round up and treat that as a CYA of 50
The CYA test is logarithmic so you can't interpret visually between the lines. Round up and treat that as a CYA of 50
TFP we have a problem. Pool lost almost 2 inches of water last night. Pressure is running at 11. Skimmers are running, returns are good. Still can’t see bottom drain. Both skimmers and bottom are turned full on at pump. We had tried to manually vacuum but never could get it right, so we gave up. Polaris is broke so we removed it from the side wall. No visible water loss at pump. Is there any trouble shooting recommended before I make a service call?
Attachments
assuming you don’t have an overflow drain, you can check for leaks at the skimmers with some food dye in a small fluid injector/dispenser. Squirt a little dye around joints and look for the dye to get sucked in.
- Jul 3, 2013
- 9,028
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool SJ-40
The water will always stop at or just below the leak... Hope and prey it is in the top half of the pool....
I find it strange that you would "all of a sudden" have a water loss. Could you have put water to waste when you were trying to vacuum?
Alternatively, if it truly a leak, could you have damaged the vinyl with your brush or net?
Also, one idea is to turn off the valve to the main drain suction and only suck water from the skimmers. See if there is any difference in leak rate. Then do the opposite, open main drain suction and close skimmers. Monitor for any decrease in water level.