First time pool owner

[DrHorshenschwartz]

I'm backwashing 3 times a day yet. But it's a lot better than what it was! I still had some flow this morning unlike yesterday when I woke up. These images are all of this morning. I should be getting my sock covers in the mail today.

So how long has this been since you started this current adventure?

 

[Topher55]

Its looking good, your definitely in the home stretch. Just waiting on the filter to clear it up. Stay diligent with the slam FC level and you'll be there in no time.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

So how long has this been since you started this current adventure?

Make sure you dont leave the sock unattended. As I said mine clogged in minutes.

 

[hewing_05]

We had family in town for weekend so I held my fc at 5 during the day and brought it to 10 at night. I Will be keeping it at 10 to 12 till clear now. I think I'm on day 5 with a 2 day pause for company to swim. Didn't get brushed yesterday but plan to go in this afternoon and do brushing again. I will definately keep my eye on the sock. Thanks!
My son was in it Sunday and he said he could actually see underwater now with his goggles.

 

[JimMarshall]

We had family in town for weekend so I held my fc at 5 during the day and brought it to 10 at night. I Will be keeping it at 10 to 12 till clear now. I think I'm on day 5 with a 2 day pause for company to swim. Didn't get brushed yesterday but plan to go in this afternoon and do brushing again. I will definately keep my eye on the sock. Thanks!
My son was in it Sunday and he said he could actually see underwater now with his goggles.

You should have just continued to keep shock levels even with company swimming. As long as your FC is below shock for your CYA it's safe to swim

 

[hewing_05]

So my CYA is somewhere between 20 and 30. As long as my fc is 10 it's ok?

 

[Topher55]

Slam level is always 40% of CYA. So if your cya is 25 then 10fc is good. But I would round up to 30cya and slam at 12fc.

 

[JimMarshall]

So my CYA is somewhere between 20 and 30. As long as my fc is 10 it's ok?

As topher said, you should round your CYA up. So you should be shooting for a target FC of 12 not 10. As long as you're at 12 ppm or lower it is perfectly safe to swim.

 

[hewing_05]

Last night around 8:30 I was at 13.5 fc and this morning I'm at 14.5. Not really sure how I gained but I added chlorine 45 mins before testing last night.
I also used 2 socks yesterday for a couple hours. I'm not sure when I need to change them or how to know how much it will take but here they are. I didn't habe to backwash today either. Pressure only went up 2 psi overnight.

 

[Topher55]

I find that I can get a +\- .5tc when testing high slam levels, Guessing it has to do with how fast I put the drops in (slower results in bigger drops) or maybe my sample size is slightly high or low. Either way when I'm to the point where I check oclt I will test it two times to verify consistency of my testing both in the evening and morning test. Rinsing the test vial well before test with pool water also helps me.

And your looking good, sounds like your passing oclt. Just waiting for the water to clear. This is the part where patience comes in.... not sure if your adding DE to your filter but this is the point where it can really help

 

[hewing_05]

I have not added De. It seems to be getting better every day so I'm going to wait it out. I passed the oclt Friday night and every night since. Other than last night where it raised. I will try rinsing with the pool water and doing 2 tests Tonight! I can see my walls further down today too! 2 hours later and my fc was down to 10 so added more to get it back to 12 and put a sock back on it.

 

[DrHorshenschwartz]

Last night around 8:30 I was at 13.5 fc and this morning I'm at 14.5. Not really sure how I gained but I added chlorine 45 mins before testing last night.
I also used 2 socks yesterday for a couple hours. I'm not sure when I need to change them or how to know how much it will take but here they are. I didn't habe to backwash today either. Pressure only went up 2 psi overnight.

I personally use the socks until i notice they are restricting flow. The pictures prove that matter is being drawn in still. In fact there's that piece of grass which would have to be eaten by the chlorine. Not sure if they other stuff is dead or not but I'm guessing it is.
I really don't know what the threshold is for a chlorine pool and organic matter. What I mean is if let's say a leaf that is 4" x 6" falls in the pool, how much chlorine does it take to neutralize it. So for that blade of grass is it significant I don't know. Was there enough other blades to keep you from making faster progress, again I don't really know. I bet someone has an opinion about it that's better than mine.

 

[hewing_05]

I have not been vacuuming to waste in a few days so I'm going in today to do that. I hope that helps. I lose water fast when doing that.

 

[Topher55]

Doesn't look like you can see the bottom very well but has a lot of stuff settled? I would only vacuum to waste if you can get settled debris. If it is all stirred up your basically just pumping water out. Also keep an eye on the cya and FC if you do pump a good amount of water out.

 

[hewing_05]

Should I vacuum without turning it to waste? We hardly feel anything when we swim. Maybe a couple small leaf particles. Or should I turn pump off for about 30 minutes before vacuum?

 

[Topher55]

At this point it's really just a waiting game. I usually try to keep it all stirred up and just let the filter do the work. But you could try letting it settle and vacuum it to waste or the filter if the filter will catch it. Like I was saying earlier a little de at this point can speed things along.

 

[Fingaling]

Should I vacuum without turning it to waste? We hardly feel anything when we swim. Maybe a couple small leaf particles. Or should I turn pump off for about 30 minutes before vacuum?

Since your filter is no longer clogging up as much, vacuuming to the Filter instead of waste should be fine. Just if you can't see the bottom well, check the filter pressure often during the vacuum and you might have to backwash after.

 

[hewing_05]

I didn't vacuum yesterday. I'm just letting it filter and using the sock a few hours a day. I can see the bottom of the steps resting on the ground today!
I appreciate everyone's advise and tips! I have probably used 30 galloons of bleach and today makes one week from starting.

 

[Topher55]

It's looking better, I would guess in another 3 days or so you will have some pretty good looking water and you can claim victory on the slam[emoji3] a week or two after that you should have the TFP invisible water [emoji6]. Just keep an eye on the FC, a few minutes a day will save you from having to go through whole process again.

 

[hewing_05]

I have encountered a problem. I turned the pump off and moved ty sand filter valve to backwash and it worked for maybe 3 seconds and then the pump stopped. (During the 3 seconds it sounded a little different, maybe like a grinding noise) I turned it off and moved back to filter and it doesn't turn back on. This happened last night as well and we cleaned out pump basket and checked the impeller and everything seemed fine. I left it turned on and about an hour later when I went to check on it, the pump was running great so i didn't bother with it again. But tonight, it did the same thing. Any ideas? I still haven't figured out how to do a signature yet but I have a 1 hp hayward pump and a 200 pound hayward sand filter with multi port valve.