From installation to SLAM and beyond (previously Future Pool Location)

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Still not passing OCLT. We had a big storm last night. The power flickered in the night and pump quit and did not star back up when the power came on. My water looks clear and blue again. I had to discharge about an inch of water. It was sloshing everywhere and we've got a muddy mess. Blah!

My daughter went to a pool party yesterday and I asked her if there was anything different between our water and the water in their pool. She said " Yeah, when I'm standing up in our pool I can see my feet". LO,L I so badly wanted to run over there and find out what their test results were.
 
I made it back from a short trip. My pool wasn't green! Yeah!!! My FC was 3.5, CC was .5. I asked my MIL to drop a floater full of pucks into the pool on Tuesday. She instead threw 2 pucks into the pool. I'm not sure how she came up with that particular number. The tabs were barely dissolved so I think it might have gotten done today. No damage/bleaching to the liner as far as I could see. No harm, no foul. At least she was willing to try to help. I will have to do a better job of explaining next time.
 
I lost 4 ppm FC overnight. It could be a coincidence, but that was what the loss was before the new water was added. There was some leaf litter in the pool, so that could be part of the cause. The summer has been cold, if it would just get colder, I could close this pool and not have to keep messing with it without ANY success. Right now, I'm pretty sure this is never going to be solved. I don't understand how my pool can be so "special". I have searched these forums for other people that have not been able to pass. I'm guessing they just give up and no one hears from them anymore.

I'm considering just letting the FC drift down to 7 and only testing pH and fc everyday. If I get an algae bloom, at least I'll know what I'm trying to kill. Soooo discouraged.
 
S1ngram said:
I lost 4 ppm FC overnight. It could be a coincidence, but that was what the loss was before the new water was added. There was some leaf litter in the pool, so that could be part of the cause. The summer has been cold, if it would just get colder, I could close this pool and not have to keep messing with it without ANY success. Right now, I'm pretty sure this is never going to be solved. I don't understand how my pool can be so "special". I have searched these forums for other people that have not been able to pass. I'm guessing they just give up and no one hears from them anymore.

I'm considering just letting the FC drift down to 7 and only testing pH and fc everyday. If I get an algae bloom, at least I'll know what I'm trying to kill. Soooo discouraged.
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So I am right there with you....I got TIRED of the constant SLAMing...and finally gave up, and MAGICALLY my FC started holding. WHY WHO KNOWS!

Give it a whirl and make sure your FC - CYA is kept in sync and watch closely for algae!
 
In nearly all of the "mysterious" chlorine demand cases the answers were found in all sorts of places such as algae growing behind light niches, inside removable ladders or wedding cake steps, lots of material or biofilms in filters, algae in bubble-type pool covers, chemicals dumped into the pool from runoff (including rain water from roof with algae), etc. You just haven't found what particular item caused yours. In some cases, the chlorine eventually gets rid of the cause, but in others it won't because the source is too protected from higher levels of chlorine.

Also, in a few situations, the OCLT wasn't done properly and measurements were very inconsistent. Simple things like not holding the bottle consistently vertical or having static electricity so getting variations in drop size.
 
OK, so the algae is not behind the light, steps were removed from pool and scrubbed down with a bleach solution and walls are scrubbed everyday for the most part. Mustard level slam was held for 72 hours last week, and then again for 24 hours starting yesterday at 8 am. I used Aah-some biofilm remover/cleaner in my filter. The only thing that has allowed me to get through the night without losing chlorine is to turn off my filter overnight.

I'm wondering if my source is one that is protected from chlorine and will never be eliminated. If I turn my filter off at night and don't lose chlorine, doesn't that pinpoint the area creating the problem? Don't all chemicals eventually degrade (half life?)? Is it possible that given enough time (maybe next swim season) the source will be degraded enough that it's no longer a problem?

I plan to have hoses and filters for the tanker next year that are dedicated to pool use only. Adding water to my pool is just a huge stressful situation!
 
And so begins the, "I'm sick of SLAMing experiment" or ISSE. I have not added any chlorine since 7 am yesterday. Yesterday morning I retained 88% of my chlorine overnight, this morning, I retained 83% of my chlorine overnight. That is with the pump on. Until I see how my pool behaves on this new and less time intensive program, I will still use the drop test a couple of times a day. My normal SLAM testing is 8-10 times per day. I plan to test at mid-afternoon and after dark and add enough bleach to keep the pool at 7ppm FC. Knowing myself, I'll probably end up checking FC and CC first thing in the morning too. My CC is certainly not where I want it, ranging from .5-1.5 over the course of a day.

So basically, I'm following the barest minimum for slam technique and keeping my pool at maintenance levels. I'll scrub every 2nd or 3rd day and keep a close eye on any suspicious developments.

Yesterday, I came home to a pool full of dirt clods from having a nearby tree stump removed. I could not believe my own reaction. I was nearly enraged at how inconsiderate people can be...don't they know what I've been through with this pool?!!!. I counted to 10 and then talked to the stump remover. He said one of the roots snapped unexpectedly and dirt went flying everywhere. I was thinking, yep...it sure did. The leaf rake wouldn't get it, so out comes the vacuum. 30 minutes later, I thought I was done. This morning, I still see dirt so I'll get after it again today.

I talked to my MIL yesterday and she brought up the pool. She said she saw two clumps of brown algae on the bottom of the pool so she threw in 2 chlorine tabs. Okay....now I know why there were 2 tabs in the pool. Funny thing, the brown algae was 2 leaves. I got them out with the leaf net the same day I got back.

For anyone in my area or nearby, it appears that Rural King is letting the stock of liquid chlorine dwindle down. They raised the price too. It went from $7.99 to 9.99 for four gallons. I bought 6 cases. I hope that lasts me a good long while because my other option is pool store or individual jugs of bleach at Walmart.
 
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ISSE is going well so far. I set my pump to run on a timer. I have it set to run: 4:30-5:30 am, 8:00-11:00 am, 1:00-4:00 pm and 6:00-9:00 pm.

At 9:00 last night, my FC was 9.5, CC .5. This morning, the FC was 8.5 and CC was 0. My pump was off for the whole night. A pass while below SLAM level. I will continue to check this for the next couple of days.
 
S1ngram said:
If I turn my filter off at night and don't lose chlorine, doesn't that pinpoint the area creating the problem? Don't all chemicals eventually degrade (half life?)? Is it possible that given enough time (maybe next swim season) the source will be degraded enough that it's no longer a problem?
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Yes, that pretty much pinpoints the area of the problem to be somewhere in the filtration/circulation so the filter, pump, piping, gas heater, and any other equipment in-line (not in your case, but generally this would include a saltwater chlorine generator, an ozonator, a UV system, etc.). If you have a multi-way valve so can bypass ONLY the filter while still having the pump run for circulation, then that would isolate the problem even further.

As for degrading of the source of chlorine demand, that would be true if it were not biological.

S1ngram said:
ISSE is going well so far. I set my pump to run on a timer. I have it set to run: 4:30-5:30 am, 8:00-11:00 am, 1:00-4:00 pm and 6:00-9:00 pm.

At 9:00 last night, my FC was 9.5, CC .5. This morning, the FC was 8.5 and CC was 0. My pump was off for the whole night. A pass while below SLAM level. I will continue to check this for the next couple of days.
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If you have reasonable results while not SLAMing, then I wouldn't worry about what happened during the SLAM since you will be operating your pool not at SLAM level. It's still disconcerting to have the FC loss and higher CC during the SLAM, but maybe you are over the worst of whatever is there such that being below SLAM will be OK. However, that would probably only be true if the problem is not biological. If it gets worse again, then it's more likely to be a biological problem -- something that can grow at lower chlorine levels. Though that sounds like biofilm, the Ahh-Some should have gotten rid of that sort of problem, but then again no "product" is a miracle.
 

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With FC down to a normal level, I ran the barrage of tests the tf100 has to offer. Here are my results at 2pm:
FC 5.5
CYA 25
pH 8.2 at least
TA 220

I used pool math and added 32 oz. of bleach. We'll be swimming after the kids are done with naps so I'm sure we'll need it. I've had a lot of CYA variation, but the trend is that it is decreasing. I have replaced some water lately, so I added nearly 1/2 the recommended amount - which was all the stabilizer I had left anyway (15 oz). Trying to bring down TA and pH so I added 104 oz. MA. That stuff is nasty. The wind shifted and blew right at me when I was dribbling it into the pool. I tried to hold my breath after that. Cough. Gasp.

I'll have to test pH before we get into the pool to make sure it's where it belongs. I don't want the little ones or myself to be uncomfortable.
 
Just look at you and your testing! Think back to the beginning and see how far you have come.

It sounds like you have a good handle on what is what. I am very proud of you.

I like the idea of pool only hoses and such. I hope that works out!

Kim
 
I'm glad you are taking a break from trying to find the chlorine eater in your pool. I have been watching you and toofast's threads to see if you could beat it.

I hope you are able to enjoy your pool and if a algae bloom pops up you can just bring it to slam level and it will go away in a day or two. The cost of not finishing the SLAM in my situation is just adding more bleach then if I had completed it. I have to raise my FC level to SLAM level every month or so to bring down a algae bloom and my FC level never drops below the midpoint of my target level.
 
I thought I'd give an update on the pool. Everything seems to be going just fine. In fact, I've only used 173 oz of bleach in the past 5 days. No kidding! While I was slamming, I was easily using that and more each DAY. My target FC is 7 and today it was so overcast I only lost .5 ppm FC all day. My pH is right on the money too. I'm pretty happy at the moment.
:party:
 
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