Green pool, I'm losing faith in the fight!!

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Swampwoman said:
^Sorry, Jeff...you meant not to DEEP CLEAN the filter during the slam, right?

Because you def need to BACKWASH the filter anytime the pressure is 25% above clean pressur during a lam.
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Yes, by all means backwash if the pressure has risen by that much. But I didn't see anywhere that she mentioned the pressure rising. I just meant don't backwash just for the heck of it. Backwashing requires refilling with fresh water, meaning she'll have to add even more chlorine to get her FC back up to SLAM levels.
 
It started off as FC .5 this morning, which was my fear as we ran out of bleach after another 30 yesterday. However, 6 bottles and got it up to 10, then a little later testing down to 7, added 2 more jugs and got it up to 12. Things are still coming along and the pool looks amazing. Almost a light blue-gray now. Pressure as remained right at 20 for a couple of days, so no backwashing yet while this is going on.
 
I like that progress. You are now SLAMming. Stick with the high chlorine right to the end. Your consumption will drop off pretty dramatically as your water turns clear. Keep brushing, vacuuming, etc.
 
This morning low FC again, added last 3 jugs. Tested about 1 hr. later and it got to 7. Ran to WalMart and got their last 18. Will test first now and see what to add. We quickly backwashed last night and got the pressure down from 20 to 10, but it was up to 18 again this morning. We haven't vacuumed at all yet. Soon?
 
You can vacuum, but please make sure you brush daily. Algae forms a biofilm that protects it from FC and brushing removing the biofilm allowing the FC to kill it.

Always backwash when your clean pressure rises 25%. You said your pressure got down to 10 after backwashing, so backwash when your pressure gets to 12.5.

Wal-Mart sometimes has bleach in the back, so you can always ask if the shelves are running low.
 

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Well, we're still slamming, and I'm getting discouraged. We can almost see to the bottom of the shallow end, but it's still not clear. The amount of bleach, and the cost of same, has been more than I imagined. I've been trying to keep it slammed at 10 (or above), and have been putting bleach in still - 2, 3, 4 jugs at a time, every day. Are we getting closer?
 
Can you post up a full set of results and add your pool details to your signature... some of us are helping many people at a time and seeing your pool details in your signature helps us so we don't have to waste time going back and reading pages of posts.

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Also, you previously said your CYA was 30, so your SLAM FC is 12 and not 10. Every time you let the FC get low, the algae will reproduce faster than you are killing it and you will be wasting bleach. You should try to test and add FC several times a day. If you add bleach and you never reach 12, you need to keep adding until you reach 12. Your pool was pretty nasty swamp and it sand filters much longer to clear, so you'll need some POP (pool owner patience).

Once you get to the point where you can hold FC we'll see about adding some DE to your filter to help speed up the filtration.

Keep the filter running 24/7, brush daily and backwash when your pressure rises 25% above the clean pressure.
 
Thank you kcindc. Early on because they thought there might be ammonia in the pool, I was advised to slam to 10, and I've been doing that for 12 days now. We've put in about 150-200 jugs of bleach (is that normal?) since then, and we have definitely seen improvement. This morning's 1st testing was at 11 (up from 7 last night). We do brush daily, and have been vacuuming regularly.
 
I think there has been some confusion and I apologize if you have been targeting FC of 10 for the last week or so. When you were advised to get FC to 10 it was just one time test to see if you had ammonia. Ammonia consumes bleach within minutes and they were just trying to see if you had ammonia. This didn't mean that you were supposed to target a FC 10 this whole time.

Please set your FC to 12. If you need to add every hour to get back to 12, add every hour and as you are able to hold FC longer, you can space out your additions of bleach.
 
When I slammed my pool this year... I would slam it above the the FC level recommended... and then add more as it came down to that level. So I was never below it.... Like in your case, if you are targeting FC 12.. I would slam it to FC 17 then monitor it as it comes back down toward 12 again... then spike it back up... so that it never goes below the target. Every time you go below target you are letting the algae grow again. My CYA was higher so my FC was up in the 20's. Don't have the mind set that 12 is the high point and you are trying to get it there. Over shoot it and set that as your bottom level. Keep it above that. With as green as it is you can over shoot by a fair amount and it will get used up. Slam it hard.
 
You shouldn't go too far above the FC level... going one or two ppms above the FC SLAM level is okay, but shooting for a FC of 17 would be a waste of bleach to the sun, $$$ and can cause damage to your equipment.

Post up a new full set of results (FC, CC, PH, TA, CH and CYA) when you get a chance so we can make sure nothing else if putting you off course.
 
You shouldn't go too far above the FC level... going one or two ppms above the FC SLAM level is okay, but shooting for a FC of 17 would be a waste of bleach to the sun, $$$ and can cause damage to your equipment.
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Very true. In the case of performing a SLAM, more is not always better. Consistency and maintaining the ideal SLAM FC level is always best. If it drops below the SLAM level for a short time it's not a deal-breaker.
 

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