Help Needed! I don't understand...

[TitanBrave]

Ok I've been running a pool for a couple of years. TFP has been amazing, SLAM process works, I've been super successful following everything. However, we went away for 10 days, the water evaporated below the pump line so the SWCG didn't work. So I ended up with a green pool. So, I know the process, SLAM etc.

However, at this point in time I'm really struggling, before I went away we had 80 CYA, it went to 0 CYA over 10 days (I'm using TFPS test kit), my chlorine is literally being demolished. I turned of the SWCG to start the SLAM process, which I've been doing over 5 or 6 days, but literally, my chlorine is being consumed at a ridiculous rate. So my immediate thought was ammonia. So I got a test kit, and it tested 0 Amonnia, which is encouraging (albeit this is after adding 166 FC in chlorine, with no CYA in it, just in case). Last night I put in 3 more gallons of liquid chlorine. That should take my pool up to 18FC, but this morning, I was down at 2FC.

So, I could be nearing the end of the process, but any tips, advice or wisdom based on past experiences? I'll update my new stats here shortly.

 

[mknauss]

Did you test pH during all this? It typically really falls low as the chlorine removing the ammonia is very acidic.

 

[TitanBrave]

Did you test pH during all this? It typically really falls low as the chlorine removing the ammonia is very acidic.

I did, it is low, last reading was 6.8 I believe.

 

[mknauss]

That would make it ammonia. Test your TA. Add baking soda to keep your TA above 50.

 

[TitanBrave]

That would make it ammonia. Test your TA. Add baking soda to keep your TA above 50.

FC: 13
CC: 1
PH: 6.6 (I'm guessing as below 6.8 on the dial)
TA: 80
CH: 100
CYA: 35 (I did use some dichlor to boost CYA which seems to be holding now, didn't realize relationship between ammonia and CYA)

Thoughts?

 

[mknauss]

OK. The pH should come back now as your TA is high enough.

Odd the CC is not higher.
Did it stink while you were putting the chlorine in the pool to eliminate the ammonia?

 

[TitanBrave]

OK. The pH should come back now as your TA is high enough.

Odd the CC is not higher.
Did it stink while you were putting the chlorine in the pool to eliminate the ammonia?

I did not, and actually thought about this, usually when I put my arm into the pool to grab the test sample, my arm usually smells of the chloromines. My CC yesterday and day before was 2/1.5.

 

[mknauss]

Interesting. Something happened. But all you need to do now is maintain the FC and get things back to normal.

 

[TitanBrave]

Interesting. Something happened. But all you need to do now is maintain the FC and get things back to normal.

Ok will do, I'm going to do another test here in 15 minutes to see how much the chlorine is being consumed. Yesterday I was going from like 16 FC to 2,1,0 FC in the space of 30 minutes. I'm hoping that I'm at the end of it. It just go to the point this morning where I was stressed, pouring money into the pool and nothing seemed to be changing.

 

[TitanBrave]

Interesting. Something happened. But all you need to do now is maintain the FC and get things back to normal.

Ok now it's:

FC: 10.5
CC: 1.5

 

[TitanBrave]

Interesting. Something happened. But all you need to do now is maintain the FC and get things back to normal.

Ok for the first time in a little while it looks like the FC is holding. Last night with no sun I was losing 13 FC to 0 in 30 minutes, right now, it's slowed right down, still losing some in direct Texas sun with lower than ideal CYA, but definitely feeling better about it. Locally we've run out of liquid chlorine, so using Cal-Hypo now, and watching CH levels.

3:35pm (Central Time) Readings:
FC 13
CC 1

I'm losing about 4 FC per hour at the moment.

 

[mknauss]

You must have better water than most of Texas with a CH of 100. Just be careful with cal hypo as the granules can survive to the bottom of the pool and stain the liner.

 

[Mdragger88]

Keep it up Hopefully you’re over the hump now.
Beware that large cal hypo additions may cause cloudiness. Get some lc as soon as you can.

 

[TitanBrave]

You must have better water than most of Texas with a CH of 100. Just be careful with cal hypo as the granules can survive to the bottom of the pool and stain the liner.

Yep been scrubbing and keeping the robot going

 

[TitanBrave]

Keep it up Hopefully you’re over the hump now.
Beware that large cal hypo additions may cause cloudiness. Get some lc as soon as you can.

Thank you, I'll keep you udpated.
Do you just have to wait out the cloudiness from cal-hypo, or is there a way to clear it up?

 

[Jaked35]

OK. The pH should come back now as your TA is high enough.

Odd the CC is not higher.
Did it stink while you were putting the chlorine in the pool to eliminate the ammonia?

Is the PH not accurate @ 13FC?

 

[mknauss]

Is the PH not accurate @ 13FC?

Not perfect. But in this case, the variance is not critical. No acid is being added.

 

[duraleigh]

It's rewarding to see a relative newbie have such a solid grasp of the chemistry and methods we use.

I'm sorry about all that FC loss but your understanding of how to deal with it is cool, Nice work!

 

[Mdragger88]

Thank you, I'll keep you udpated.
Do you just have to wait out the cloudiness from cal-hypo, or is there a way to clear it up?

Wait it out - the issue with using this when doing the
SLAM Process is that water clarity (crystal clear water) is one of the 3 end of slam criteria so it makes knowing where you stand a bit difficult. If you’re still in the “swamp” phase it shouldn’t be a terrible setback just switch to lc sooner rather than later to be certain it’s a non issue.

Where to find Liquid Chlorine

We want to help you with your pool and maintain your water. Help users find a quality source of Chlorine around them or find a source for your pool.

www.google.com

 

[Pauls234]

This is one of the more uncommon occurrences of ammonia I can recall. It's almost always a pool that's been neglected for an extended period of time, usually over a winter, and really swampy. To go from clear to ammonia eating your CYA and gallons of chlorine over a 10 day summer vacation is just unfair!

Good job jumping on it