How much testing reagents will I need to SLAM?

[mclaflin]

Newbie to the forum, but I have had an inground vinyl liner pool for seven years without a problem. My husband told me that if we were going to build a pool, I was going to be the one taking care of it because he just doesn't have the time. I was ok with that. It was never "work." Ever.

The perfect storm happened this spring with a late opening, spring rains, and high spring temps. I have always cleared my pool with HTH pool shock, and taken a sample one time to the pool store (an hour away) to get it tested and "perfected."

This spring I added 50 pounds of that shock with no sign of blue. I made two trips to the pool store and almost got the pool as crystal clear as I was accustomed to seeing it. I turned on the timer for our normal eight hour pump time with a Frog chlorinator. Things went south rather quickly, and despite a third trip to the pool store, have not improved. I got on the internet, did tons of research, found this site, and now I have hope!

The only thing I know with certainty from my last pool test with the pool store is that my CYA is 67. I think that is my problem! I was using the granular shock, which likely contributed to the higher CYA, and for some reason, the computer at the pool store didn't take into consideration the higher CYA when prescribing the chlorine I needed.

I am done with the pool store. I have a Taylor K-2600 test kit coming my way. I am making a trip to Home Depot to get about 40 gallons of chlorine (another 45 minute trip because I gladly live in midwest small town America), and I am going to begin my SLAM hot and heavy on Friday morning. (Yikes! Seven and a half gallons to get started according to the CYA/Chlorine chart!)

My question is this: Knowing that I have the K-2600 test kit coming my way, will I have enough reagents to test the chlorine (both free and combined) throughout the entire process in the kit? (My pool is green. It is green enough that I can hardly see the bottom in the shallow end.) Or should I go ahead and buy more reagents and get them coming my way because I don't have a clue where I would buy them semi-locally. (Will be buying from Dave because I feel like this site is truly a lifesaver for me!)

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to the TFP pool! :splash:

Hop[efully it is a typo, that kit on order actually a K-2006? Is there a letter after ti, like "C"? The basic K-2006 has .75oz bottles. You need to get the K-2006-C to get the larger bottles that you want. Even then it is a little short on the reagent & powder for the FAS/DPD test.

The K-2006 kit uses the same Taylor reagents as the TF100 test kit we generally recomend. Even the TF100 test kit is a little short on the FAS/DPD test so for a SLAM Process we generally recommend the XL option.

So, if you just ordered the K-2006 (no "C") can you cancel it?

If you did order the "C", just order a XL option from tftestkits.

Until you get your kit, each day I want you to put one bottle of your chlorine in the pool with the filter running. You may also want ot be thinking about exchanging some of that water, as a SLAM Process with CYA higher than 30 or so takes a lot more chlorine.

Continue brushing and running the filter, cleaning the filter as necessary.

 

[mclaflin]

No typo. �� I ordered it before I found this site. Will get the XL Option coming my way! I don’t think I want to do a return just because we only have about another month of swimming weather. Every day is critical! Thankfully I can order refills.

I have been brushing daily and running the filter constantly; at least I got that right. My pool has 28,300 gallons (need to do a signature), so will that change the amount of chlorine I use daily until I begin the SLAM?

I will retest for CYA when I get my kit, but continue to backwash to clean the sand filter and add water to replace it as needed. We are having horrible heat, so evaporation is a real thing. I am hoping that my CYA tests lower when I finally get my test kit, and I can decrease the chlorine needed. I just want to be prepared because I don’t know how long the pool chlorine will be available as the season progresses. (I am just upset that I never knew it was so much better to use than the granular shock!)

Thank you so much for your help. My grandson is four, and just beginning to really love the pool. I miss seeing him swimming in it!

 

[kimkats]

Hi and so glad to see you! Do you have the chlorine yet? Please check the date code on the bottles. If you don't know how to read them just post the numbers you see stamped on the bottle and one of us can read it for you.

Another thing you can do is take a pic looking down at the steps. We LOVE Green To Clean pics AND it gives you hope when it does not look like it is working. Your eyes will not see the difference day to day but the camera will!

Kim

 

[Jhsparky82]

I just finished a nearly 3 week slam. I ordered the TF-100XL, and still have plenty of reagent left. My pool was a swamp, couldn't see a foot down. Now, it's crystal clear and algae free. And I still have enough testing materials to keep it that way.

 

[mclaflin]

Hi and so glad to see you! Do you have the chlorine yet? Please check the date code on the bottles. If you don't know how to read them just post the numbers you see stamped on the bottle and one of us can read it for you.

Another thing you can do is take a pic looking down at the steps. We LOVE Green To Clean pics AND it gives you hope when it does not look like it is working. Your eyes will not see the difference day to day but the camera will!

Kim

Did some research and think my LC was manufactured on December 19, 2017. (Code was 35317.) And since they didn’t have enough on the shelves that I could reach, a couple of cases came from the top (hotter) shelves. I hope it is still potent enough to SLAM. My options for other sources are not great.

 

[mclaflin]

I just finished a nearly 3 week slam. I ordered the TF-100XL, and still have plenty of reagent left. My pool was a swamp, couldn't see a foot down. Now, it's crystal clear and algae free. And I still have enough testing materials to keep it that way.

Thanks for the reply!

Wish I had found this site before I ordered my TK-2006. I did get the XL reagent ordered, but we have a weekend coming up and I can’t be certain that it will get here before I run out, or even before the weekend, which means it might be Monday afternoon with the worst case scenario.

Hoping it doesn’t take three weeks for our pool, but it is bad. Three weeks will be pretty close to the end of our swim season.

 

[Jhsparky82]

Thanks for the reply!

Wish I had found this site before I ordered my TK-2006. I did get the XL reagent ordered, but we have a weekend coming up and I can’t be certain that it will get here before I run out, or even before the weekend, which means it might be Monday afternoon with the worst case scenario.

Hoping it doesn’t take three weeks for our pool, but it is bad. Three weeks will be pretty close to the end of our swim season.

These are my before and after pics. The green pool was a week into the slam, and it hadn't changed much. Good luck!

 

[mclaflin]

Yep, unfortunately that looks familiar.

Were you able to devote as much time to your SLAM as they recommend? I was going to start this afternoon, and I did get my pH tested and treated. I am thinking maybe I should wait until tomorrow morning. I told hubby I would not be available to help on the farm once I got started. I really would like this to be a week to ten day process, but that might not be possible. Also considering adding some DE to my sand filter to speed things up a bit.

 

[Jhsparky82]

View attachment 82159
Yep, unfortunately that looks familiar.

Were you able to devote as much time to your SLAM as they recommend? I was going to start this afternoon, and I did get my pH tested and treated. I am thinking maybe I should wait until tomorrow morning. I told hubby I would not be available to help on the farm once I got started. I really would like this to be a week to ten day process, but that might not be possible. Also considering adding some DE to my sand filter to speed things up a bit.

You pretty much don't have a choice but to devote time to it. It seems like a huge and arduous task, but it's really not that bad once it gets going. All you'll care about is the FC until the pool turns bluish.

Test your CYA, and use pool math to figure out your slam level. This is what you want to stay above. Testing is a 2 minute process, and adding bleach is another 2 minutes. Basically 5 minutes out of every 3 hours to fix your pool.

Check it every few hours at first, because the algae will gobble up chlorine like crazy. After 3 or 4 days, the demand will start to taper off. Then you can go from checking every 3 hours to 6 or 8. I logged everything in pool math (paid for the yearly subscription, worth every penny) and starting seeing the pattern in FC consumption.

Understand tho, there's no way to speed this up. Superchlorinating the pool to crazy high levels will only serve to eat away at equipment. I dosed mine at about 5ppm above recommended slam level, so when I came back, it had dropped to about that level. If you fall too low, it gives algae a chance to build back. The point of a slam is to constantly assault algae with enough chlorine to kill it faster than it can regrow.

Lots of people recommended taking pictures of the pool. I'm pretty patient so I didn't see the need, but if you're a generally impatient person do it. You'll see the progress and know you're on the right path. It works tho. Bleach, bleach, more bleach and time.

 

[mclaflin]

At this point, i am determined and will do whatever it takes! I was just hoping that by testing every hour and adding (only) the required amount of bleach early on might speed up the process a little! A girl can only hope!

My CYA is a bit high at 60, but not too bad considering.

I had to laugh because I just paid for the yearly subscription and logged my results right before I got on the forum!

Thanks for you input. I have gone from a pool owner who knew nothing about pool chemistry to a walking pool encyclopedia over the past couple of days!

 

[tim5055]

At this point, i am determined and will do whatever it takes! I was just hoping that by testing every hour and adding (only) the required amount of bleach early on might speed up the process a little! A girl can only hope!

From what we see, the harder you hit it at first will definitely speed the process.
Keep it up!

 

[mclaflin]

From what we see, the harder you hit it at first will definitely speed the process.
Keep it up!

Awesome!

That is my plan, then. The battle has begun!

 

[mclaflin]

Less than 24 hours in. I am a believer!

 

[tim5055]

Keep it up!!

 

[MrBfromNC]

This is war!!!! Get 'em Rambo. :rambo: :rambo: :rambo:

 

[mclaflin]

This is war!!!! Get 'em Rambo. :rambo: :rambo: :rambo:

I am gonna need more LC.

 

[mknauss]

Some of that Home Depot bleach is really old. Be aware of that.

Look on the box. Printed is 17xxx. That means it was bottled on xxx day of 2017. Only use bleach that has a date greater than 18150 or so.

 

[Jhsparky82]

Some of that Home Depot bleach is really old. Be aware of that.

Look on the box. Printed is 17xxx. That means it was bottled on xxx day of 2017. Only use bleach that has a date greater than 18150 or so.

Late December 2017. So 6 months old. If it says 12.5%, it's probably closer to 10 by now. Not that it won't do the job, but that variance might skew your numbers. But, yeah, check the dates and get the freshest stuff you can.

 

[MrBfromNC]

Bleach is usually date coded by the Julian date. So like Marty mentioned, 18150 means the year "18" or obviously 2018. Then 150 means the 150th day of this year. So day 150 was May 30th, 2018. So today would be coded like 18187 because July 6th is the 187th day of this year.

Or like he said, use 18150 or larger number. LOL

And keep your liquid chlorine in a cool place also, out of direct sunlight. I made the mistake of storing mine in my garage and all that heat kinda zapped it pretty quickly. UGH. Live and learn, I guess.