I think I have Algae, need help!

[jreedsar]

Gday folks,

I've been busy at work and have let my pool develop some algae.

I just purchased a taylor k-2006c kit and want to SLAM my pool but have some preliminary questions. I have a salt water pool with a jandy 1400 generator. The pool store mistakenly told me to add too much salt at the beginning of the season and my salt is now too high and causing my cell not to generate chlorine. It's at 4200 ppm according to my cell, but jandy says I should have it between 3000-3500. I just dumped a bunch of water and am in the process of refilling to the point that hopefully brings the salt down to the correct level. If I find my salt is still too high, is there much point in starting to SLAM it? I have a long weekend free (unusual) and really want to get this fixed so I'm hoping I could continue and fix the salt issue after.

My second question, my CYA looks to be low for a salt pool. I had it around 40 before and as I run my first test with the Taylor kit it looks to be below 30. Obviously I need to get it up. 1) I understand from TFP that a salt pool CYA should be around 70-80. If that's the case, how much liquid CYA should I dump to get it to acceptable levels? 3) do I need to wait a period of time before I SLAM?

My last question - for anyone who has followed the slam process before, how much chlorine (approx as I know it's different for every pool depending) do I really need to buy? I'm going to go refill some jugs and just want to know how much I should bring home to minimize my trips back to the pool store.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE. Really hoping to get back on track.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! First, how does the water look? Is it a green swamp, or just a little cloudy? If its not full swampy green you may be able to slam it clear in a couple of days. It is really hard to say how much bleach you will use, however if you are able to dose and test frequently the first day or two the slam goes more quickly. Once you have finished refilling test the CYA level again. That will determine how much chlorine you need to reach slam levels. You can use PoolMath to determine how much chlorine you need for your pool. (you can subscribe to the app or scroll down to the bottom of the page for the old school web page version.)

 

[jreedsar]

Thank

Hi, welcome to TFP! First, how does the water look? Is it a green swamp, or just a little cloudy? If its not full swampy green you may be able to slam it clear in a couple of days. It is really hard to say how much bleach you will use, however if you are able to dose and test frequently the first day or two the slam goes more quickly. Once you have finished refilling test the CYA level again. That will determine how much chlorine you need to reach slam levels. You can use PoolMath to determine how much chlorine you need for your pool. (you can subscribe to the app or scroll down to the bottom of the page for the old school web page version.)

Hi thank you for the reply. The water doesn't look too bad itself. There is a little bit of green forming on the slope into the deep end and there is a mixture of what I think is algae and debris lining the rim at the bottom of the deep end.

I just finished filling with water and I'm now off to the pool store to get an initial test done. Am I able to hold off on getting my stabilizer back up until after I'm done the slam? What about my pH? I understand that this is normally high in a saltwater pool, but it looks like I am just under eight. Is that problematic? Am I okay to continue with the slam?

 

[zea3]

You want your stabilizer to be between 20-30 for a slam. After the slam is completed it may be adjusted if needed. You do need to get the pH down to 7.2-7.5. Higher pH can slow down the slam process. After the slam is completed we can talk more about maintaining pH in a saltwater pool.

 

[Msch99]

Curious as to why you are going to the pool store for tests? Use your own kit, it will be more accurate. Mixing and matching pool store results is not a good thing.