I’ve got to stop this SLAM

[IceShadow]

Did the deep clean seem to get a lot of crud out? You may notice a big difference now.

 

[duraleigh]

Well, if that's visible debris, you need to make that a priority to get it cleaned up before you take any other steps.

Vacuum to filter, vacuum to waste or net it out if you can but you can not SLAM a pool with that stuff in it. Once you get it cleaned out of your pool, I would then start a SLAM but not before

Run your pump 24/7......stir up the debris into the pool water so the filter catches it and backwash when the psi is 25% above normal.

There really is little point in attempting a SLAM until the debris is gone.

 

[PointeTaken]

Its also alot of stuff competing for fc. You’re fighting the sun w/ such a low cya as well as the debris & any remaining algae. This will consume more fc than average.

The low CYA is my main hurdle right now. On a full sun day, I burn off around 6-8 FC a day, which is less than I expected considering that normally at this time of year my SWGC has to replace about 1.5 per day. When I do a true OCLT (dusk to dawn) it is zero every time. Even checking it before dusk and again after the sun has come up, it’s been at or below 1. Brushing and scrubbing does not cause any additional FC consumption or elevate the CC. That’s why I’m skeptical of whether there is actually any live organic presence remaining.

 

[PointeTaken]

Well, if that's visible debris, you need to make that a priority to get it cleaned up before you take any other steps.

Vacuum to filter, vacuum to waste or net it out if you can but you can not SLAM a pool with that stuff in it. Once you get it cleaned ou of your pool, I would then start a SLAM but not before,

Well, I couldn’t see it until I did a SLAM to clear up the water. Should I suspend my SLAM and then resume it after it’s all cleaned up? Or just maintain SLAM level?

 

[PointeTaken]

Did the deep clean seem to get a lot of crud out? You may notice a big difference now.

Not as much as when I did it a couple of years ago. It was fairly underwhelming. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some channeling though. I did change out the sand last year when I replaced my lateral assembly, so that might be why it wasn’t as visibly dirty. Figured I might as well since I had the thing open and the old sand was feeling pretty powdery.

 

[duraleigh]

Should I suspend my SLAM and then resume it after it’s all cleaned up?

Yes !

 

[Orion7319]

Your still dealing with all that silt from a flood. I think it would have been easier to drain quite a bit and then use flock. I would probably just flock it at this point. If you end up having to replace the sand in your filter, that’s probably going to be less of a hassle and expense then what your dealing with now..

 

[ajw22]

Before you use either get educated in their use. Read…

Flocculant - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Clarifier - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

The fact is your sand filter is the worst type of filter to clear the type of debris in the water you have.

I think typical TFP methods do not apply to your situation.

Your choices are:

• Trying some unpopular chemical methods
• Change your filter to cartridge or DE
• Large water exchange
• Accept cloudy pool water and hope your sand filter will slowly clear it over time
• Some combination of above

 

[AK-]

Silt is not organic matter. It won’t grow and won’t use up your chlorine. When settled it may offer some protection to algae from chlorine. Considering you have been SLAMming so long I don’t think that will be an issue any time soon. Persisting on the SLAM won’t do you any good at this time. But there is some chance you may need to periodically SLAM until you get it all out.

You new mobile cartridge filter (Dolphin) may help, but you will need to clean the basket very well after every use and be aware there is some risk the silt could get past the filter and slowly damage the impeller.

For a water exchange (unless fully draining the pool) to help you will need to keep those particles is suspension otherwise they will just stay in you pool while you do the water exchange. Other than that caveat I believe @ajw22 is on point.

You are is a very thought situation and unfortunately doesn’t seem to be a guaranteed way to fix it without some risk having to deal with the fallout of the “solution “.

 

[ajw22]

For a water exchange (unless fully draining the pool) to help you …

Draining the pool is very risky with a fiberglass pool, especially in his area.

His options to deal with the problem are boxed in by the type of pool and filter.

 

[SoDel]

I agree with the cartridge filter route, even if you buy the cheapest one you can find and just use it temporarily on a vac hose (as if it were a canister). You can get a small cartridge filter for less than $200 and keep it around for the next big rain. I had a big problem with pollen this spring and it was gone in a day with the cartridge filter. If the silt is too small to get caught by a cartridge filter, I don’t see a way other than adding a floculator. Silt particles can be extremely tiny, under a um.

 

[AK-]

Unless I misunderstood the OP the issue is the silt settles in the bottom fairly quickly but goes fully in suspension when slightly disturbed clouding the water.

Filtering the water, regardless of filter type, won’t do any good unless he can keep the silt of the bottom for prolonged periods of time. Same for water exchange (hence my comment on fully draining, that was not a recommendation).

Seems just moving the pole to vacuum to waste disturbs the silt enough to get the water cloudy, so there is some hope for additional filtration. His new cleaning robot might even help to keep the silt off the bottom so the filter can actually filter it out (where I agree a cartridge filter might help), but that could reduce the useful life of the cleaning robot (a risk worth taken in my opinion). Well even a very flexible hose in the bottom of the pool “filling” it might help to keep it in suspension.

If I were in his shoes I would use clarifier to get that silt clumped together and use either the cleaning robot or vacuum to waste to get it out. I would agree that floc may be a better tool for the job, but it has bigger changes of undesirable side effect. To me this is a last resort type of situation.

 

[PointeTaken]

His new cleaning robot might even help to keep the silt off the bottom so the filter can actually filter it out (where I agree a cartridge filter might help)

Here is a thought I had this morning as I was drinking my coffee and scowling at the pool. My Tiger Shark still has some life in it. It won’t move around much because it’s brains are shot, but the impeller still runs. It just sits mostly stationary for four hours. And I have ultra fine cartridge filters in there. What if I just toss it in the bottom and use it as a submersible filter? Better than nothing, right?

 

[ajw22]

Here is a thought I had this morning as I was drinking my coffee and scowling at the pool. My Tiger Shark still has some life in it. It won’t move around much because it’s brains are shot, but the impeller still runs. It just sits mostly stationary for four hours. And I have ultra fine cartridge filters in there. What if I just toss it in the bottom and use it as a submersible filter? Better than nothing, right?

Can’t hurt, may help.

 

[Mdragger88]

This won’t help u right now - but just for context, have u done anything w/ landscaping or drainage to prevent this the next time it rains heavy? This sounds like it could to be a perpetual issue.
Sorry u are dealing with this in your beautiful pool!

 

[PointeTaken]

This won’t help u right now - but just for context, have u done anything w/ landscaping or drainage to prevent this the next time it rains heavy? This sounds like it could to be a perpetual issue.
Sorry u are dealing with this in your beautiful pool!

We have good drainage - for normal storms. I put french drains behind the retaining wall above the pool deck two years ago to help minimize runoff. We also have drains at the base of the retaining wall where it meets the pool deck. The issue is that we had 12 inches of rain in four hours…during a week in which we had already experienced 7 inches. The ground was completely saturated, and we live quite literally on the side of a mountain (a hill for you folks out west). Our entire property - the neighborhood actually - is graded at a relatively gentle 6 degree slope. But with the ground that saturated, we had a bonafide river roaring through our backyard.

 

[Orion7319]

Have you tried adding DE to your sand filter yet? It really helps when you have fine material floating around. It might not be enough but it’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t help, then you might be looking at flock. I use it myself, instead of using clarifiers. It really helps getting out finer particles, but I have never had my pool flood like this so I have no idea how it will help with the silt. You will have to backwash it out eventually as the pressure on your pump will go way up eventually. I’m about to add some myself as I spent yesterday pressure washing my pool deck and my water has a bit of a hint of a slight haze this morning.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[PointeTaken]

Have you tried adding DE to your sand filter yet? It really helps when you have fine material floating around. It might not be enough but it’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t help, then you might be looking at flock. I use it myself, instead of using clarifiers. It really helps getting out finer particles, but I have never had my pool flood like this so I have no idea how it will help with the silt. You will have to backwash it out eventually as the pressure on your pump will go way up eventually. I’m about to add some myself as I spent yesterday pressure washing my pool deck and my water has a bit of a hint of a slight haze this morning.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

Yes, I’ve done that in the past with good success. It may be an eventuality for me. Only 25 lb. bags are available locally so I’ll have to see if there are smaller ones available online.

 

[Orion7319]

Yes, I’ve done that in the past with good success. It may be an eventuality for me. Only 25 lb. bags are available locally so I’ll have to see if there are smaller ones available online.

Yeah that’s all I could find as well. It was only around $25.00 and it will probably take me 25 years to go though it all. I always have it when I need it though.

EDIT:
I suspect in this application you will probably go though a lot of it. You will probably have to backwash your filter and add fresh every few days or so.

 

[Mdragger88]

They sell it at Walmart for $20 for 10#

Or perhaps you may know someone w/ a de filter who would give u some?