My first slam

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jimim

Bronze Supporter
Jun 20, 2016
3,575
NE/Pa
I’m going to document this here in a new thread so I have eyes on it.

Long story short from other thread. 1.0 loss over night test.

Suggest slam for 1 day with salt cell still on.

I didn’t have enough chlorine so I did half slam today. Level went from 14 to 8.5 from 6 am to 5 pm today.

So I have chlorine now and I have questions.

1. My cya is between 60-70. I I always er on caution to keep my chlorine up, but when I added slam chlorine now I used 60 cause I didn’t know if I could go too high and damage.

Change or let go?

2. Pump. I run 24/7 at 1600. So I now need to run higher? Right now I am. But all night?

3. Can I still use robot with high levels?

4. Salt off tonight though for over night test bit can I leave it on still in day? It’s on now.

5. Ph. I adjusted down to 7.5 like instructions say. Retested 30 mins later was 7.6. So I didn’t add anymore acid. That ok I assume?

My water is crystal clear and my cc is 0. This is what has me confused.

My only sign. I usually run cell at 33-35 percent. Have been needing to up it to 40 past few days and still loosing 1 during day.

It’s hot and 90 here right now.

Current test results:

Ph 7.6
Ta 80
Ch 350
Salt 3800
Cya 60-70
Temp 83

Fc is at slam level for 60 like I wrote above.

Added chlorine before this post.

If you guys can stick with me I would be so happy.
 
1. Assume your CYA is 70ppm. The slightly higher FC will not be a danger.
2. I do not think you would need to run at a higher speed 24/7. Perhaps a few hours at high speed to ensure good circulation.
3. Yes, SLAM level FC is still less active chlorine that 1ppm FC with 0ppm CYA
4. You can leave it on if you want. We suggest leaving it off just so you can get a better feel for FC consumption
5. I would lower the pH some more, assuming your FC is < 10ppm so you can get a good pH result.

You may not have a problem. The hotter weather is going to increase the FC consumption, so that would required a higher SWG output.
 
Thanks a lot j.

I’m going to buy more chlorine now.


1. Added other fallen to take to slam level at 70 cya.

2. Thanks for answering questions.

3. Ok real life question. How many times do I retest till bed? It’s hot right now so I know I’m going to burn off. I’ll test as many times as I need. I have 1.5 bottles of the chlorine liquid for testing. The large bottles. I have a ton of powder.

Seems like it will be impossible to keep it at slam level in the heat?
 
At first, you should test as often as you can. I've seen some people test every hour in the beginning. Some can only test the minimum recommended amount (3X/day). If you are heavy on reagents, I would test every hour or two, it will keep your additions smaller and you'll stay on top of it much better than if you were to allow larger swings in FC.
 
That’s my problem I only have 1.5 bottles of liquid drops. I need at least 48 drops per test and that’s if I don’t mess up. Lately I have been doing it 3 times cause I get 3 different numbers. I have no idea why. Never happened to me before.
 
You can use 5ml of pool water, a scoop of powder, and count 1 drop = 1 ppm FC to save on reagent for the tests during your slam. Use 10ml sample when you get to the point of the overnight loss test.
 
I assumed 23 and added 128 oz to take me up to 28 again. It’s almost dark. I’m going to shower and test in a little and call it a night but god only knows what it actually is since I can’t get a straight answer with my test.

My powder and drops are only 1 month old. I tried diff powder and different drops. Cause I have 2 of each. I even leveled off my powder on 2 tests so I know exactly what I added so that it was the same vs a “heaping” spoonful like the other 4 tests.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Too little powder can be problematic on seeing the end point. At higher FC levels, make sure you use enough powder, you can't really go too much (within reason).

Are you holding the bottles vertical when you are adding drops?
Are you adding drops at a rate of about 1 per second?
 
jblizzle said:
Too little powder can be problematic on seeing the end point. At higher FC levels, make sure you use enough powder, you can't really go too much (within reason).

Are you holding the bottles vertical when you are adding drops?
Are you adding drops at a rate of about 1 per second?
Click to expand...


i always do heaping spoons. i was getting all those wacky numbers wit them heaping. yes vertical. all the time. elbow resting on the table. rate yes. i don't go fast like leslie's do. and i don't go grammy pace either until right at the end.

so again how the heck do i know if i pass. that's why i don't even know if i did fail last night cause for 2 weeks i have been having this issue. even at my 7-8 fc level.

can i have bad reagents. i'm using 2 diff powders and 2 diff bottles which were ordered this summer. at the same time like i said.

i don't want to keep testing other cause i'm wasting tests that i might need.

jim
 
Are you testing outdoors? Are you taking fresh water for each test or using the same sample?

At that high of FC maybe the sun is degrading it in your collection container?
 
Always in my kitchen. I do zero testing outside and tonight when I did the slam level testing again inside. It was dark out already. Yes I use the same sample of water. A 12 oz cup of water. And the tests r timed in the above post and u can see it was in a timely matter.

I’m at a loss.

So I retested 1 hr later cause I added another gallon to get back up to slam level. I based it on 23 up to 28.

I retested 3 times. Got 31.5, 32, 32.5. So I’m using 32 for in the morning.

The m wide awake so I might as well catch up on some tv.

I went slow. Straight up bottle. Deff 10 ml. Heaping spoonfuls.

Thanks for all the help everyone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: IceShadow
You're basically one drop off which is very much within the margin of error.

If you're close to 32 in the morning then you're good, if not you got another slam day ahead of you.

The OCLT doesn't work that great at high levels for the exact reasons you are seeing
 
  • Like
Reactions: setsailsoon
I’m at 28-29. It’s deff off. Then I want to know how everyone here always says that it has to be exact or you have to cont? This is my first slam and if u read all the other threads people come back with exact numbers. If they aren’t people always say you have to cont. now with mine I’m reading it won’t be exact and there is a margin of error. I’m so confused. My water is clear. I’m going to brush. I don’t even know how much chlorine to add.
 
I tested again. I guess I’m confident I’m at 27. So I’ll add up to slam level which is 28. When I went to bed I was 32 which is over my slam level I know but my numbers were all over the place.

I brushed. I have robot in. I have pump on high. I’ll add what chlorine I need to add now. It’s still just day break so can’t tell water color but it looks clear to me.

Salt cell is off.

Jimi
 
  • Like
Reactions: setsailsoon
Jim,
You're doing great, keep it up! You must have algae in the pool that's continuing to chew up chlorine at night. Every pool is a little different. There are places algae can hide out like spa, spa bubbler piping, lights etc. Algae can form a film on the outside of tiny clumps in the crevices of your pool and piping. The film protects live and dormant cells underneath. If you don't get these SLAM can be extended. This is one reason scrubbing is so necessary. It's also important to expose all of your pool and piping to SLAM levels of FC. Looks like your testing techniques are good enough to do this. FC levels of +/- .5 ppm are very good. Your techniques are plenty good for a SLAM. From all the posts I've seen SLAMing can be a little difficult at the end. Sometimes it abruptly ends with flying colors very quickly. Don't know if this is due to lack of diligence on the scrubbing, testing and FC maintaining, hiding spots for tiny clumps of algae or just more resistant algae. But it does always work. Looks like you've been very diligent with your testing and at least you caught this before you had a green pool. That's a good thing.

I hope this helps.

Chris
 
  • Like
Reactions: jkowskidpm
Chris. That’s the thing. I brush every other day for the past year. Before that everyday since pool was plastered. My robot is in every other day for 4 hrs. I literally never have dirt on the bottom of the pool.

I test every single day. Even when away my mother is down testing and I stay higher in care she messes up but she is good at it. I never ever drop below 6. I am at 7-8 99 percent of the time. I might have hit 6 twice this season. My cya is 60 bit I say it’s 70. I use 2 different cya kits even. The regular one and blue devil.

This is what doesn’t make sense on paper I should not have algae. And my pool is crystal clear I can see tocthe drains. I have the pump off and robot stopped as I type this so I can get a picture. My wife thinks I’m nuts cause she just went out and said the pool is crystal clear.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply