Need help with slow response to chemicals

[Robrike]

Hello everyone.

I posted a couple weeks ago about opening to a green swamp with tons of leaves in pool. Cleaned them out and found out my sand filter was shot. Kept chlorine at 10 with pump on recirculate till I got new filter. Filter was installed Thursday and I can't seem to get my water to clear. Numbers look ok and listed below:

FC 17.5

CC .3 (Maybe, with reagent added water took clear pink tint color, not pink like FC test, drop of R0871 brought it clear again. I guess .3

PH 7.5

TA 80

CH 75

CYA 50

SALT 3200

TEMP 65

Last night I had FC at 22.5 and the numbers above are from this morning. I'm losing chlorine overnight but not showing significant CC. I have run my filter 24/7 but keep brushing and vacuuming and the next morning silt is all over bottom of pool in lines of the liner.

Is my sand filter not fine enough to get these particles and that is why they keep showing up and water won't clear? Each day with slam level chlorine I see a little more of the edges of bottom of deep end but no bottom drain sighted yet.

I tried D.E. in the filter last night then vacuuming and it would go from my normal 15psi of pressure to 23psi just vacuuming shallow end. I had to backwash twice due to pressure rise. I left the D.E. out last night. Didn't want pump to run dry if it plugged up. I'll need to add lost water from backwashes so my numbers will change today. I'm down maybe 2k gallons on a 29k gallon pool.

Should I just continue to slam and run pump and filter with no D.E.? And just continue to brush shallow end to deep end and let main drain pick up sediment from brushing? I guess another option is to brush to deep end and vacuum to waste the deep end? Little extreme but since D.E. clogs filter so fast with its 1psi rise I'm not sure how to capture the fine leaf sediment. I'm just not seeing a significant clearing of water and it worries me. I attached pictures from day I opened and 2 from yesterday. Mega green is opening day.

Thanks for any suggestions. Filter is brand new Hayward S244t with 300lbs of fresh sand. Normal pressure on it is 15psi but with D.E. added it will go to 23psi in a matter of hours requiring a backwash.

Thank you,

Robert

 

[RonsPlc]

You are getting there...
This is where POP (Pool Owner Patience) comes into play.
Keep up the SLAM until all have been met.
I would forego the DE in the filter for now.... let the sand do its job.
Put the DE into it at the end of the process.... (When your water is "just about" crystal clear) as a final polishing step to getting you there.
The fine sediment you are seeing is likely dead algae.
I would brush everything into the deep end, keep the filter running for a couple of hours to let it all settle after brushing, then vacuum the deep end. (Rinse, and repeat as needed)

 

[Divin Dave]

I dont belive you've completed killing off all of the algae (the SLAM).
The cloudiness is due to some of the algae being killed off, and the silt on the floor is the dead algae.

I'm sure your filter is fine.

 

[Robrike]

You are getting there...
This is where POP (Pool Owner Patience) comes into play.
Keep up the SLAM until all have been met.
I would forego the DE in the filter for now.... let the sand do its job.
Put the DE into it at the end of the process.... (When your water is "just about" crystal clear) as a final polishing step to getting you there.
The fine sediment you are seeing is likely dead algae.
I would brush everything into the deep end, keep the filter running for a couple of hours to let it all settle after brushing, then vacuum the deep end. (Rinse, and repeat as needed)

Hey RonsPlc.

Thanks for the advice. I will keep up the slam and brushing and see how it goes. I see progress but it seems slower than last year. Guess that's how it goes sometimes. Nothing is ever consistent.

Question on slam while at work. I work 24 hour shifts so would having my wife just add a gallon of pool bleach in the evening suffice till I get home the following morning? Or should I have her bring me a sample of water to work to test and add off the results? Another option is to put salt water generator on Super Chlorinate maybe before I leave for work???

Just curious of best way to make this work. I work 10 days a month on my schedule but of course during the slam I am gone 3 of the next 6 days. Love the 10 day a month work schedule for full time job but it stinks trying to clear this pool with a slam.

Thanks,

Robert

 

[RonsPlc]

You would be best off to keep the SWG turned OFF during the SLAM. You don't want to burn it out trying to keep up with the chlorine demand.
If you can teach her how to do the DPD test with the powder, she could do the test, call you, and you could tell here how much bleach to add to the pool. (You probably have it down pat in your head by now).
Once she gets the hang of it, she will probably be able to predict how much you are going to advise her to put in,

 

[Robrike]

I dont belive you've completed killing off all of the algae (the SLAM).
The cloudiness is due to some of the algae being killed off, and the silt on the floor is the dead algae.

I'm sure your filter is fine.

Thanks Dave.
I'll keep the slam up and leave the filter on full time. I have my main drain opened up full and the skimmers throttled back to 50% or so. Hoping pulling from deep end will clear it up quicker. Guess I just need to work on my patience a little.[emoji36] I'll keep up the slam today and dose it hard tomorrow for my absence and get a reading tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll come home to much clearer water.[emoji3]

Thanks Dave!!

Robert

 

[Robrike]

You would be best off to keep the SWG turned OFF during the SLAM. You don't want to burn it out trying to keep up with the chlorine demand.
If you can teach her how to do the DPD test with the powder, she could do the test, call you, and you could tell here how much bleach to add to the pool. (You probably have it down pat in your head by now).
Once she gets the hang of it, she will probably be able to predict how much you are going to advise her to put in,

It will be tough to teach her, she doesn't really want to learn. She wanted the house but not the pool that came with it when we made the house purchase last year.? Go figure. I'll work on her though. At least she will bring me a water sample, that much I know. Lol.

I'll report back soon, hopefully with good news. I just finished brushing and fixed my pole extension slipping and actually got a couple of nets of leaves off bottom of deep end. I think it is clear of leaves now aside from maybe some small pieces the net misses. That had to help some.

Be back with good news and pictures soon I hope.

Thanks for the tips.

Robert

 

[Robrike]

It will be tough to teach her, she doesn't really want to learn. She wanted the house but not the pool that came with it when we made the house purchase last year.? Go figure. I'll work on her though. At least she will bring me a water sample, that much I know. Lol.

I'll report back soon, hopefully with good news. I just finished brushing and fixed my pole extension slipping and actually got a couple of nets of leaves off bottom of deep end. I think it is clear of leaves now aside from maybe some small pieces the net misses. That had to help some.

Be back with good news and pictures soon I hope.

Thanks for the tips.

Robert

I got home about 7:15 this morning and things were looking much better. I could actually make out an outline of the main drain in the deep end. I'm still losing about 3 to 4 ppm of FC every 6 to 8 hours so I plan to keep the slam.up and run the pump and filter 24/7. Brushed and vacuumed 3 times today. All that brushing and vacuuming stirred up a cloud in the deep end and lowered the visibility but it will clear back up. Adding water Sunday night dropped my CYA to 30 from a previous 40 so my slam level FC # went from 20 to 16 but I am still trying g to keep it above 18 to be on the safe side.

More to follow soon.

Robert

 

[RonsPlc]

Yup, it is going WELL!
Keep up the good work!
Your pool will be ready by the time the water gets to swimming temperature!