Need SLAM help, please!!

[BKennedy]

Don’t know if I need to slam or try to maintain chlorine level. SWG went out and pool went really green. Before joining this site, went with pool store recommendation and did green to clean. Water is still cloudy and has a bunch of “organic” looking junk on bottom. I’m thinking I just need to vacuum to waste, but I’ve read slamming will get rid of all the debri on bottom. Had water tested at local pool store today but I finally got my k-2006 delivered this evening. Test results from the store are….

Free Chlorine: 0.07
Total Chlorine : 0.07
PH: 7.5
TOtal Alkilinity: 100
Calcium Hardness: 319
Cyanuric Acid: 43
Iron: 0
Copper: 0.1
Phosphates: 91
Salt: 3503

So, do I slam pool, just vacuum out the debri, brush and keep filtering? It’s been running for 4 days with the pool first aid also. I now know not to do all that in the future. Nothing has changed in the past 2 days as far as clarity. It does have a blueish pebbletec finish, but it is not clear! I downloaded the app. Will it automatically tell me the level to keep chlorine for slam? Thanks for the help for a tfp newbie!

 

[PoolStored]

Hey! Welcome to TFP!!!

If you got your test kit, test away and post your results. Will help us more than store numbers to figure out next step.

Slamming will not get rid of the debris. With organics in the pool and 0 FC, you likely have algae, and will have to slam. With your new found test kit, run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Use PoolMath to figure out how much liquid chlorine to add to your pool to get you to about 10 FC, run pump for 1/2 hour, make sure sun is down and test FC. Get up in the morning and test again before the sun hits the pool. Will help tell us next step. Make sure to turn of SWCG.

 

[BKennedy]

Hey! Welcome to TFP!!!

If you got your test kit, test away and post your results. Will help us more than store numbers to figure out next step.

Slamming will not get rid of the debris. With organics in the pool and 0 FC, you likely have algae, and will have to slam. With your new found test kit, run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Use PoolMath to figure out how much liquid chlorine to add to your pool to get you to about 10 FC, run pump for 1/2 hour, make sure sun is down and test FC. Get up in the morning and test again before the sun hits the pool. Will help tell us next step. Make sure to turn of SWCG.

Thanks so much for replying! Should I test everything the kit will test for, or just the chlorine at this point? I’m guessing everything to compare to what the store showed. When I check the slam button on pool math, it adjust my FC to 17. So I should just set it to 10?? Also, do I check the FC now, figure out how much chlorine to add, then add chlorine when the sun goes down, and finally check FC again after 30 mins?

 

[PoolStored]

1) Yes, go ahead and run ALL your tests. Will be fun, and we will get a baseline. Literally, throw out the paper from the store. Now. Go!
2) We don't have a baseline and should not use the store numbers in Pool Math. We do not know what your numbers are. Run the tests, log the results, come back.
How much Liquid Chlorine do you have on hand?

Please go into Pool Math, click the gear in the upper right corner, scroll down to sharing and turn on Link from TFP.com user profile. We will then be able to see your results without you having to type them in.

Awaiting results!

 

[BKennedy]

Hey! Welcome to TFP!!!

If you got your test kit, test away and post your results. Will help us more than store numbers to figure out next step.

Slamming will not get rid of the debris. With organics in the pool and 0 FC, you likely have algae, and will have to slam. With your new found test kit, run an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. Use PoolMath to figure out how much liquid chlorine to add to your pool to get you to about 10 FC, run pump for 1/2 hour, make sure sun is down and test FC. Get up in the morning and test again before the sun hits the pool. Will help tell us next step. Make sure to turn of SWCG.

Also, with the amount of debris I have(the whole pool floor), which doesn’t seem to be filtered out or collected through my Polaris VRX iq+, would I be better off draining and power washing the pool and refilling vs slamming and then trying to remove all the junk? It hasn’t been drained in at least 7 years. The Polaris traps some, but mostly just stirs it up, clouds up the pool, then it resettles.

 

[PoolStored]

35K is a lot of gallons. Do you know what your water rates would be to drain? Have you drained the pool before?

My bet is that the polaris will ultimately get it out. You may have to buy the fine filter if you don't have one. My robot with fine filter got all my dead algea. You should not have to drain and refill, unless there is another problem

Testing your water will give us our first clues. Go Test!!! Can't wait to see results.

 

[Bperry]

Get a leaf net and scoop out whatever junk you can. Dont wait for the polaris to get it, if it even will. Decaying stuff in the bottom will consume chlorine.

 

[BKennedy]

35K is a lot of gallons. Do you know what your water rates would be to drain? Have you drained the pool before?

My bet is that the polaris will ultimately get it out. You may have to buy the fine filter if you don't have one. My robot with fine filter got all my dead algea. You should not have to drain and refill, unless there is another problem

Testing your water will give us our first clues. Go Test!!! Can't wait to see results.

Ok, tests updated! I am guessing chlorine is at 0, because even after 10 scoops of the powder, my water never turned pink! I do have the extra fine filter for the Polaris. The robot picks up some of it, but there is also a super fine something or other that just goes through the filter and cloudies up the water. Maybe it could be live algae that I’ve had for a year!

 

[BKennedy]

Get a leaf net and scoop out whatever junk you can. Dont wait for the polaris to get it, if it even will. Decaying stuff in the bottom will consume chlorine.

I’ve got most everything I can get out with the net. The rest of the stuff is small pieces down to a powdery substance. All the grids on my filter and the manifold look fine and are fairly new, so shouldn’t be de. But I did have a bad grid last year and lost some de into the pool I believe. Wouldn’t the filter trap the de as it circulates though?

 

[PoolStored]

1) CYA is always on the 10s. It is logarithmic, you can't ready between. Fill to a "10" line, check, fill to next. You are at 50.
2) Slam level is 20PPM. Use pool math, and add enough Liquid Chlorine to get to 20. Run the pump 30 minutes, test ONLY FC again. Do not add more than one heaping scoop of the powder. If it does not go pink, STOP, you are wasting your reagents and you have no chlorine. Note your test after 30 minutes.
3) In the morning, before the sun hits the pool, test your FC ONLY. This will give us a baseline OCLT.
4) If you can, test and add liquid chlorine to get you back to 20ppm every two hours. Thankfully you are on a weekend and if you can use the time every two hours, this will go fast.
5) Put in the fine filter and run the robot. Between the robot picking stuff up, stirring the water, and your filter, we can get the organics out.

You might fill out your signature, like mine below (turn your phone landscape to see mine if on phone). If you have a sand filter, backwash. Note the pressure when you start it back up. When it rises 25% from baseline, backwash again, do this over and over at 25% increase. This will help remove filtering.

We got you, you will be swimming in no time.

 

[BKennedy]

1) CYA is always on the 10s. It is logarithmic, you can't ready between. Fill to a "10" line, check, fill to next. You are at 50.
2) Slam level is 20PPM. Use pool math, and add enough Liquid Chlorine to get to 20. Run the pump 30 minutes, test ONLY FC again. Do not add more than one heaping scoop of the powder. If it does not go pink, STOP, you are wasting your reagents and you have no chlorine. Note your test after 30 minutes.
3) In the morning, before the sun hits the pool, test your FC ONLY. This will give us a baseline OCLT.
4) If you can, test and add liquid chlorine to get you back to 20ppm every two hours. Thankfully you are on a weekend and if you can use the time every two hours, this will go fast.
5) Put in the fine filter and run the robot. Between the robot picking stuff up, stirring the water, and your filter, we can get the organics out.

You might fill out your signature, like mine below (turn your phone landscape to see mine if on phone). If you have a sand filter, backwash. Note the pressure when you start it back up. When it rises 25% from baseline, backwash. This will help remove what is being filtered.

We got you, you will be swimming in no time.

I appreciate it!! Going to add chorine now and will recheck FC after 30 mins and again in morning. The robot gets a little bit of stuff in it and says it’s full. Guess it goes by a weight??? Going to empty it and run it again tonight. I’ll probably have to run it 8 times a day for days to get everything! I’ll update in the morning with my OCLT levels.

 

[PoolStored]

I appreciate it!! Going to add chorine now and will recheck FC after 30 mins and again in morning. The robot gets a little bit of stuff in it and says it’s full. Guess it goes by a weight??? Going to empty it and run it again tonight. I’ll probably have to run it 8 times a day for days to get everything! I’ll update in the morning with my OCLT levels.

During SLAM or during startup in spring, I hit the "run" button on my robot multiple times a day. No idea on the "by weight," I just empty and send it off. My first slam (never to be done again), I pulled my robot out and it was a ball of dead algae. Keep at it, wash, rinse, repeat. The more you slam and robot, the faster it will go. I got up every two hours in the night and can slam in two day. UGH. Not recommended. You will get there!

 

[BKennedy]

During SLAM or during startup in spring, I hit the "run" button on my robot multiple times a day. No idea on the "by weight," I just empty and send it off. My first slam (never to be done again), I pulled my robot out and it was a ball of dead algae. Keep at it, wash, rinse, repeat. The more you slam and robot, the faster it will go. I got up every two hours in the night and can slam in two day. UGH. Not recommended. You will get there!

Yea, I don’t think I’ll be waking up every two hours!!! I hope I never have to slam again and I haven’t even really started! The junk coming out of my robot is like a sludge mixture. And it stinks! Just realized my extra fine filter has a small tear at a seam. Ugh. Got my regular filter on and going though. Here’s the nasty stuff that comes out of my robot and it’s pretty heavy, too. And when I picked it up, a cloud of green looking powder was coming out of the robot. I guess it was too fine for even the extra fine filter!

 

[PoolStored]

Yea, I don’t think I’ll be waking up every two hours!!! I hope I never have to slam again and I haven’t even really started! The junk coming out of my robot is like a sludge mixture. And it stinks! Just realized my extra fine filter has a small tear at a seam. Ugh. Got my regular filter on and going though. Here’s the nasty stuff that comes out of my robot and it’s pretty heavy, too. And when I picked it up, a cloud of green looking powder was coming out of the robot. I guess it was too fine for even the extra fine filter!

Yep, that is what my robot looked like too, but, it worked. Hate to have you buy another fine filter for $70 bucks, but I would do it in a heartbeat. Saved me lots of hours.

 

[Mdragger88]

Can u sew it ? I would try that just to get it back in service asap. It doesn’t have to be pretty- just functional. Even staples might work in a pinch.

 

[BKennedy]

Can u sew it ? I would try that just to get it back in service asap. It doesn’t have to be pretty- just functional. Even staples might work in a pinch.

No, it’s where the mesh meets part of the plastic framing. It’s a long slit. Seems like a manufacturer defect, as I’ve only used it like tail times.

 

[The Sarge]

I will tell what I did after I gave up after chlorine shortages in my area around October of last year 2021. I hadn't run my pool at all since then. Started up again in mid March 2022. Used my leaf rake took it to the bottom and raked for about 2 hours. Must have taken out 30 full loads of leaves and gunk. Did it blind as the pool was dark green. Started the SLAM at dusk around 16ppm and brushed the pool. I tested FC and added chlorine morning, noon, late afternoon and night before bed, to keep at 16ppm throughout the whole process. Filter ran 24 hrs. Backwash as needed which initially was alot. Every time I checked the levels I raked and then brushed. This took about 6 or 7 days before it went back to a shade of blue/ green. Once felt I was done with the slam around day 8 I tested everything and started adjusting PH, CYA ect. Gave it another day or two still running the filter 24hrs until I got everything back to normal. Water was finally clear and I ran my polaris sweeper, as well as raking to get everything I missed.

Bottom line is that it's a long process especially if the pool was neglected for a long time, but don't give up. Keep going. I used zappit 73 calcium hypochlorite for my chlorine. Can find it or similar on Amazon. Using a sand filter so it took longer for me. Used DE to help clear out the cloudiness around day 8.My pool is clear, sanitized and back to normal operating procedures within 2 weeks. Good luck.

Daytime was around day 8 night time is rn.

 

[BKennedy]

I will tell what I did after I gave up after chlorine shortages in my area around October of last year 2021. I hadn't run my pool at all since then. Started up again in mid March 2022. Used my leaf rake took it to the bottom and raked for about 2 hours. Must have taken out 30 full loads of leaves and gunk. Did it blind as the pool was dark green. Started the SLAM at dusk around 16ppm and brushed the pool. I tested FC and added chlorine morning, noon, late afternoon and night before bed, to keep at 16ppm throughout the whole process. Filter ran 24 hrs. Backwash as needed which initially was alot. Every time I checked the levels I raked and then brushed. This took about 6 or 7 days before it went back to a shade of blue/ green. Once felt I was done with the slam around day 8 I tested everything and started adjusting PH, CYA ect. Gave it another day or two still running the filter 24hrs until I got everything back to normal. Water was finally clear and I ran my polaris sweeper, as well as raking to get everything I missed.

Bottom line is that it's a long process especially if the pool was neglected for a long time, but don't give up. Keep going. I used zappit 73 calcium hypochlorite for my chlorine. Can find it or similar on Amazon. Using a sand filter so it took longer for me. Used DE to help clear out the cloudiness around day 8.My pool is clear, sanitized and back to normal operating procedures within 2 weeks. Good luck.

Daytime was around day 8 night time is rn.

Thanks for the info! Mine wasn’t a swamp for too long! My salt cell must have went out just before I went out of town for a few days. I came back home to a little green water. I didn’t realize my cell was bad. Put in some shock and acid and then 2 days later my pool was dark green. Finally decided my swcg was shot. Even though all the lights on it showed it was working, my chlorine level kept dropping after I got it raised back up. Now that I can see the bottom again, there isn’t really much a leaf rake would pick up. Just gonna take the advice here, keep brushing and running my robot cleaner and slamming and pray for a miracle! I have some cal-hypo 70 percent, but the liquid chlorine seems to be a cheaper option right now!

 

[PoolStored]

I have some cal-hypo 70 percent, but the liquid chlorine seems to be a cheaper option right now!

YES to this. With CH of 410, you are just fine on the Calcium. Cal-Hypo will add more calcium.

Stick with the LC.

And your results are?

 

[BKennedy]

YES to this. With CH of 410, you are just fine on the Calcium. Cal-Hypo will add more calcium.

Stick with the LC.

And your results are?

Ok, my results are….

Last night after adding 6 gallons which was supposed to bring me to 20ppm according to the app only brought me to 13ppm. So my test last night was 13 FAC and 1.2 CC. This morning my FC was 7.5 and CC was 1.0. Either the app didn’t tell me to add enough, the pool essentials chlorine from Walmart isn’t 12.5% or my pool is bigger than 35k gallons.