Newbie SLAMM (Sick of losing all my money)

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metalheadbill said:
My PH is still approximately 7.6. Is that ok? I'm afraid to try to lower it too much before I get the better test kit. Does the CYA matter that much for now? I think it's around 30-35 but I can't know for sure until tomorrow.

Poolmath is telling me 577 oz of bleach to reach 30 FC from 0. You think I should just go for it and dump 5 containers of bleach in? Over the course of 2 hours or so?
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Don't worry about the pH at the moment. You're not SLAMming. You're neutralizing ammonia with bleach. Dump a couple jugs in, let it mix, and repeat your ammonia test. The ammonia should be going down. And you'll probably smell a bunch of chlorine odor -- that public pool smell. The chlorine itself won;t stick around long with ammonia in the water.

In short, yes. I do think you should go after that ammonia. You've tested for it. You're not blindly throwing chemicals in the pool.

When you have the FC/CC test kit, then it's time to SLAM.
 
Well I put 4 bottles in and it looks like the ammonia is (knock on wood) gone. Yes! But now the pH has gone through the roof, it's up to almost 9 if my test is to be believed. I assume this is normal when raising the FC so drastically so quickly? I'm not sure if I should add acid at this point or let things calm down for a while.
 
metalheadbill said:
Well I put 4 bottles in and it looks like the ammonia is (knock on wood) gone. Yes! But now the pH has gone through the roof, it's up to almost 9 if my test is to be believed. I assume this is normal when raising the FC so drastically so quickly? I'm not sure if I should add acid at this point or let things calm down for a while.
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If FC is above 10 the pH will read falsely high. It will get almost purple, higher than the highest reading on the test block. Wait until you can accurately test before messing with pH. See Accurate pH test during shock levels with R-007?
 
1st test:
pH = 7.2
FC = 0
CC = 0
TA = 100
CH = 190-210
CYA = 0!?

I did the CYA test twice. The water didn't even get cloudy at all. I'm not sure how this is possible since my last pool store water test a week ago said CYA = 27, and I have added about a pound of stabilizer since then. But I guess I will go ahead and add 52 oz to bring it from 0 - 30? Do I have to wait 24 hours for this stuff to dissolve before I get started with the SLAM? I will be using the sock method. Time is wasting. So frustrating.
 
metalheadbill said:
1st test:
pH = 7.2
FC = 0
CC = 0
TA = 100
CH = 190-210
CYA = 0!?

I did the CYA test twice. The water didn't even get cloudy at all. I'm not sure how this is possible since my last pool store water test a week ago said CYA = 27, and I have added about a pound of stabilizer since then. But I guess I will go ahead and add 52 oz to bring it from 0 - 30? Do I have to wait 24 hours for this stuff to dissolve before I get started with the SLAM? I will be using the sock method. Time is wasting. So frustrating.
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No. Add the CYA sock and assume it's already dissolved and SLAM accordingly.
 
metalheadbill said:
You don't think it's odd that the CYA levels are so low? What about my other parameters, are they decent? Other than no chlorine of course.
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Not if you had CYA eating bacteria that converted it to ammonia.

You've been posting about this for three days. You need to get in there with the bleach and clear that pool.

The TA is in the 50-90+ range, all right. The pH is perfect. The CH is above zero. What are you waiting for?
 

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metalheadbill said:
Well I'm a stupid idiot. I've been maintaining 16 FC all day. I just went outside to put 42 ounces of bleach in to boost it back up and realized after the fact that I accidentally put in 42 ounces of muriatic acid. Bye bye perfect 7.2 pH levels. God knows where I am at now. :(
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Your pH will momentarily dip, but it should recover quickly. Your TA should have gone down by about 12. So one drop difference on the TA test. Not a catastrophe at all.
 
Just an update, still slamming. Water is still very cloudy with a greenish tint to it. I tried the DE in the sand filter trick but I had to backwash it out as even small amounts pretty much stopped the filter in it's tracks. I have vacuumed every day and maintained a 16 FC count since starting last Monday.

Overall much better than it was, but unfortunately it seems I have a long way to go. I wish there was a way to make this go faster, it is so frustrating having an unusable pool. :(
 
metalheadbill said:
Just an update, still slamming. Water is still very cloudy with a greenish tint to it. I tried the DE in the sand filter trick but I had to backwash it out as even small amounts pretty much stopped the filter in it's tracks. I have vacuumed every day and maintained a 16 FC count since starting last Monday.

Overall much better than it was, but unfortunately it seems I have a long way to go. I wish there was a way to make this go faster, it is so frustrating having an unusable pool. :(
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You're one week ahead of me if not longer. I have the same sentiment. I'm already telling myself I'd be happy to get 6 weeks of pooltime up here in New England. In at the very least, the experience for next year will be more accurate and transparent. I figure the investment and screw ups this year are part of years to come enjoyment. Good luck - I'm watching from afar.
 
Update: Day 16 - Pool is still very cloudy, can see maybe a foot and a half down at most. Last week I broke down and bought a new filter. Much improved filtration as the filter that came with the pool was barely rated for a 24 foot pool (I did not realize this or I would have bought it in the first place). Also bought the intex robot vacuum which seems to work very well. Even with these improvements this is taking forever. I have gone through about 25 containers of bleach in 2 weeks with no end in sight. So tempted to throw in a flocking agent or something like that but I have not. On the bright side I've become an expert at testing for free chlorine and CYA, but I am about to run out of the Taylor chlorine reagent. I upped the FC to 20ppm about a week ago since my CYA was a bit higher than I originally thought. Non-stop rain has helped lower that a bit I think.
 
Bill, I know we have completely different setups and I'm as new as they come to this but my journey has taken about the same amount of time - I've had my pump running 2.5 weeks straight now I imagine (cant wait for this electric bill!)

I can say though this past Sat I was adding bleach every 2 hrs until it finally slowed down a bit. I used my robot all day that Sat and consistently had to empty, clean, rinse, repeat. When I finally saw the bottom I went back to using the net to grab as much debris as I could manually. Now my water is much much clearer (its blue and I can see the bottom) and now Im brushing consistently to rid the algae sitting on the bottom.

I've used about 20 jugs so far of varying %'s. This doesn't include all the powder chemical the store told me use which was upwards of 7x% chlorine (yes 72-74%, not the 12 or less we use with bleach) - (almost ~$100 in chemicals, which I feel was wasted) -

In any event, all I can say is stick to the plan, give it the attention it needs and hopefully you'll finally see the light at the end of tunnel, I finally am. I'm hoping to use my pool this weekend with new solar panel setup. I wish me and you good luck.
 
Richard320 said:
Not if you had CYA eating bacteria that converted it to ammonia.

You've been posting about this for three days. You need to get in there with the bleach and clear that pool.

The TA is in the 50-90+ range, all right. The pH is perfect. The CH is above zero. What are you waiting for?
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CYA also should go down because you have to raise FC to shock levels for an extended time in a warm pool.

For now the lower CYA means a lower FC to reach shock levels. Once it clears up think about retesting and increasing CYA to slow down sunlight UV burnoff of chlorine.
A lower pH initially, within reason, will also help the chlorine do a better job of SLAMming the pool.

When it clears check all possible hiding places for algae like under the stairs, ladder bottom surfaces and behind the lights and scrub, scrub scrub.
Algae gets a big kick out of hiding in those places until you go on vacation!
 
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Thanks guys, I am sticking with the plan. I have everything removed from the pool that can be removed so algae isn't growing on the ladder or anything else at the moment. I have brushed repeatedly and vacuumed both manually and with the robot. Of course I cannot see the bottom so I can't tell if I am getting everything but I'm counting on the robot to kick up any algae lurking on the bottom that I may have missed. I am backwashing like 3 or 4 times a day. Keeping the FC at 20.

As of now the pool is a cloudy blue, kinda like the milk Aunt Beru gave Luke in Star Wars lol. I can stick my arm in to my elbow and barely see my hand, so about a foot and a half still.
 
Thanks, I wish us good luck too!

jalexa101 said:
Bill, I know we have completely different setups and I'm as new as they come to this but my journey has taken about the same amount of time - I've had my pump running 2.5 weeks straight now I imagine (cant wait for this electric bill!)

I can say though this past Sat I was adding bleach every 2 hrs until it finally slowed down a bit. I used my robot all day that Sat and consistently had to empty, clean, rinse, repeat. When I finally saw the bottom I went back to using the net to grab as much debris as I could manually. Now my water is much much clearer (its blue and I can see the bottom) and now Im brushing consistently to rid the algae sitting on the bottom.

I've used about 20 jugs so far of varying %'s. This doesn't include all the powder chemical the store told me use which was upwards of 7x% chlorine (yes 72-74%, not the 12 or less we use with bleach) - (almost ~$100 in chemicals, which I feel was wasted) -

In any event, all I can say is stick to the plan, give it the attention it needs and hopefully you'll finally see the light at the end of tunnel, I finally am. I'm hoping to use my pool this weekend with new solar panel setup. I wish me and you good luck.
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