- May 3, 2014
- 58,597
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Sand all over bottom of pool?
- Thread starter Jamie A 14
- Start date
We haven’t even put them in yet. We just “opened” the pool a week ago
- May 3, 2014
- 58,597
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Yep it’s what I have been. CYA was 40 last checked a week ago. Ran out of reagents, waiting on more to retest.
I've been following your thread since the beginning and I want to encourage you to keep going.
I have a few questions though:
1. Do you keep the FC levels at or above SLAM levels at all times? Never letting it get below the SLAM level?
If yes, good work and keep going.
If not, it will prolong your agony. Get it up there and keep it there at all times.
2. Are you vacuuming before brushing??
If yes, good work and keep going.
If not, this is also prolonging the SLAM. Therefore, vacuum before brushing to get the algae up and vacuum very slowly in order to not stir up the debris. Brushing before vacuuming stirs up algae which then only the skimmer can pick up. Some even advise to vacuum to waste so the algae does not collect in the filter. Then after vacuuming, brush, brush, brush sides, bottom.
3. Not really a question but . . . sand filters take longer to clear our floating algae.
The high FC levels kill it. It drops to the bottom because its dead, but you need to get it off the bottom of the pool by vacuuming it. Once you stir it up, the skimmer has to get rid of it. That takes a long time.
4. If your water is not sparkly clear, you're not done. You might think its clear, but when you get it really clear, you will be shocked at how you thought it was clear before.
We're in the middle of a SLAM, with large clumps of dead algae on the bottom. I feel your pain but I also know the drill. We've been opening our pool to this for a number of years. I stay the course. In the end, if you follow TFP methods, you will have sparkly, crystalline, diamond-like reflecting pool water for the entire season.
I hope this helps.
I have a few questions though:
1. Do you keep the FC levels at or above SLAM levels at all times? Never letting it get below the SLAM level?
If yes, good work and keep going.
If not, it will prolong your agony. Get it up there and keep it there at all times.
2. Are you vacuuming before brushing??
If yes, good work and keep going.
If not, this is also prolonging the SLAM. Therefore, vacuum before brushing to get the algae up and vacuum very slowly in order to not stir up the debris. Brushing before vacuuming stirs up algae which then only the skimmer can pick up. Some even advise to vacuum to waste so the algae does not collect in the filter. Then after vacuuming, brush, brush, brush sides, bottom.
3. Not really a question but . . . sand filters take longer to clear our floating algae.
The high FC levels kill it. It drops to the bottom because its dead, but you need to get it off the bottom of the pool by vacuuming it. Once you stir it up, the skimmer has to get rid of it. That takes a long time.
4. If your water is not sparkly clear, you're not done. You might think its clear, but when you get it really clear, you will be shocked at how you thought it was clear before.
We're in the middle of a SLAM, with large clumps of dead algae on the bottom. I feel your pain but I also know the drill. We've been opening our pool to this for a number of years. I stay the course. In the end, if you follow TFP methods, you will have sparkly, crystalline, diamond-like reflecting pool water for the entire season.
I hope this helps.
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Thanks! And if I’m being honest, it does dip below SLAM at times. We work, I went away for a couple days this weekend (hub and son were adding chlorine but they aren’t vigilant like me). So, example is I got back home this morning around 10. I tested and FC was at 7, added appropriate chlorine and tested at 3 pm, and it was down to 11 again. I can’t realistically be adding chlorine on the hour. I mean, when I am here I can but we have a life too. Ugh, it’s been 10 days of SLAM and it’s getting annoying. Things have improved, but I feel like no matter what I do I am always going to see brown on the floor of my pool.
Also, I have not been vacuuming before brushing and probably need to be vacuuming more than I am. I brush several times per day but sounds lije this is rather pointless without vacuuming. I will give this a go! Thx again ?
And one more thing...I am afraid I will run out of the testing reagent I am using so much! I have more ordered but won’t be here till at least week’s end.
Yep, understand the "got a life" part. So I take FC level a few numbers higher than recommended range, that way it takes a little more time between dosings. And vacuum before stirring will get better results.
Another thought, when you were adding to increase FC, did you by any chance keep a general track of how much chlorine you put in the pool each time? If you did, you might be able to put in that amount, knowing you are keeping the level up high. I know its not encouraged at TFP but I have bumped up the levels way higher than recommended so I didn't have to test and reapply as often. But its not the best way to go.
Don't fret, your pool won't stay brown. You'll get there fellow Mighigander (sounds like a duck). I prefer fellow Michiganian.
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I hope you ordered the XL bottle from TFTestkits. It lasts me the entire SLAM and then some.
And don't bother testing for CC. You know its not clear and it will save some regent. I just asked this question earlier and my opinion was confirmed.
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It could work vacuuming only 1 or 2 times a day. And before brushing.
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I did order the XL. My second one this season already..,I should be good the rest of the summer!??
Yep, understand the "got a life" part. So I take FC level a few numbers higher than recommended range, that way it takes a little more time between dosings. And vacuum before stirring will get better results.
Another thought, when you were adding to increase FC, did you by any chance keep a general track of how much chlorine you put in the pool each time? If you did, you might be able to put in that amount, knowing you are keeping the level up high. I know its not encouraged at TFP but I have bumped up the levels way higher than recommended so I didn't have to test and reapply as often. But its not the best way to go.
Don't fret, your pool won't stay brown. You'll get there fellow Mighigander (sounds like a duck). I prefer fellow Michiganian.
lol, I had been vacuuming once every 1-2 days!It could work vacuuming only 1 or 2 times a day. And before brushing.
Thought of you while vacuuming our pool today before brushing. We had huge clumps of dead algae and leaf debris all over the bottom of the pool. Vacuumed, pool pressure went up 25% so had to backwash. I had to clean out the pump basket since debris got past the skimmer basket. Then psi came back down to normal level. Then brushed the walls and bottom of pool. Added chlorine to get back to SLAM level. Now 2 hours later, some algae has settled. And I need to keep SLAM level up to knock these guys out. 
Some people on this forum recommend using DE to help give the sand filter a little bit of umph to help clear the cloudy water faster. There's a special technique to follow and I've only done it once or twice. So if you search the forum I'm sure you can find out how to do it, if you're interested. It can clog your filter if done wrong and once you backwash, all of the DE washes out and you have to do it again.
Beware, do not follow advice of pool stores who tell you to use Power Floc or Polysheen Blue to clear the cloudy water.
It will cause a bigger problem because you have to let the water sit still for a day and then vacuum to waste. Which encourages algae to get a foothold while you're waiting for the potions to do their thing.Its an expensive side-track and doesn't really help in the long run.
P.S. Yes as you can see, I love the TFP emojis
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Something to consider: If you only have limited time to do one or the other, make sure you vacuum. The algae floating in the water has to get picked up by the skimmer/filter. Vacuuming it off the bottom gets it there faster.
Vacuumed twice today. There is still stuff on the bottom...in addition to the brown sandy colored stuff, also noticed some black flecks that look like larger grain sand size. I went over and over with the vacuum. I am getting soooooo frustrated. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, and my hub is tiring of the pump needing to run constantly. (He has never been the one to maintain the pool, and he doesn’t see a problem with a little stuff on the bottom. I am the anal one). I don’t want to stop after all of this, but I am thinking something else is going on. Also, we haven’t had water back up into our waste/backwash tube like it has lately. It isn’t all the time and isn’t always very much, but tonight I noticed the tube was pretty full. I had vacuumed to waste first, then to filtration, then backwashed, so not sure if just moving the valve so many times will do that? Oh, and our pressure gage doesn’t work, is cloudy, and we’ve no clue how to change it.??
Something to consider: If you only have limited time to do one or the other, make sure you vacuum. The algae floating in the water has to get picked up by the skimmer/filter. Vacuuming it off the bottom gets it there faster.
Where in Michigan are you Mariane? Can’t you just stop by and take care of this for me???Don’t worry, I only visit the pool store to get liquid chlorine. Learned my lesson 4-5 yrs ago with them, it’s how I came to find TFP?
Some people on this forum recommend using DE to help give the sand filter a little bit of umph to help clear the cloudy water faster. There's a special technique to follow and I've only done it once or twice. So if you search the forum I'm sure you can find out how to do it, if you're interested. It can clog your filter if done wrong and once you backwash, all of the DE washes out and you have to do it again.
Beware, do not follow advice of pool stores who tell you to use Power Floc or Polysheen Blue to clear the cloudy water.
Its an expensive side-track and doesn't really help in the long run.
P.S. Yes as you can see, I love the TFP emojis
And, I just checked CYA and pH....CYA appeared to be 30 tops? I always have trouble with that little black dot, ugh. And pH was back up to 8, after lowering to 7.6 last week. Is the SLAM messing with that? I have some stabilizer in a sock in front of return right now, but what is best way to deal with pH while SLAMing? I feel like one thing gets better and 3 other things get worse. This is where pool ownership seems overwhelming to me?
I live near the Detroit Zoo. ??? Oh My!.??