Seventh Day of SLAM

Jean-ji

0
Bronze Supporter
Jun 14, 2018
93
Venice, FL
OCLT
Target TFC 28

this morning
FC 25
CC .5

it was 26.5 yesterday morning. The lowest has been an FC of 23. I’ve been testing four to five times a day and adding bleach. I start at seven and several times the 10 o’clock one is still at 28 and nothing has had to be added. I’ve lost 4 FC between others with heavy sunshine and or rain.

Water is clear and has been from the start, CC has been 0 to 1, usually .5

This started last Sunday when my FC went to .5 from 4.5 the day before. I posted in the Just Getting Started last week.
I’ve been using fresh chlorine from Leslie’s as I started the SLAM.

PH was 7.5 when I started and I had just added stabilizer the day before as I started to bring it from 60 to 70. CYA is still 60. We have had afternoon torrential rains six out of the last seven days.

I’ve been brushing all week, seeing nothing at all and vacuumed twice. We cleaned the cartridge filter before we put the stabilizer in last Saturday. I cleaned the filter this morning and there was nothing, the rinse water was a little milky and the water cleared quickly. I’m attributing that to the stabilizer I added last week. Pump pressure hasn’t increased at all this week.

I’ve been running the pump 24 hours with the SWG off. I have a sheer descent and have been running that twelve of the twenty-four hours. We never keep toys in the pool, the pool cage has no leaves or debris on top, the skimmer has little inside it, as does the filter.

This is a new pool build, finished in May. I SLAMed on July 4th after letting the FC get below target several times. The pool water was clear but not sparkly. At that time I ran into torrential rainstorms also, but they were happening overnight and I never got an accurate OCLT. I was not passing the FC with the dilution, and stopped after four days and meeting the other two criteria.

Since then, the lowest the FC has been is 4.0 the week before the SLAM. I had been keeping between 4.5 and 6.5 the prior week before heavy daily rains and last week it was at 4 and 5 with rains. I added bleach a few mornings, bringing it to six rather than increasing my SWG.

I had no problems with FC for the rest of July or August after the other SLAM. I have been doing the chlorine drop test every morning since my last SLAM.

I’m still continuing the SLAM, but am tiring of brushing daily and having beautiful water, just not passing OCLT. I don’t want to stop before I hit the 1 ppm, but seven days seems over the top when I started with clear water.

Thanks for reading through this novella. I’m frustrated and ready to stop after seven days. Any thoughts?
 
In the morning, are you testing before the sun hits the pool?

With a SWG why did your FC drop to 0.5 from 4.5? Did you have a party or some kid who may have pee'd in the pool?? That's a big drop and odd.

While you do have a birdcage over the pool and that certainly helps avoid debris, your living in FL is always exposing your pool to a lot of rain which can challenge your pool chemicals to remain stable. If you've had to drain some water at times for example, that can lower your CYA.

Have you checked behind any light fixture, ladder, the bottom caps on ladders that drop in the pool or any niche where algae may be hiding? Look in the skimmer and behind the weir door too.

Maddie :flower:
 
I don’t know why the FC dropped so much, it blind-sided me. No parties no kids in the pool that week, just torrential afternoon rains. I check the FC in the morning before the sun is on the pool and with the afternoon storms usually done by 8, I do the last check and add chlorine.

I’ve never drained the pool but with the heavy downpours the overflow exchanges the water. The one pool light looks fine, it can be taken apart? There is no ladder in the pool, no place other than the sheer descent or pipes for anything to hide. The skimmer rarely has anything to empty and it was fine in there when I hooked up the vacuum yesterday. The only green I‘ve seen was a cord that the thermometer dangles from in the pool. It was lightly green for three inches above the waterline. I removed that yesterday morning.

These are my numbers from last Saturday morning before the FC loss the next morning. I added salt and stabilizer. We run the pump and SWG 8 hours a day.
Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 4.5 (7 days ago)
CC: 0.5 (7 days ago)
pH: 7.5 (7 days ago)
TA: 60 (7 days ago)
CH: 275 (7 days ago)
CYA: 60 (7 days ago)
SALT: 2700 (7 days ago)
TEMPERATURE: 86° (7 days ago)
CSI: -0.47 (7 days ago)

 
I would suggest that if the water is clear, your CC is 0 or 0.5, and you can find no visible algae plus no dead algae in the pool, let your FC drift down to about 10 ppm and then do another Overnight Chlorine Loss Test. At your elevated FC test error can be problematic to seeing just a 1 ppm FC drop.
 
OCLT finally passed this morning. That was a long SLAM and my confidence has been shaken since I thought I was doing everything correctly. I think I’ll up my max target a bit and double check after heavy rains.

Thanks for holding my hand!
 
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