SLAM ing 3.0ppm combined chlorine

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It has occurred to me that if I had not bought the k2006 test kit and still used paper test strips I would not even know that my CC is high. I would have clear water, about 5ppm free chlorine and I'd be swimming in the pool instead of all of this.

This leads me to another question. What are the adverse effects or dangers of high CC? I am certain that there are countless backyard pools and public pools that are higher than mine. I have lost a lot of swimming time to this already and would like to at some point use this pool again.

Mike.
 
I would highly encourage you to stay the course. The CCs MUST come down. And they can only be there if the FC is oxidizing or killing stuff. Whatever it is, it is something. Some people have had to SLAM for weeks, so I'd suggest you stay the course, have patience, and especially, Lee asking questions like you are doing.
 
xyz said:
Also, if you get a speedster, you will use it till it breaks and then buy another. They are really nice.
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I hear ya, I've reluctantly spent money on tools in the past only to end up wondering how I ever lived without them. I do love my tools.

Mike.

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xyz said:
I would highly encourage you to stay the course. The CCs MUST come down. And they can only be there if the FC is oxidizing or killing stuff. Whatever it is, it is something. Some people have had to SLAM for weeks, so I'd suggest you stay the course, have patience, and especially, Lee asking questions like you are doing.
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WEEKS! Winter is just around the corner!

Mike.
 
xyz said:
I would highly encourage you to stay the course. The CCs MUST come down. And they can only be there if the FC is oxidizing or killing stuff. Whatever it is, it is something. Some people have had to SLAM for weeks, so I'd suggest you stay the course, have patience, and especially, Lee asking questions like you are doing.
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Tested this morning and the CC is down from 2.5 to 2.0 but we did have another rainfall in the evening and maybe more overnight as we slept. I raised the FC back up to ~30 and will see what happens today. I'll stay the course as long as I am seeing results. but my wife is going to hate me if she can't swim this weekend!

Mike.
 
Quite the process you have been going through. My only question after reading all this is... What is your overnight free chlorine level? That is to say, does your chlorine drop overnight while the sun is down. If it is dropping, then it is still fighting something. If it is not dropping, then I would just enjoy your pool.

...Okay, so I have one more question... Have you been swimming in it (other than the one weekend I read about)?
 
Mavrk said:
Quite the process you have been going through. My only question after reading all this is... What is your overnight free chlorine level? That is to say, does your chlorine drop overnight while the sun is down. If it is dropping, then it is still fighting something. If it is not dropping, then I would just enjoy your pool.

...Okay, so I have one more question... Have you been swimming in it (other than the one weekend I read about)?
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We know better than to swim in it until the free chlorine is safely down to around 5ppm so we haven't used it since last weekend. We used it regularly prior to beginning the SLAM process. I have not done an OCLT yet.

I don't have exact numbers but I can say with confidence that the free chlorine dropped last night based on the fact that it was a little more than 20 yesteray when I added 1 gallon of liquid cl and two cups of cal-hypo shock which should have raised it to nearly 30ppm. This morning it was back to about 22 and the CC has dropped from 2.5 to 2.0. This was encouraging but I'll believe that it's working only when I can get the CC to drop continuously for multiple consecutive tests. If the next test shows a drop in CC then I will conclude that at 20 - 25 ppm I was not raising FC high enough to reach the breaking point.

Mike.
 
mikefamig said:
We know better than to swim in it until the free chlorine is safely down to around 5ppm so we haven't used it since last weekend. We used it regularly prior to beginning the SLAM process. I have not done an OCLT yet.

I don't have exact numbers but I can say with confidence that the free chlorine dropped last night based on the fact that it was a little more than 20 yesteray when I added 1 gallon of liquid cl and two cups of cal-hypo shock which should have raised it to nearly 30ppm. This morning it was back to about 22 and the CC has dropped from 2.5 to 2.0. This was encouraging but I'll believe that it's working only when I can get the CC to drop continuously for multiple consecutive tests. If the next test shows a drop in CC then I will conclude that at 20 - 25 ppm I was not raising FC high enough to reach the breaking point.

Mike.
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OK, this is really quite good. At least from a troubleshooting perspective, your measurements make sense. You are losing FC over night. So there is stuff in your pool that needs neutralizing. This is consistent with a high CC--CC is the result of combining FC and critters.

FC+critters=Less FC+CCs :)

So, suggest you push the patience button and stay the course. You have a good handle on CYA, so we have confidence in your FC level. Your measurements are showing us you are winning the war but have not yet won.

I also agree, the dropping of CC is encouraging.

That gives me a thought. If this is trouble free pool, and we trouble shoot, what do we use as trouble guns? What do they look like? Maybe Brian's flame thrower? ;-)
 
What is considered a safe free cl swim level given 50ppm CYA? From what I've read it should be <10ppm before entering the pool. I'm worried about hair damage mostly.

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I found that the FC did not drop much over a period of ~6 hours when I was at 20ppm but it did drop significantly over the same period of time when I was at 30ppm. Why is this?

Mike.
 

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mikefamig said:
What is considered a safe free cl swim level given 50ppm CYA? From what I've read it should be <10ppm before entering the pool. I'm worried about hair damage mostly.

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I found that the FC did not drop much over a period of ~6 hours when I was at 20ppm but it did drop significantly over the same period of time when I was at 30ppm. Why is this?

Mike.
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Ok, so we go here to determine SLAM levels Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

And we see that at 50 CYA, your SLAM level is 20 FC. Safe is anything below 20.

I can speculate that at 30, you may be killing critters faster, thus consuming more FC per hour. This is also consistent with you High CC, and overnight FC loss.

So this might tempt you to crank up your FC to an astronomical level to be done with this more quickly. TFP does not recommend this as you may be trading off equipment damage, for example liner bleaching.

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Oh, and as to swimming in SLAM--My personal experience is that I spent a couple hours in my pool at SLAM levels plus. I was using a power washer to erode massive calcium deposits, and as a way to scrub nooks and crannies in areas I could not easily get to with a brush.

nothingnbad happened, I did notice a bit more harshness and chlorine smell.
 
xyz said:
Ok, so we go here to determine SLAM levels Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

And we see that at 50 CYA, your SLAM level is 20 FC. Safe is anything below 20.

I can speculate that at 30, you may be killing critters faster, thus consuming more FC per hour. This is also consistent with you High CC, and overnight FC loss.

So this might tempt you to crank up your FC to an astronomical level to be done with this more quickly. TFP does not recommend this as you may be trading off equipment damage, for example liner bleaching.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and as to swimming in SLAM--My personal experience is that I spent a couple hours in my pool at SLAM levels plus. I was using a power washer to erode massive calcium deposits, and as a way to scrub nooks and crannies in areas I could not easily get to with a brush.

nothingnbad happened, I did notice a bit more harshness and chlorine smell.
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I'll bet that tou cleaned all those nooks and crannies in your body too!

I once used a very strong solution of bleach and water to clean up around the pool deck and fence and that evening I had red spots on the tips of my fingers where the skin had burned away. Some even formed small scabs. You want to respect chlorine.
 
I was looking forward to this morning's test to learn if the higher 30ppm level was breaking down the CC more quickly and don't ya know it rained almost 2" last night. This is not exactly a lab environment, the test results are not that accurate, the weather is a factor and all this makes it tough to come to any conclusions.

Mike.
 
This moring's test shows that the FC dropped back to 20ppm and the CC is still at 2.0 with 10Ml 0.5 accuracy. Something is eating up the FC. I was going to do an OCLT last night but it was pouring rain. This weekend I will let the FC drop a little so that we can use the pool and try to get a good OCLT without the filter running.

Do you guys think that it could be that the contaminant could be airborne and re-entering the pool daily. Like pine tree pollen and/or bird droppings? I do not see droppings on the deck so it is probably not that but something has to be killing the chlorine.

I'm also thinking about changing the sand. The OCLT could help me make that decision.

Mike.
 
Another day and a little more improvement. This morning July 15 the FC is 18 and the CC is 1.5 again at the 10Ml 0.5 accuracy. I'm not there yet but the SLAM is working. It is slow but it is working and it appears to be accelerating as the CC becomes lower. In hindsight I maybe should have started with a little higher FC but I was afraid of damaging my liner.

Here is a history of CC test readings

7/1 cc= 5.5
7/8 cc= 3.5
7/10 cc=3.0
7/14 cc=2.0
7/15 cc=1.5

I'll report back when I get under 0.5. I'm going to let the FC drop for the weekend so that we can use the pool and will continue shocking on Monday.

Thanks to the group for being so free with information and especially to those who encouraged me to stay the course. I wasn't a believer at first and considered abandoning the SLAM but I trust the chemistry now.

Mike.
 
Is there any chance fertilizer could be blowing into the pool? We sometimes see that with rural pools, or with pools in areas that are heavily fertilized, especially granular fertilizers.
 
The only reasonable way to lower CYA is dilution. However, 30 is good!

also, your steady vigilance is winning the war. A little more patience, and keep it at SLAM level.

You don't have any evidence of any yellow algae, do you?
 
xyz said:
The only reasonable way to lower CYA is dilution. However, 30 is good!

also, your steady vigilance is winning the war. A little more patience, and keep it at SLAM level.

You don't have any evidence of any yellow algae, do you?
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Isn't 30 a little low for cya?

This pool has never looked better and there is no sign of algae or any other problem. I am letting the FC drop so that my wife can swim tomorrow. the weekends are too few and far apart and the season here in CT too short. I'll re-start the SLAM on Monday.
 

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