SLAM isn’t progressing

[Djuke1210]

Hello- I’m on day 4 of the my SLAM, but aren’t seeing much progress.
AK 80
CYA 40
PH lowered to 7.2 before starting
FC 16
Calcium 150
CC .2

I’ve been testing every few hours and not losing much chlorine at all, if I am I’m bringing it back to the right FC SLAM level. I haven’t needed to add since yesterday as nothing was lost.

We’ve been running the filter non stop since Friday. I’ve also brushed the walls multiple times and run the dolphin 3x a day. There’s no debris on the surface. We can’t see to the bottom as it’s become a milky kind of color. We have had a lot of rain over the past few days in MA.

The first picture is the day it was opened. Second picture is today. What am I missing?
Thanks.

 

[ajw22]

What am I missing?

Patience.

The SLAM Process on a pool looking like yours can take 2 to 3 weeks. You are on day 4 of a maybe 14 to 21 day journey.

Test two or three times a day and top off your FC level. Let the chlorine do its work.

 

[duraleigh]

What am I missing?

POP! Pool Owner Patience. Keep doing what you are doing.........it's gonna work.

What type filter do you have? What is the psi?

 

[Texas Splash]

Good thing is you have made progress. We can see it. Stick with it. Also, try to update your signature at some point so we can see all of your equipment listed. See our signatures as examples. We don't know what type of filter you have or any other equipment.

 

[Djuke1210]

POP! Pool Owner Patience. Keep doing what you are doing.........it's gonna work.

What type filter do you have? What is the psi?

21 psi. Hayward VariFlo XL

 

[Djuke1210]

Good thing is you have made progress. We can see it. Stick with it. Also, try to update your signature at some point so we can see all of your equipment listed. See our signatures as examples. We don't know what type of filter you have or any other equipment.

Just updated. Let me know anything else would be useful. I guess my concern was that FC wasn’t going down much but the pool water hasn’t changed.

 

[mknauss]

Hayward VariFlo XL

That is the MPV. What type of filter - sand, de ?? Also what pump?
A signature keeps you from having to tell us all this every time. See Create Your Signature - Further Reading

 

[PoolStored]

Hayward VariFlo XL

That is the multiport valve. What is the make/model# of the filter it is attached to?

 

[Texas Splash]

Still not seeing the actual signature field which should display at the bottom of each post. If you're on a phone turn it sideways to see mine. We'll come back to that later. Sounds like you have a sand filter correct? How old is it (and the sand) and have you ever opened it up to do a deep clean?

 

[Djuke1210]

Still not seeing the actual signature field which should display at the bottom of each post. If you're on a phone turn it sideways to see mine. We'll come back to that later. Sounds like you have a sand filter correct? How old is it (and the sand) and have you ever opened it up to do a deep clean?

This is our second season with the pool, so all equipment is new (yes to sand).

 

[Djuke1210]

That is the multiport valve. What is the make/model# of the filter it is attached to?

Hayward pro series model s244t

 

[duraleigh]

21 psi seems a little high. Have you backwashed>

 

[Djuke1210]

21 psi seems a little high. Have you backwashed>

It’s been 2 days. My husband is backwashing now.

 

[V___25]

You have a big pool and it's going to take some time to clear that but with patience, it will clear! Just keep testing and adding FC. Also, sand filters are the slowest so once the chlorine does it's job and kills the algae, the filter will take time to clear it all out. Keep an eye on your pressure and make sure you are backwashing.

 

[duraleigh]

What's your psi after backwash?

 

[IceShadow]

There's definite improvement there. The backwashing should help if your filter was clogged up - as mentioned above, note your PSI once backwash is done so you can have a baseline, then backwash again when it goes 25% over that amount. Don't backwash early - dirty sand filters actually catch more crud and filter better, but once they get to about 25% over the clean pressure, the flow is restricted enough that it degrades the filtering performance and so a backwash is needed.

If you stall out on clarity and don't see any progress, you can try deep cleaning the sand filter to make sure it's working properly, but I'd give it some time first. Check and take a photo daily, especially with something like a pole in the water, in the same spot each day so you can see if there's progress being made. Sometimes it's hard to see progress without some sort of daily benchmark.

If the green isn't clearing up day by day, there's one of two things happening - the FC isn't high enough for your CYA often enough, or it's iron. You're still moving toward the milky blue of "just need filtering now that algae is dead", so I wouldn't worry about those options yet, but if the color doesn't improve, we can look at those possibilities and see what we can do.

 

[Djuke1210]

There's definite improvement there. The backwashing should help if your filter was clogged up - as mentioned above, note your PSI once backwash is done so you can have a baseline, then backwash again when it goes 25% over that amount. Don't backwash early - dirty sand filters actually catch more crud and filter better, but once they get to about 25% over the clean pressure, the flow is restricted enough that it degrades the filtering performance and so a backwash is needed.

If you stall out on clarity and don't see any progress, you can try deep cleaning the sand filter to make sure it's working properly, but I'd give it some time first. Check and take a photo daily, especially with something like a pole in the water, in the same spot each day so you can see if there's progress being made. Sometimes it's hard to see progress without some sort of daily benchmark.

If the green isn't clearing up day by day, there's one of two things happening - the FC isn't high enough for your CYA often enough, or it's iron. You're still moving toward the milky blue of "just need filtering now that algae is dead", so I wouldn't worry about those options yet, but if the color doesn't improve, we can look at those possibilities and see what we can do.

Pool company has told us a PSI of 30 is when we should backwash. My husband said it’s consistently around 21. He’ll backwash once a week in the summer unless there’s extra activity. We’ll continue the process. Im testing the water 3x a day now. I will definitely take pictures with a benchmark for progress. I’ll try to post one later. Thanks!

You have a big pool and it's going to take some time to clear that but with patience, it will clear! Just keep testing and adding FC. Also, sand filters are the slowest so once the chlorine does its job and kills the algae, the filter will take time to clear it all out. Keep an eye on your pressure and make sure you are backwashing.

do you suggest once daily?

 

[IceShadow]

Pool company has told us a PSI of 30 is when we should backwash. My husband said it’s consistently around 21. He’ll backwash once a week in the summer unless there’s extra activity. We’ll continue the process. Im testing the water 3x a day now. I will definitely take pictures with a benchmark for progress. I’ll try to post one later. Thanks!

do you suggest once daily?

Just when it goes 25% over normal PSI.

 

[Djuke1210]

We’re on day 7. FC hadn’t dropped since last night (tested at 830am), last poured chlorine in at 7pm last night. Picture on the left is yesterday, picture on the right is this morning. Guessing I shouldn’t add more chlorine if it’s not calling for it.

 

[IceShadow]

Correct. Add as your testing shows need. You’re now on the filtering stage, and keeping the FC high is more to ensure it doesn’t backslide while you filter. If the clarity isn’t improving daily let us know. Keep searching for any place algae could hide and scrub it out. Sand takes some time to clear.