SLAM question

[frozengritty]

Had some algae in our pool, so I bought the test kit and did a SLAM…water now looks amazing and has for several days. Pool looks super clean…no signs of any algae or other material. Brushed pool several times…filters have been rinsed multiple times and look great - bleached pearly white!

However, when I do the OCLT (twice) I get a FC drop of about 3ppm which I understand is a fail. But I don’t understand why it keeps giving me this when I have kept the chlorine high for several days. Isn’t everything dead by now?!? I have about 50 CYA so my SLAM level is 20. Sometimes, it does drop down to 12-15 range before I can add more chlorine. Is it a matter of being super diligent about maintaining 20 for a day or two?

Thanks for any help you can offer! This forum has been a huge learning tool.

 

[PoolStored]

It may take a week or two.

You need to scrub everything, light niches, skimmers, open the main drain and scrub in there, remove ladders and clean in the tubes, remove weir doors and look for algae...something is still lurking.

Post pictures of the pool.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Welcome to posting!

Check all the hiding places like in the skimmer, ladders, toys always floating in the pool.... a little algae hiding can do what you're experiencing.

 

[Actersabe]

You've come to the right place Frozengritty! I struggled getting/keeping the pool clean until following the basic steps here and my problems were solved.

Wouldn't the SLAM process eventually get all the algae in those hiding places?

Any suggestions on a good scrubbing brush for a plaster pool? I sometimes use a metal scrub brush but maybe that's bad for the surface. Seemed to work ok.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You can find good brushes in most pool sections/stores/online. "Nylon is for vinyl, fiberglass, tile, and plaster that is less than one year. (Plaster includes any exposed aggregate and marcite finish, btw!) Combo brushes are for older plaster. All stainless are for algae (very stubborn green algae and also the ONLY brush for black algae.)" <--from older thread

consider the bottom of stair tubing and behind skimmer doors- They can allow water up there but also allow ickies up there too. If you're having algae- check! scrub with a pool mitts, scrubby sponge or brushes with diluted liquid chlorine.

 

[frozengritty]

Success! As per advice, I kept on it and kept scrubbing and running the pool vac. The algae dust was quite persistent and took more labor than I expected to get it cleaned up. But all good now and pool seems happy.

Thanks very much for the advice! This forum is super helpful, especially for folks like me that don't actually have a clue what they're doing.