Slam questions

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Blivit79 said:
Pretty much what I was afraid of. The last slam was complete according to the 3 criteria and the water looked great for more than 2 weeks.
Regarding levels, the recommended levels give a range. How are we to know where to fall in that range? Is my logic of just keeping values in the middle of the ranges ok?
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You mentioned that your water looked great for 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks, were you testing TC and CC daily? If so, did you see any changes in CC throughout the 2 weeks? I ask this as when the CC starts climbing from "0" or ".5" to higher, the writing is on the wall.

You may have answered this question in one of the threads, but will ask again. What type of pump do you have (hp), what type of plumbing (1" or larger), How many main drains, skimmers, and returns. Are the skimmers and returns placed and spaced out in the pool? Could this be a circulation problem? For 2 weeks the water was great!

Also recommend that after you complete another SLAM, that you brush more often. If you brush weekly, now brush every other day (5 minutes a day and 2 weeks later) will tell another story, and/or a similar story. If you go a whole month, test frequently, your levels are fine and within the ranges, then possibly this could be due to some areas of circulation.

I find in pools of friends (that eyeball directions, lack of returns, etc.) sometimes causes a problem. Then again, I have one friend who has one main drain, one return, one skimmer and he only has a trace of algae once in a while if he does not brush at least 2X weekly, which goes around the circulation issue. His pool clearly has poor circulation as the return is in the shallow end, skimmer and main drains in the deep end. Makes you wonder, some pools are just harder to take care of then others.

Please keep us posted !
 
There may be very poor bottom circulation and you might consider pointing the return (there probably is only one for that sized pool) diagonally downward to create a swirling circulation that may move more chlorine to the bottom of the pool.
 
Catanzaro said:
You mentioned that your water looked great for 2 weeks. During the 2 weeks, were you testing TC and CC daily? If so, did you see any changes in CC throughout the 2 weeks? I ask this as when the CC starts climbing from "0" or ".5" to higher, the writing is on the wall.

You may have answered this question in one of the threads, but will ask again. What type of pump do you have (hp), what type of plumbing (1" or larger), How many main drains, skimmers, and returns. Are the skimmers and returns placed and spaced out in the pool? Could this be a circulation problem? For 2 weeks the water was great!

Also recommend that after you complete another SLAM, that you brush more often. If you brush weekly, now brush every other day (5 minutes a day and 2 weeks later) will tell another story, and/or a similar story. If you go a whole month, test frequently, your levels are fine and within the ranges, then possibly this could be due to some areas of circulation.

I find in pools of friends (that eyeball directions, lack of returns, etc.) sometimes causes a problem. Then again, I have one friend who has one main drain, one return, one skimmer and he only has a trace of algae once in a while if he does not brush at least 2X weekly, which goes around the circulation issue. His pool clearly has poor circulation as the return is in the shallow end, skimmer and main drains in the deep end. Makes you wonder, some pools are just harder to take care of then others.

Please keep us posted !
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During the good period I was testing FC and CC daily and everything else every 3 days or so (except for CYA as I ran out.) Normally I test FC daily and everything else weekly but because I had changed the TA and CH concentrations I was testing more often. During this period, FC changed by no more than 0.5ppm on a daily basis. I found this a bit odd as well since prior to the slam I could go days with no FC drop. CC during the good period fluctuated between 0 and 0.5 but never higher than that.

Plumbing specifics: 2-speed pump that I just put in 2/2015 when the old single speed died. HP rating I do not recall right now. Plumbing is bigger than 1", I believe 2.5". I have 3 returns, 1 skimmer (deep end) and 1 bottom (deep end) drain. 2 of the returns are at the deep and the 3rd in the shallow. I do currently have them pointed down as much as possible but I would't call them that great and could maybe use a replacement

As was found during the slam, there may be a circulation issue. I started that process with the pump on low speed and after almost 10 days there was no change. Switched to high speed and after only 1-2 days I started finally seeing a change. Could be something similar now. Maybe overall there just isn't enough circulation when on low speed.

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chem geek said:
There may be very poor bottom circulation and you might consider pointing the return (there probably is only one for that sized pool) diagonally downward to create a swirling circulation that may move more chlorine to the bottom of the pool.
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Certainly possible. I actually have 3 returns, 2 in the deep end and 1 in the shallow. The eyeballs are a pain to adjust though and do not seem to work all that well right now but they are pointed down.
 
It doesn't sound like a circulation issue to me. I don't even have a MD and am on skimmer-only suction and all my returns (3 not including the attached spa which has 4) are ~36' away from the skimmer. I wonder if you are getting stuff blown into your pool? Any large trees or bushes or whatever on your property or the neighbors? Any construction nearby? Do you get a lot of dust in the house?

The SLAM may require a higher flow rate but assuming that you've removed all the organics in your pool, I would think low flow rates coupled with good numbers for your chemistry ought to be just fine UNLESS you have something still lurking or blowing in or both.

I assume your cartridges have been hosed down recently (due to the recent SLAM) and are in good shape.

2.5" plumbing is not rare but not as common as 2" as most residences don't require anything larger than 2" and right behind that is 1.5" if the pool is small enough.

Does the pool get full sun...how many hours of it?
 
Agent99 said:
It doesn't sound like a circulation issue to me. I don't even have a MD and am on skimmer-only suction and all my returns (3 not including the attached spa which has 4) are ~36' away from the skimmer. I wonder if you are getting stuff blown into your pool? Any large trees or bushes or whatever on your property or the neighbors? Any construction nearby? Do you get a lot of dust in the house?

The SLAM may require a higher flow rate but assuming that you've removed all the organics in your pool, I would think low flow rates coupled with good numbers for your chemistry ought to be just fine UNLESS you have something still lurking or blowing in or both.

I assume your cartridges have been hosed down recently (due to the recent SLAM) and are in good shape.

2.5" plumbing is not rare but not as common as 2" as most residences don't require anything larger than 2" and right behind that is 1.5" if the pool is small enough.

Does the pool get full sun...how many hours of it?
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My pool is completely screened in so it gets no large debris but dust and things like that can get in. I don't see a lot of dust in my house. The shallow end is mostly shaded as there is a large orange tree in that corner. The rest of the pool (probably 80%) sees full sun for most of the day.

During the slam I was hosing the cartridge off 2 times per day. It looks to be in good condition but age is unknown. No visible holes and once cleaned off it is rather clean. Runoff water from hosing it off was always green (early in this thread I posted some pictures of it but they may be gone now as I had to remove some images as I am not a site supporter yet and have limited space.) I stopped cleaning the cartridge so often when I stopped slamming as I didn't think it should be necessary to clean it that often if everything was normal.
 
During this period, FC changed by no more than 0.5ppm on a daily basis. I found this a bit odd as well since prior to the slam I could go days with no FC drop. CC during the good period fluctuated between 0 and 0.5 but never higher than that.
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This seems a bit odd. chlorine loss of .5 ppm on a daily basis and going days with no FC drop. I am assuming you are in Winter Springs, Florida. Maybe having the pool screened in helps FC consumption. Here in NJ, it is different.
 
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