Slam questions

[kimkats]

Once you get it clear you should never have to go through this again so long as you check your levels and do what needs to be done.]

Clear is just like pabeader says------------it can be done. It does take time but it is SO worth it!

Kim

 

[Blivit79]

I think the end is in sight. This morning I turned on the light and the water was very clear. fc loss overnight was around 1 (18-17.) cc was 0.

Storm is supposed to come through so I will probably try to get through that as I am sure I will need to drain water out after. Hopefully after that I can move on. Exactly 14 days now since I started the slam process.

How do I get out of the slam process? I know the criteria, but what do I do once those are met?

 

[Texas Splash]

Great to hear! Once you technically pass all 3 SLAM criteria, then you simply allow the FC to drop on its own to your normal target FC level. Then you maintain that everyday - that's it! Oh, and you swim more.

 

[Blivit79]

Great to hear! Once you technically pass all 3 SLAM criteria, then you simply allow the FC to drop on its own to your normal target FC level. Then you maintain that everyday - that's it! Oh, and you swim more.

Thanks. Before this I wasn't swimming all that much. After all of this work I will be in the pool every day lol.

I am sure my ph and everything else will be off. Is there any protocol as to what gets adjusted first?

 

[Texas Splash]

Once your FC lowers back down below 10, check your pH first so you can make sure the pH is back to the 7.2-7.8 range. Then you can get back to checking TA and CH on their normal cycles as well. That should be about it.

 

[Blivit79]

Once your FC lowers back down below 10, check your pH first so you can make sure the pH is back to the 7.2-7.8 range. Then you can get back to checking TA and CH on their normal cycles as well. That should be about it.

Letting fc go down do I keep the pump on or switch it back to my normal 6hr/day schedule run time?

 

[Texas Splash]

You can back-off your pump time to normal operation. After all the work you did for a long SLAM, it almost feels odd to not have so much to do right?

 

[Blivit79]

You can back-off your pump time to normal operation. After all the work you did for a long SLAM, it almost feels odd to not have so much to do right?

It will be nice yes...but also very strange.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Thanks. Before this I wasn't swimming all that much. After all of this work I will be in the pool every day lol,

That's wonderful to hear because you have worked so hard on getting it clear, you certainly deserve a lot of clear pool R & R. ENJOY!!

 

[Blivit79]

It has been a while since my last update.

As of last night, I have officially started to move off slam mode. I was waiting to see if we received any more rain from the storm...we didn't...and my fc was not dropping overnight. cc has been at 0 and the pool has been very clear. So, I am currently letting fc drift back down to normal and have switched my pump back to a schedule. I am going to start by keeping the pump on high speed but have it run for 8 hours. If everything stays good I will start playing with the run time and see if I can go back to low speed.

Thanks again to all for your help; it's been a long and painful process but I think I am in the clear now.

 

[Crackerjack4u]

Wonderful Blivit.

I'm so happy that you have finally passed OCLT. Well done. The last CYA I saw in your posts was 40 if that is still correct per the Chlorine/CYA chart http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock your Minimum FC is 3 and your Target is 5ppm (I generally Target mine slightly higher at 7ppm to avoid risking ever dropping below my minimum).


As long as you Maintain it at the above levels, ensuring it Never drops below the minimum for your Current CYA, and also in your particular case ensure you are getting it circulated adequately you should have no further issues with algae. If you do attempt to run the pump again on low, at the 1st sign of any change in the water clarity, CC#s, I'd recommend kicking it back to high because your filter has already proven that it doesn't circulate as well as hoped on the low setting, so I wouldn't want to see you back slide again because of it.

You could possible try within the 8 hours of filter time you have planned for to run like 4 hours on low, and 4 on high, and then start adjusting it down some and do 5 on low and 3 on high, then 6 on low and 2 on high, etc. But again at the 1st sign of Any change in your water clarity I recommend kicking that filter to high, and leaving it there to prevent any issues.

Again Congrats on passing OCLT, it has been a looooonnng time coming, but finally YOU DID IT . Well done, and you did a great job hanging with it, and now you can see that all your hard work has paid off. Have a wonderful night and enjoy your clean, algae free pool.

 

[Pool Amateur]

Hey congrats, I have been following, glad to see you finally have it resolved.

 

[Blivit79]

Hello...I'm back....with a cloudy/greenish pool again Right now I am trying to figure out if I caused this or it is just another algae bloom.

On 9/1 I stopped slamming by letting my FC come back down. For that next week I also switched my pump back to it's normal run time (10 hrs) first on high speed. Clarity was great so I switched it to low speed and it was still fine.

As for levels, I always kept everything in the middle of the pool math recommendations and had no issue until this slam session:

FC 3-7 (I usually stayed around 4)
pH 7.5-7.8 (7.5 for me)
TA 70-90+ (80 as it is in the middle)
CH 250-350 (300 as it is in the middle)
CYA 30-50 (40 as it is in the middle)

On 9/5 I tested the following:
FC 5.5
CC 0
PH 7.8
CH 275
TA 50
CYA 20-30

Pool math gave me the following to add:

8.1oz acid
141 oz baking soda
56oz calcium chloride
40oz stabilizer

Now, I do not have a scale for the powders so I "eyeballed" those by marking the full amount on the outside of the container. I then split that in half as I needed half of the container amount and added to the pool.

After doing this, by my next test, TA was 130 and CH was 350. Oops..guess that measuring method didn't work. Everything else was fine.

I posted another thread on here asking about the high TA and CH numbers and it was brought up that I could lower my PH by acid and that would help lower the TA. 9/16 I started lowering my PH to 7.2 and it did start lowering my TA some. CH unaffected obviously but we did continue to get rain and I had to drain some water out periodically so that started coming down a bit as well.

All the while, the water clarity was clear until 9/19 when I noticed it was getting cloudy. Not green but cloudy. Test results for that day:

FC 5
CC 0
PH 7.5
CH 325
TA 100
I ran out of CYA reagent so more has been ordered.

When I noticed it was cloudy I switched the pump back to high (still only 10 hr run time) and started brushing more. I also took the filter out and cleaned it (lots of green run off water like before.) I brought the FC amount up a bit as well to 7. As of yesterday the pool has a slight green tint.

Last night/this morning I did a chlorine loss test. 7 at 7:45 pm and 7 at 5:45 this morning. CC was 0 in both tests.

We'll see what it looks like when I get home. Did I cause this by jacking up the chemistry? Or am I just facing another slam?

 

[Texas Splash]

Good morning! If you are seeing green again, it probably means that the previous SLAM simply was not completed and some residual organic material grew back to make your day more difficult. The good thing is that you are catching it fairly early upon your return, so hopefully you can recover quickly. Let's review a couple key points though:
- Lower your pH first to about 7.2 in preparation for the SLAM
- You now know how critical a CYA reading is since it determines your FC level for SLAM and normal days. Until your refills arrive, use your last recorded CYA test, coupled with the stabilizer and projected new CYA level, to adjust your FC up to the new FC SLAM/Shock level and keep it there now.
- Later, when this SLAM is almost done, I suspect you will receive a more accurate OCLT reading. The last one you did was only when your FC was at about 5, and that's too low. The FC needs to be close to SLAM level (or at least over 10) to do an good OCLT.
- Once this SLAM is complete, don't bother changing your TA for a specific number or range. If it drops to 70 or 60, leave it alone if it helps keep the pH lower in the mid-7s.
Follow the SLAM page again and just pick-up where you left off. You almost had this thing licked before, you can do it again.

 

[Blivit79]

Good morning! If you are seeing green again, it probably means that the previous SLAM simply was not completed and some residual organic material grew back to make your day more difficult. The good thing is that you are catching it fairly early upon your return, so hopefully you can recover quickly. Let's review a couple key points though:
- Lower your pH first to about 7.2 in preparation for the SLAM
- You now know how critical a CYA reading is since it determines your FC level for SLAM and normal days. Until your refills arrive, use your last recorded CYA test, coupled with the stabilizer and projected new CYA level, to adjust your FC up to the new FC SLAM/Shock level and keep it there now.
- Later, when this SLAM is almost done, I suspect you will receive a more accurate OCLT reading. The last one you did was only when your FC was at about 5, and that's too low. The FC needs to be close to SLAM level (or at least over 10) to do an good OCLT.
- Once this SLAM is complete, don't bother changing your TA for a specific number or range. If it drops to 70 or 60, leave it alone if it helps keep the pH lower in the mid-7s.
Follow the SLAM page again and just pick-up where you left off. You almost had this thing licked before, you can do it again.

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?

 

[Texas Splash]

Initially, maintaining a level in the middle-range is fine, especially when people first start getting the hang of testing and maintain their own pool. Later, you start to learn more of what works best for your pool. FC for example, may need to be slightly higher for people with extreme heat or sunlight. TA is a little different only because it effects your pH. If your pH keeps rising each week, it's probably because the TA is on the high side of the scale. So we recommend letting the TA stay a little lower which in-turn helps the pH stay lower or more stable. CH (hardness) is fine in the middle or perhaps even on the low-end of the range if you're in an area with hard water. If you know your source water is very hard, you may want CH on the low end because you know it will increase with each fill. That kind of thing. Hope that helps.

 

[Blivit79]

Initially, maintaining a level in the middle-range is fine, especially when people first start getting the hang of testing and maintain their own pool. Later, you start to learn more of what works best for your pool. FC for example, may need to be slightly higher for people with extreme heat or sunlight. TA is a little different only because it effects your pH. If your pH keeps rising each week, it's probably because the TA is on the high side of the scale. So we recommend letting the TA stay a little lower which in-turn helps the pH stay lower or more stable. CH (hardness) is fine in the middle or perhaps even on the low-end of the range if you're in an area with hard water. If you know your source water is very hard, you may want CH on the low end because you know it will increase with each fill. That kind of thing. Hope that helps.

Sure does, thanks. Guess it's time to stock up on bleach again. Hopefully this slam isn't as long as the last one.

 

[Agent99]

Despite passing the 3 criteria for the SLAM, is it possible you have areas, hidden spots, niches, etc. in your pool that might harbor algae (or other things) that aren't readily visible? Perhaps this has already be gone over in this long thread and I missed it will perusing.

 

[Blivit79]

Despite passing the 3 criteria for the SLAM, is it possible you have areas, hidden spots, niches, etc. in your pool that might harbor algae (or other things) that aren't readily visible? Perhaps this has already be gone over in this long thread and I missed it will perusing.

Yeah, this thread is one of the longer ones here and chocked full of wierd stuff

Hidden areas or missed things is always possible. The brushing will be ramped back up now though. During the slam and immediately afterward I was doing that everyday, sometimes 2-3 times per day. I started backing that off right before it got cloudy as I wasn't seeing any debris when brushed. Maybe it got lonely?

 

[Agent99]

Light niches, under ladders, within ladders, inside skimmers, behind return eyeballs and heck, even inside your roaming pool cleaner could be spots that algae is persisting that unless brushed from the surface and made floating, can survive high doses of chlorine.