SLAMing for 5 days, but still can't even see the bottom

[IceShadow]

Check out this thread for a sand filter user having trouble getting the pool to clear who deep cleaned the filter and is having a lot more luck now:

A little Frustrated or Impatient???

Please tell me I’m just being impatient. So I opened my pool Monday 5-18-20 and it was green and stuff but not as bad as the past couple years. Started the SLAM as I’ve done for a couple years now. The water seemed to go from green to gray overnight and hasn’t changed since Tuesday. Vacuuming...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[pypeke]

Stick garden hose in the filter down deep, but be careful not to break the laterals. Move the hose to several places. Let gunk overflow out of the filter. One year, I could not get my inground to clear up after 2 weeks of slamming. I cleaned the filter with the hose, and I gave it another week. After 3 weeks of slamming, I finally drained the water from the filter, shop vacuumed the sand out, checked the laterals for cracks, cleaned the sand in a water filled kiddie pool, and put the water and sand back in the filter. One of those steps did the trick.

I may have missed this....but, how often are you adding liquid shock/bleach? How often are you testing to make sure you are keeping it at 16 during the day? Are you keeping it around 16 all during the day? How long are you running the pump? 24 hours a day?

 

[bonesmtb2]

Hmm, ok, sounds like I should do that. My pool is near a pine tree, so I probably have a ton of pine needles in there too. Did you replace the sand after the deep clean?
FC stayed at 16 overnight, so it definitely seems like I have a filtration problem, rather than an algae, or other bio-contamination.

 

[bonesmtb2]

@pypeke I am checking the FC and adjusting 3 times a day. The odd thing is that I am not really getting an FC drop overnight, which is why I am focusing more on filtration now. I think the water is cloudy from all the dead algae that is just not getting cleared out. Also, pump has been running 24/7.
@IceShadow I did a deep clean on the filter last night, so hopefully I will see some improvements in the next couple days. I didn't get as much gunk out as I was expecting, but hopefully it fixed a potential channeling issue.

 

[Mdragger88]

Keep the fc up & it will clear ??

 

[NorCalX]

I think passing the OCLT was the hardest part for my SLAM

Hopefully your clean and filtering should go quickly

We are cheering you on!!!

 

[Bret1t]

New guy here but I can verify that their steps work.

The deep clean of my sand filter was a big help and mine was more algae filled than raw material. It isn't hard and you can see the water in the filter get clearer as it goes. I ended up doing it twice because I was in a hurry the first time and it wasn't really running clear when I stopped.

Also, scoop out as much of the solids as you can ASAP, that will also help turn the corner quicker. Even though you can't see the bottom, use a scoop net or a pool leaf vacuum and just go for the middle of the pool and get all you can. The running pump will likely move most of the debris to the center of the pool. Says the guy who didn't have a cover on and doesn't have any trees, but they blow in there.
***(edited only because, OMG, it needed some editing, my apologies)

 

[bonesmtb2]

Sounds good everyone! Yes, I am thinking I will do a second deep clean of the filter when I am off tomorrow. The water wasn't running totally clear the first time after about 30-45min, but I ran out of time. I think I am seeing some progress in the water clearing, but hard to judge. Will also need to backwash after work today since I should have hit the 25% pressure increase by then. That is also encouraging, since that should mean it is sucking all that dead algae out!

 

[danimal67]

I had a similar problem when i discovered this forum.
Turns out my 50lb sand filter wasn't clearing the dead algae out enough, and the water stayed cloudy.
Read another post by somebody who bought these very very fine mesh bags to clamp over the pool inlet.
I believe i linked to the company i bought mine from in an old post.
it really worked! The bag would turn green with algae, and i'd rinse.
Then eventually it would have a not-green (dead) algae color, and i'd keep rinsing and putting it back on until it was spotless.
Water turned sparkling clear after a couple days of that.
Granted, i have a small above ground pool, but it sounds like the filter might not be catching those tiny particles.

Good luck!

 

[bonesmtb2]

Getting close to ending SLAM! My FC dropped maybe 0.5 overnight, and couldn't register any CC. Water is quite clear, but could be a bit better. Will probably keep this up with the pump running for a couple more days, then start to let the FC drift down.
It seems like the deep clean of the sand filter was maybe the turning point. Thanks @IceShadow for the suggestion! Think I had some channeling going on in there.

 

[IceShadow]

Yeah, if it’s not going through the sand and instead going around it, it won’t be filtering much out. Great job!