Today is an exciting day for me, TFPers. Today I end my SLAM. Last night I had a drop of 1 ppm and my CC is 0.5. I believe I had a mustard algae problem, so today I am following the mustard algae slam process, and super duper chlorinating for 24 hours, according to this chart:
Chlorine/CYA Chart Even if I didn't have a mustard algae problem, I don't think it hurts to treat it as if it was for 1 more day.
Edit: I read on another thread that I should maintain elevated FC levels for a while longer.
I started the SLAM on July 29th, almost exactly 1 month to the day. It seems much, much longer.
46 gallons of bleach later ($125), I will be letting the sanitizer levels mellow starting tomorrow morning. It seemed ridiculous buying up all of Lowe's pool bleach (the 10% stuff), 12 gallons at a time, but the cost of liquid bleach is really low compared to anything the pool store was recommending, and way less expensive and damaging than powdered shock and tablets.
The result? ALL staining i had seen is now gone. Everything. I thought I had iron in my water because my pool bottom had brownish/yellow streaking, but that staining is gone. I thought I had calcium scaling because certain areas had grayish deposits, but that is gone. I thought the white plastic parts were just old and experienced color change naturally because they are old... that color change is gone. Even my skimmer that had gone deep yellow/orange is now gleaming white. The white, fiberglass walls had a certain tinge to them... they are now bright white.
Edit: I forgot to mention that something strange happened during the slam. The "yellow / brown staining and streaking" on the bottom turned into what I thought was faded paint. I thought it was strange that my paint faded exactly where the staining was, but thought the combo of chlorine and sun was responsible. Only in the last few days did that go away. Now, I think it was probably the remaining algae giving up the ghost.
Probably the most impressive change, though is the water itself. It was clear before the SLAM, but took on a new sheen. Now, it is so clear that at night, when a dim light color is on (like red, or deep blue) and the filter is off, the water becomes invisible. It creates a trippy illusion as the bottom is magnified and "moves" as I walk around it.
Lesson Learned:
- I wish I had really taken the advice of getting my CYA low before the SLAM. 50 is the absolute maximum. 30 would have been better. I'm at 40 after 2 partial drains (down from way over 100).
- I wish I would have stocked up on reagent, especially R-081. I went through about 4 bottles of it. My advice is to buy 5 bottles the day you begin the SLAM. tftestkits sells a sanitizer testing bundle. Buy 1 bundle and 4 bottles. Even though they ship fast and I was able to get my refills in about 3 days, there were days when I had to trust that pool math was correct on the effects of adding certain amounts of bleach.
- Pro Tip: Scratch a line at the 10 mm mark of the testing beaker before the marks wear off. All of my marks wore off during the slam.
- Brushing matters as much as vacuuming. A stainless steel brush is a must for concrete. Keep your water line tiles clean, too (I used a scotch bright pad on those)
- Remove pool parts and scrub them down once a week. The first time I removed my light I unleashed what looked like an Alaskan Sea Kelp forest into my pool: yellow, feathery algae, black spots on the niche. My non-functioning main drain was also hiding all sorts of grossness. Don't forget to scrub down the hidden areas of the skimmer. I used a scotch bright pad and a screwdriver to get into the corners.
- My plumbing even had a yellow/orange coating. I cleaned the pipes I could get to, but trusted the chlorine would get what I couldn't.
- Throw away your tablet chlorinator. They are only trouble. I bought mine 2 years ago. It's now sitting on the shelf, full of yellow scale. I should post a picture. The expensive Clorox "Xtra Blue" tablets and shock treatments I was using lifted my CYA to an unmanageable level, and gave me the illusion that I was sanitizing my pool properly.
Thank you TFPool forum members, especially the experts and Lifetime Supporters. Your knowledge saved me a ton of frustration and money at the pool store.
