SLAMMING a green pool in the desert

[postscripto]

Hi all,

First of all, thank you for all your resourceful info and generous posts!
I got back from my summer break to a green pool. A rabbit got caught in the skimmer preventing the flow needed for my SWG to work.
I followed the SLAM process and started by measuring the CYA (55) and getting my pH to 7.2
Then I re-calculated my pool volume which led me to the some inconsistencies depending which calculator I used:
Leslie's pool calculator said 25K, ChatGPT gave me 27K, some other website gave me 32K and TFP gave me 29K so for the sake of trust in TFP I marked it as 29K.
I have a 40ft by 18ft oval pool with curved bottom at 4ft and 8ft depths so an average of 6ft.

The SLAM calculation gave me 22 so I added enough 10% liquid chlorine to keep at SLAM level.
It's been over a week. The green was gone in the first 2 days and now I'm dealing with the cloudy water.
I've been good at testing and maintaining, sometimes 5 times per day and my CC is 0.5 and the overnight loss is under 1ppm.
I have already poured 38 Gallons and have 10 boxes waiting in the garage. BTW Home Depot does nice bulk pricing if you buy more than 4 boxes (at $6 per Gallon / $12 per box).
Which was surprising after reading that I should buy double my initial SLAM... it's been 4 or 5 times that! I know I'm in the California desert and it's VERY hot these days (that's why I need this pool!!) but it might be worth noting that it could be as much as 5+ times that

I do think I have bad water circulation due to the design of the pool, which was done in the 50's and re-routed using PVC pipes for the SWG.
The skimmer and the return are on the same side in the middle of the pool, so there is not much circulation on the shallow end. You can see less jet turbulence on the left below.
I think this is why it might be going slower. I was planning on leaving this weekend but I'm afraid I might still be SLAMming.



I do have a bottle of Leslie's Ultra Bright Advanced Enhancer that I used before with stubborn water and it worked and was wondering if it might help clump those white particles together.
I also have a Phunky Phostate Remover but I read that is never recommended, but I have it so it would just sit on the shelf anyways...
At this point everything is dead in the pool, all the algae, larvae, backswimmers and water boatmen, so I'm just dealing with bleached out dead algae.
I brush once a day and use the pool robot to vacuum but I started doing manual suction as well. I'm also now leaving the suction hose on the shallow end to see if that helps with circulation.
I also closed down the skimmer float valve to allow more suction from the main, under the skimmer since most of my problem is below the waterline.
Oh and I clean the filter once a day or every 2 days. I wait to go 10 over the starting pressure as to not waste that much water every time I open it.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, especially with adding the enhancer, phosphate removers or improving circulation and anything else!

This was two days after but it hasn't changed much since... its going veeeeery slowly. It's hard not to lose faith when it's going so slow



Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Filter more and clean your cartridges more to get your pool clear faster.

Do not use the phosphate remover. It will just add to your filter problems. After use it needs to be vacuumed to waste to dispose of the phosphates which will dump your precious water.

Phosphate Removers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Bperry]

Hi all,

First of all, thank you for all your resourceful info and generous posts!
I got back from my summer break to a green pool. A rabbit got caught in the skimmer preventing the flow needed for my SWG to work.
I followed the SLAM process and started by measuring the CYA (55) and getting my pH to 7.2
Then I re-calculated my pool volume which led me to the some inconsistencies depending which calculator I used:
Leslie's pool calculator said 25K, ChatGPT gave me 27K, some other website gave me 32K and TFP gave me 29K so for the sake of trust in TFP I marked it as 29K.
I have a 40ft by 18ft oval pool with curved bottom at 4ft and 8ft depths so an average of 6ft.

The SLAM calculation gave me 22 so I added enough 10% liquid chlorine to keep at SLAM level.
It's been over a week. The green was gone in the first 2 days and now I'm dealing with the cloudy water.
I've been good at testing and maintaining, sometimes 5 times per day and my CC is 0.5 and the overnight loss is under 1ppm.
I have already poured 38 Gallons and have 10 boxes waiting in the garage. BTW Home Depot does nice bulk pricing if you buy more than 4 boxes (at $6 per Gallon / $12 per box).
Which was surprising after reading that I should buy double my initial SLAM... it's been 4 or 5 times that! I know I'm in the California desert and it's VERY hot these days (that's why I need this pool!!) but it might be worth noting that it could be as much as 5+ times that

I do think I have bad water circulation due to the design of the pool, which was done in the 50's and re-routed using PVC pipes for the SWG.
The skimmer and the return are on the same side in the middle of the pool, so there is not much circulation on the shallow end. You can see less jet turbulence on the left below.
I think this is why it might be going slower. I was planning on leaving this weekend but I'm afraid I might still be SLAMming.

View attachment 604081View attachment 604082

I do have a bottle of Leslie's Ultra Bright Advanced Enhancer that I used before with stubborn water and it worked and was wondering if it might help clump those white particles together.
I also have a Phunky Phostate Remover but I read that is never recommended, but I have it so it would just sit on the shelf anyways...
At this point everything is dead in the pool, all the algae, larvae, backswimmers and water boatmen, so I'm just dealing with bleached out dead algae.
I brush once a day and use the pool robot to vacuum but I started doing manual suction as well. I'm also now leaving the suction hose on the shallow end to see if that helps with circulation.
I also closed down the skimmer float valve to allow more suction from the main, under the skimmer since most of my problem is below the waterline.
Oh and I clean the filter once a day or every 2 days. I wait to go 10 over the starting pressure as to not waste that much water every time I open it.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, especially with adding the enhancer, phosphate removers or improving circulation and anything else!

This was two days after but it hasn't changed much since... its going veeeeery slowly. It's hard not to lose faith when it's going so slow

View attachment 604083

Thanks!

That was some yucky water, it will take a bit to clear that.

 

[postscripto]

Hi and thanks for the replies... I had to stay home for the weekend so I could keep up the SLAM.
Pretty much the answers I didn't want to hear! Of course we all want a shortcut...
I know it's a slow process but I feel that at this moment, all the algae is dead and I'm just trying to speed up the filtering.
The pressure hasn't changed in 2 days and its still cloudy on the deep end. I feel like it's not grabbing the small particles.

Do not use the phosphate remover. It will just add to your filter problems. After use it needs to be vacuumed to waste to dispose of the phosphates which will dump your precious water.

I wont add the Phosphate remover, thanks for the link. Especially the part about it not being useful during an algae bloom.
I will try the Leslie's Ultra Bright Advanced Enhancer since it's made of chitosan and not polymers like some others.

I'll report back but so far 11 days and lots of testing and gallons poured. It will be 58 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine by the end of the weekend!

Thanks

 

[TinFoilHat]

Don't add any pool store elixirs. Stick to the SLAM and brush and filter your way to a clear pool.

 

[postscripto]

Ok I must admit that I almost lost faith in the SLAM! But it WORKED!


Some things I wish I had known when I started. You need to buy a LOT more chlorine than double the initial reading as mentioned on the Pool School.
The initial reading to reach SLAM from zero was around 7 gallons so I bought 14 but I ended up adding 58 gallons.
It would be good to know it could be that much since home depot or the closest pool store is 30-40 min away from me.

It all starts really fast, the green was gone the second day so I thought I wouldn't need much more and kept buying 4 boxes at a time but the cloudy water lasted 12 days.
Since my suction pipe was right next to the main and the skimmer I used the pool hose to move that suction point to the other side of the pool. That helped circulate the water in the last few critical days. I'm sure it would have taken another week without that.

I didn't use the chitosan classifier... but I still have half the bottle so I will keep it in case of an emergency. When I used it before it did clear the pool in a day so it cant be all bad.
For those who wonder it was $6 per gallon so the whole thing was $350.

Also you need a LOT of the Taylor R-0871 reagent. I used 3oz so next time I'm buying the 16oz bottle which costs the same as I paid for the 3oz... nothing like running out of reagent in the middle of a SLAM!

Anyways, thanks again TFP. It works! I'm a believer. Now I can go back to my SWG. Let me know if there are any good tips to going back to normal. I'm just going to let the chlorine burn in the sun until it reaches the 4-9 target FC for my 55/60CYA.

 

[Newdude]

I'm just going to let the chlorine burn in the sun until it reaches the 4-9 target FC for my 55/60CYA.

To be clear if it's not inherently so.....

Your target is such so that you never sniff minimum FC. You need more chlorine added in the peak season and less in the spring and fall. Think of a bell curve for UV loss across the season.

3 FC (whether by bleach or by SWG) may last a week in April, or 3 hours mid day in August. Swg pools still swing, just usually less than LC pools which have an immediate spike then drift down.

Minimum FC
+ recent daily loss
+ 1 or 2 ppm wiggle room
---------------------------
= stoopid clear trouble free pool


And WELL done so far !!