Advice appreciated. I started a SLAM 10 days ago because I had cloudy water and was going through a gallon or more of chlorine everyday. For the last 5 days, the CC has been zero and for the last 3 days the water has been crystal clear. My CYA is a little too high at 60 but I’m still losing between 2-7ppm at night and 10-15ppm during the day. It has been 90+ degrees and cloudless here for all of the 10 days with no letup for another week. The water temperature is about 88 at night and 92 during the day. Do you think I still have an algae problem?
SLAMMING for 10 days!
- Thread starter Pamlvt
- Start date
You are done when:
- CC is 0.5 or lower;
- You pass an Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
This test is intended to determine if your pool has a contaminant such as algae that is consuming chlorine. The test is performed by testing FC in the evening after sunset and again in the morning before sunrise. The readings will be the same if there is nothing in your water consuming chlorine.
" style="color: rgb(30, 115, 190) !important; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; border-bottom-style: dotted !important; border-bottom-color: rgb(30, 115, 190) !important;">OCLT (ie overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less); - And the water is clear.
7 ppm overnight chlorine loss is huge. There's something in your water. Have you checked the ladder? Brushing? Making sure there's no hidden places where algae is hiding and reproducing is the hardest part of SLAM, but doing it makes sure there's nothing left to keep the headache going all summer.
SLAM isn't a Meatloaf song, 2 out of 3 isn't enough!
SLAM isn't a Meatloaf song, 2 out of 3 isn't enough!
borjis
LifeTime Supporter
For perspective my first & only slam lasted a little over 2 weeks. Including brushing 2 to 3 times daily.
Takes time to do it right.
Takes time to do it right.
Thanks! I just needed some perspective. The only thing we have in the pool is a wedding cake step system. I’ll just have my husband take that thing out. Just trying to get this process finished before Sunday as we leave on vacation.
Update: Yes, indeed the steps were the problem!!! I feel stupid. I knew better. I erroneously decided that since the water was clear and the chlorine level had been maintained at SLAM levels for 10 days, that there was no way any algae could have survived in the steps as they were “soaking“ in it. As we moved them, a giant plum of green came wafting out! Pool War II now commences! I will not sleep until my pool is healed! I have a vacation to go on in 4 days! As always, many thanks to my TFP friends!
Hey, we all do it and sometimes need someone else to point out the problem we know definitely isn't the problem. 
True story: two months ago we upgraded our internet. Despite this we weren't getting faster speed. After getting through tech support he tells me to plug my desktop straight in to the modem. Now, I knew this was an important troubleshooting step, but the router is newish and definitely can handle the upgraded speeds. However, I humored him and... yeah, full paid for speed. Turns out there was something I set in the router that was limiting my speed. Being a tech guy who had done tech support and often got annoyed at people not doing what they know will be the first thing I ask (reset the computer) I felt plenty embarrassed at that one.
But back to the topic: once you said wedding cake steps I knew we found the problem. Those things are notorious for hiding algae. There's been several threads about modifying them to allow better water flow through them, so if you're feeling ambitious sometime it might be worth searching for some of those threads. Until then though, glad you found it and hope that gets your SLAM finished up before the weekend!
True story: two months ago we upgraded our internet. Despite this we weren't getting faster speed. After getting through tech support he tells me to plug my desktop straight in to the modem. Now, I knew this was an important troubleshooting step, but the router is newish and definitely can handle the upgraded speeds. However, I humored him and... yeah, full paid for speed. Turns out there was something I set in the router that was limiting my speed. Being a tech guy who had done tech support and often got annoyed at people not doing what they know will be the first thing I ask (reset the computer) I felt plenty embarrassed at that one.
But back to the topic: once you said wedding cake steps I knew we found the problem. Those things are notorious for hiding algae. There's been several threads about modifying them to allow better water flow through them, so if you're feeling ambitious sometime it might be worth searching for some of those threads. Until then though, glad you found it and hope that gets your SLAM finished up before the weekend!