SWG - No FC???

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It's only been 48 hours - however in that 48 hours of elevated FC levels there has been no oxidation of metals and no brown coloration in the water. Having just cleaned the old residue from the DE filter, is it safe to assume my iron problem is over?

I only have iron and copper test strips but they show no reading. one LPS tested and gave a reading of 0.0 iron and 0.3 copper. That was yesterday moring.
 
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RookWDW said:
I'm getting a tiny amount of micro bubbles in the return jets, not sure what that is about but it was happening a bit before.
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Did you open the valve on your pressure gauge to let the pressure out of your filter container? That can cause bubbles for a while if you don't relieve that air gap that forms at the top of the canister right after restarting it.

You said you added a bunch of sequestrant... if so then the iron is bound by the sequestrant until it starts to breakdown and the iron gets released back into the water.

ya know.. I would try this. Leave the cover off your pool for a day and see if you get the typical 4-5ppm FC loss per day that would be expected with an uncovered pool. The idea is to rule out something on your cover that is consuming FC.

Cleaning out your filter is always a good idea during a SLAM.. it helps flush out anything that is still consuming chlorine. Not just algae but other organics as well. As well as removing gunk that would impede the filtration process.
 
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I did release the pressure gauge air. I can hear a slight sound of something in either the DE tank or the multi-port that sounds to me like air. I had a new multiport valve installed and all of the plumbing was redone including all new valves on both the intake and returns. I'll keep watch on it. Maybe I don't have the top of the DE tank fully seated?

EDIT: the micro bubbles appear to have stopped. Either (a) I didn't get the air completely purged from the filter, or (b) the tiniest air leak on one of the gaskets or o-rings closed up.

I'll try that open cover idea. I suppose I should wait until tomorrow for that now.
 
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mguzzy said:
You said you added a bunch of sequestrant... if so then the iron is bound by the sequestrant until it starts to breakdown and the iron gets released back into the water.
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Bummer. I assume the high chlorine level would have broke down that sequestrant by now. Will add SeaKlear phosphate remover remove the sequestrant? I.E. do I need to be ready with more sequestrant (non-phosphate version)?
 
RookWDW said:
Bummer. I assume the high chlorine level would have broke down that sequestrant by now. Will add SeaKlear phosphate remover remove the sequestrant? I.E. do I need to be ready with more sequestrant (non-phosphate version)?
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You do realize that phosphates do not react with chlorine. Phosphates are essentially an algae nutrient, so all you are doing is removing phytoplankton food. Since its outside of the ability of most people to directly measure the phytoplankton population in your pool we do it by looking at the FC consumption at night when there is no sun.. hence the OCLT test. So removing phosphates may not have any effect on your FC levels directly, but would indirectly by removing a nutrient chemical... and that is why most of the TFP recommendations don't consider phosphates an issue. If the algae is killed by the FC, then there is nothing to eat it. But you know that already, right?

So when you do add a phosphate remover to your water, it will create a cloudy precipitate... let it drop out on its own, it will take a day or few. Don't compound the issue by adding a clarifier. Then vac the precipitate to waste. If you can't vac to waste you are back to hosing off your grids, because I don't think a backwash will get the stuff off your grids and out of your DE. The SeaKlear product is the most concentrated I have seen. Test your phosphates before and after to see how much you accomplished. Good Luck.
 
1:10 FC - 10ppm
3 hours FC drop of 2.5ppm - 0.833ppm/hour

Its hot and sunny today. I think I'll try the idea to keep the cover open and see what happens. I won't add any new chlorine just yet.
 
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Man, kids are gonna be ****** at me. Super nice out, hot and sunny; last day of school; pool is crystal clear - yet I have to tell them no swimming. Might have to make do some yard work just to make it worse.
 
4:10pm - exactly three hours
FC - 7.5ppm
CC - 0.0
FC drop of 2.5

Same drop as earlier with the pool cover closed. I'm not sure what that means. It's the same rate of FC drop, 0.833ppm/hour. But it's hot and very sunny which all else combined should increase the FC loss, right? But, assuming I do have 20-30 CYA that is supposed to help protect the FC from loss due to the sun? I'm not sure this suggests the pool cover is ruled out, or that the pool cover is suspect.

I think I'll run an OCLT again tonight, but with the cover off. Last night OCLT loss was 5.5PPM, it will be interesting to see if or how much that might change.

EDIT to add: Could ... there somehow and somewhere be algae hiding that I cannot see that is being killed by the high chlorine and thus using up the chlorine, but the phosphates are so high that it's allowing the algae to continue to grow rapidly, but I don't see it growing because the chlorine is killing it fast enough?
 
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6:00
FC - 12
CC - negligible
OCLT drop of - 2ppm with cover open

Failed, but not as bad. Is it getting better? Or, is the cover part of the culprit?

10:30. Just went swimming with a screw driver and scrub brush. There was a film and a bit of debris behind both lights, not terrible but definitely some. The crevice around the main stairs had a bit of dust that I'm going to assume was algae or dead algae. Nothing in the main drain. The skimmer was okay except there was some black stuff that I now think was flaking or disintegrating o-ring for the skimmer. I hope I didn't just cause a new leak at the skimmer box. I'll test FC again in a bit. I took the vac hose with me and attempted to vacuum as much of the debris as I could.
 
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I've been reading a bit about hot tub chemistry on here as we got a new master spa in November. Never had any issues with that (except metals) but it's time for fresh water so I was reading tips on that process. Decided to use the TF test kit. I have a bit more confidence in my CYA test as it tested well over 100 for the hot tub, which upon reading makes since since the only chlorine I have used in the powder dichlor Masterspa recommends. Which means I suspect when the new CYA test kit arrives I expect to confirm CYA of 20 or less in the pool.
 
Tests arrived. I can confirm CYA greater than 20, less than 30. So the 22 from the LPS seems near enough. I'm adding 1 lb of stabilizer.

Also confirm PO4 over 6000. I'm going to do another OCLT and if I still fail, I'll use the SeaKlear.
 
I think I am finally done.

Last night:
FC - 14.0
CC - 0.0
This morning (SWG off all night)
FC - 13.5
CC - slightest ting of color so less then 0.5
OCLT = 0.5 ppm
CYA is now 40 (halfway between the 30 and 40).

I was out of town this weekend, left Friday afternoon and returned Sunday. Wife added a half gallon of liquid at 6am and again at 8pm on Saturday and the SWG was plugged in at 100%. When I returned Sunday late afternoon the FC was 18, which gave me hope. Now to get the SWG dialed in.
 
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