Switching to Salt Water

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curtisimo81 said:
Ok thank you I'm going to start it right now. Yes I just multiplied it by 2 and forgot the decimal point on the CC. Sorry I'm used to having a pool store tell me..lol which I'm sure for the most part they were wrong. I wonder if I should try to start slamming it tomorrow since I need to test every few hours.. I know I'll probably up for about 5-6 more hours tonight but that will be the last time I can test until the morning.
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Consistency is important in the beginning. I think you're going to need several days in a row to be honest. I always think a SLAM is best started on a Friday especially if you can take the day off. Believe me, more often than not, people start a SLAM with too little bleach and time on hand and are floored by how quickly the FC is consumed. Folks then go running out to Walmart in the middle of the night buying up shopping carts full of bleach just to keep up with the consumption.

Take it slow, there's no need to rush. If you don't think you can focus on it now, then wait till the weekend to start. You're going to be at this for a while so when you start is not nearly as important as HOW you start.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
Ok thanks. Im off Sat Sun and Mon every week so I will start it this weekend. Hopefully I'm able to get this thing cleared up..lol Thank you again for all of your help. Without this forum its likely I would have spent close to $300 by now on just chemicals for this week. Thanks again!!
 
Keep adding some bleach, maybe a half gallon per day, until you can start.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
Remember, it's all about consistent testing and dosing to maintain shock level. Your pool will use A LOT of chlorine initially and you'll be tempted to think that the amount of liquid chlorine you are adding is crazy and going to make you liner dissolve....don't give up! Just stay the course. Make sure that you always add chemicals slowly and in front of a fast moving return. Be sure to brush to help mix up the chlorine and to move the water around. Keep an eye on your filter pressure too as it will clog up fast with lots of dead algae.

Also, in case you missed it, just test for FC & CC during this time. The pH test is inaccurate above 10ppm FC. And use the 10mL water sample with one rounded scoop of the R-0870 powder so that you are getting 0.5ppm/drop. That will save you on reagents.

Good luck,

Matt

- - - Updated - - -

Take pictures too and post them. It helps to save them so you can see the small differences each day.
 
Thanks you! Last test was done at about 0100 and I woke up this morning and tested water and it only dropped to 19ppm. So I added more chlorine to get back up to about 21. Should it have dropped more than that? I was expecting it to drop a lot more than that. It was about 7 hours between the test.

This is a picture of it today. Its a lot lighter than it was.

IMG_3317.jpg

Now I need to clean the leaves and brush
 
curtisimo81 said:
Yes the pump has been running 24/7 for a while. But I just started the slam yesterday and the water was really green. I didn't have the time during the week to have the time to stay on top of it.
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Curtis,

You're doing great. Good to hear that your FC loss was so low overnight. That will help a lot. Keep up the chlorine additions and testing. The more consistent you can be with keeping the FC at shock levels, the better off you will be. Keep up the filtering as well and brushing. Make sure you regularly check the filter and backwash it as soon as you hit 25% over the clean pressure. I bet you're going to see the water lighten up a bit over the next few days and hopefully it will lose the green color and turn more of a murky grey/blue color. That's when you'll hit the long & slow phase of clearing. Be prepared for this to take a while as you had a pretty decent swamp there. You'll have to come up with a plan for next week when you'll be at work for someone to at least be able to add a little chlorine and check on the pool now and then.

Good luck,

Matt
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Curtis,

You're doing great. Good to hear that your FC loss was so low overnight. That will help a lot. Keep up the chlorine additions and testing. The more consistent you can be with keeping the FC at shock levels, the better off you will be. Keep up the filtering as well and brushing. Make sure you regularly check the filter and backwash it as soon as you hit 25% over the clean pressure. I bet you're going to see the water lighten up a bit over the next few days and hopefully it will lose the green color and turn more of a murky grey/blue color. That's when you'll hit the long & slow phase of clearing. Be prepared for this to take a while as you had a pretty decent swamp there. You'll have to come up with a plan for next week when you'll be at work for someone to at least be able to add a little chlorine and check on the pool now and then.

Good luck,

Matt
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Yeah you should have seen it when I started...lol It was a dark green swamp. I'm fortunate to have a career where I could swing by my house a few times durning the day to check on it on this week. So I should be able to stay on top of it. But today was the first day in months I could see my bottom step. lol Now it wasn't clear but I could see it. Thanks again. Ill continue to post updates.
 

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Nice progress! Keep up the testing and adding of chlorine! You will be able to watch it change color.

When you go back to to work will be the hardest time. Try for at least 4 tests and FC additions-first thing in the morning, right when you get home, at dinner time, right before you go to bed. IF you can sweet take someone into just adding what your average has been at lunch that would be great if not it will just take a little more time.

Kim
 
curtisimo81 said:
Yeah you should have seen it when I started...lol It was a dark green swamp. I'm fortunate to have a career where I could swing by my house a few times durning the day to check on it on this week. So I should be able to stay on top of it. But today was the first day in months I could see my bottom step. lol Now it wasn't clear but I could see it. Thanks again. Ill continue to post updates.
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Seeing the bottom step is good!! Do you have a manual vacuum? When the water clears up enough to make out the bottom of the pool, you might want to do some slow vacuuming to waste (or vacuum to filter if you need to save water) if you see areas with lots of dead algae (it'll look like grey/brown fluffy sand that will form a cloud when you push it).
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Seeing the bottom step is good!! Do you have a manual vacuum? When the water clears up enough to make out the bottom of the pool, you might want to do some slow vacuuming to waste (or vacuum to filter if you need to save water) if you see areas with lots of dead algae (it'll look like grey/brown fluffy sand that will form a cloud when you push it).
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Yes I have a manual vacuum and a hayward navigator. I can always add water if needed. So when its clear enough to see the bottom I'll start vacuuming. Im sure that won't be today though.lol
 
Curtis with you having a sand filter you can vacuum the dead algae out by turning it to waste. Of course that will use some water. I would make sure the water it as high as it can go AND have the hose in the pool adding water as you go.

BUT like you said it might not be today LOL

Kim
 
Ok so pool is looking a lot better! But I do have a question that maybe dumb and have a reasonable explanation. Somehow last night my filter got turned off. Last backwash I must have forgot to turn it back it on. Well this morning the pool looked like this......
IMG_3330.jpg

After running pump for an hour I go out to test water again and pool now looks like this.....
IMG_3334.jpg

Notice the difference.. Is it possible my sand in my filter needs to be replaced? I like the first picture way better. Also just so you know I vacuumed to waste the whole bottom before filtering again. I also backwashed and rinsed before turning it back on again. When I was done vacuuming I could see the bottom so I don't think it would be from stirring things up. Any thought?
 
No, sand seldom needs to be replaced. You need to keep the chlorine at the shock level consistently and do your best to get all organics out of the pool. Use your net to get the leaves off the surface and your net/vacuum to get everything off the bottom.

I'm sorry to say you have many days if not weeks of work ahead of you. This is really not something that will happen in a few days when you are starting form where your pool was.
 
Careful with backwashing the filter TOO MUCH. You want to only backwash when your filter pressure goes 25% above clean pressure. Excessive backwashing of a sand filter can actually reduce its filtration performance as a sand filter works best when it is actually a little dirty (counterintuitive, I know...). Also, when you do backwash, rinsing removes some of the unsettled fine particulates but certainly not all of it. So it is possible to get a plume of crud blown back into your pool.

By the way, even though there's not much you can do about it now, do you have a feel for the condition of your sand filter? It's maintenance history? Anything look obviously wrong?

When all is said and done, if the filter has not been deep cleaned and PM'd in a while, that can be a task on your future pool to do list.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Careful with backwashing the filter TOO MUCH. You want to only backwash when your filter pressure goes 25% above clean pressure. Excessive backwashing of a sand filter can actually reduce its filtration performance as a sand filter works best when it is actually a little dirty (counterintuitive, I know...). Also, when you do backwash, rinsing removes some of the unsettled fine particulates but certainly not all of it. So it is possible to get a plume of crud blown back into your pool.

By the way, even though there's not much you can do about it now, do you have a feel for the condition of your sand filter? It's maintenance history? Anything look obviously wrong?

When all is said and done, if the filter has not been deep cleaned and PM'd in a while, that can be a task on your future pool to do list.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
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We bought the house a little over two years ago. I was told by the realtor the linear, pump and sand filter were replaced about a year before we bought it. The sand filter looks to be about the same age as the filter, however, the place they bought the linear from only sells pentair products. So I asked them to look it up the other day and the sand filter was not bought from them. The guy that installed the pentair pump and linear no longer works there. So I'm not sure if they purchased the filter elsewhere or if it was an older filter. The filter is a hayward pro series High rate S244T. So its possible it was bought when they installed the pump. I'm not 100% sure. I know I have not cleaned it since owning the house.....
 
curtisimo81 said:
We bought the house a little over two years ago. I was told by the realtor the linear, pump and sand filter were replaced about a year before we bought it. The sand filter looks to be about the same age as the filter, however, the place they bought the linear from only sells pentair products. So I asked them to look it up the other day and the sand filter was not bought from them. The guy that installed the pentair pump and linear no longer works there. So I'm not sure if they purchased the filter elsewhere or if it was an older filter. The filter is a hayward pro series High rate S244T. So its possible it was bought when they installed the pump. I'm not 100% sure. I know I have not cleaned it since owning the house.....
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Sounds doubtful that the filter is new. Maybe they put new sand in it, but it sounds like the filter itself is the same.

The great thing about sand filters is that they are "fall off a horse" easy to operate and simple/cheap to repair. However, their extreme ease-of-use also makes them easy to forget about and most pool owners rarely, if ever, deep clean and PM them annually. Pool service companies rarely ever bother with them in terms of regular maintenance but are happy to charge you exorbitant fees for replacing the sand which the one component in them that never needs changing.

So it looks like one of your pool tasks in the future will be getting intimate with the internal workings of your filter ;)

Matt


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 

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