turned green after slam

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ladiekali

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Nov 24, 2016
79
Davenport Florida
I was able to maintain a clear pool all winter

two days of swimming the pool got cloudy. checked my chemicals and ph was a little high.
so i slammed the pool at 10 ppm, it rained hard that day... after the rain, raised the chlorine to 10 again.

lowered my ph and my pool had a yellow layer at the bottom. I assumed pollen as my cc count has been 0.
i slammed the pool for two days. cc stayed 0. My cya was 35 i slamed at 10 ppm chlorine. only lost 1 ppm if that over night.
the pool turned even darker green. slammed for two nights in a row.

the pool is darker green. i have only turned the pump off during the rain the other night.
been doing brushing multiple times a day.
 
ladiekali said:
I was able to maintain a clear pool all winter

two days of swimming the pool got cloudy. checked my chemicals and ph was a little high.
so i slammed the pool at 10 ppm, it rained hard that day... after the rain, raised the chlorine to 10 again.

lowered my ph and my pool had a yellow layer at the bottom. I assumed pollen as my cc count has been 0.
i slammed the pool for two days. cc stayed 0. My cya was 35 i slamed at 10 ppm chlorine. only lost 1 ppm if that over night.
the pool turned even darker green. slammed for two nights in a row.

the pool is darker green. i have only turned the pump off during the rain the other night.
been doing brushing multiple times a day.
Click to expand...
SLAMing is not something you do overnight, but is a process followed from beginning to end.

The first thing I see is your "SLAM" level. With a CYA or 35 (round up to 40) your SLAM level of chlorine is 16, not 10

In short, bring your pH down to 7.2, bring your FC up to 16 and keep testing and readjusting it back to 16 as often as you can. Brush the pool at least once a day. Pump runs 24/7.

Here are the full instructions SLAM Process
 
ok well i must have taken bad notes. i do have well water. I keep getting a dusting of yellow or orange in the bottom of the pool. i keep vacuuming to waste but it keeps coming back. i even tried floculant. do i need to be brushing it? or do i keep vacuuming. it takes me hours to fill my pool back up just 3 inches. like 5-6 hours each time i vacuum to waste. when i brush it, it makes a cloud. i thought algae was hard to get off, so ithought it was pollen and dirt.
gonna recheck my cya levels since i've thinned the water a few times since my last testing.
thanks for the feed back here.
 
now my cya is reading 50.... i don't know how it would be 50 after draining and filling from 35.... so i don't know what to shock at.... i'm frustrated now. i just dumped in 3 gallons of chlorine.i don't know what to do. I definately could not see the dot... even in bright sunlight. even holding it up to my face...

why would cya change like that. I am wondering if i should try yellow treatment... that bromide stuff.

I did use floculant the other day, would that add cya???
it doesn't say it has any in it.

right now my chlorine is 18.5 ppm I'm still filling the pool probably have another inch to go.
just tested the cc, it's low... it barely turned a pink tinge.

should i assume the cya really is 50, and raise the chlorine to 20?

this is the first time of testing that i got any reading for cc.
 
It doesn't sound like you have added any CYA. No the the CYA level will "change like that". It sounds like a testing error or difference in test conditions from one test to the next. Be sure to test in full sun, back to the sun so that sunlight doesn't enter the top of the tube. Pour the sample back and forth as many times as you want and walk around to different light conditions until you feel comfortable reading the test. More details here, Pool School - Extended Test Kit Directions

I would never, ever put yellow treatment into my pool. Floc does not contain CYA. If you want to use floc be sure to vacuum it all out to waste so it doesn't get in the filter and clog it up. I would avoid floc. Following the SLAM Process process will clear up your pool without expensive potions from the pool store.

Once you have a good CYA number then resume the SLAM Process and dose chlorine accordingly.
 
thanks for getting back to me.

I believe the pool was just that cloudy. because a couple hours later i tested cya again and it was back to 35.

So i'm doing my best to maintain 16 ppm and the water has turned green to blue... not clear yet. But I now smell the chlorine and am getting a higher CC.
I"m glad i didn't add the yellow treatment!

I believe maybe tomorrow it will be good. I'll stay on top of the chlorine today and keep brushing.. (man, I'm sure getting an upper body work out)

I now understand that I wasn't rounding up, 10 ppm chlorine wasn't doing enough.. 16 is really doing what i thought it should be doing. so my frustration level is down.

Thanks for the feed back. this is my first year with a pool. I"m lucky to have found this forum so quickly!

One more question, I have the polaris, I took it out of the pool for this slam process... should i have left it in?
I do have a main drain and have it open fully. and i have zero debris in the pool right now. My thinking is that the chemicals wouldn't be good for it... or does it matter???

thanks again
 
One more question, I have the polaris, I took it out of the pool for this slam process... should i have left it in?
Click to expand...
Either way is fine. With a balanced CYA/FC ration, even for a SLAM, most products are fine. Just remove it after you've run a cleaning cycle and perhaps consider giving it a good rinsing afterwards just to be safe.
 
Ok. Now it seems stuck on blue. Which is better than green. All day testing about every two hours and the ppm drops to 15 I bring it back up to 16 or 17. The pool is kinda aquamarine. I never got much cc. It has stayed at or below .5 ppm. Most times it has been zero. The shallow end is pretty clear. What do I need to know? It has not changed since 6am this morning despite pouring over 3 gallons of chlorine in today. Not all at once mind you.
 

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You are now officially in the "POP" zone (pool owner patience) - the most difficult part. You see improvements, but you can't get there fast enough. We've all been there. Like you said, there are changes for the better, and now it's the "maintaining" and fine-tuning that will get you over the hump to clear water. Make sure to inspect every possible area that could harbor algae (behind light fixtures, in/under steps, under your skimmer lid, floaters, etc). Take nothing for granted. At the same time, keep the filter cleaned when pressure increase by 20-25%, and of course continue to brush daily - the more the better. As bad as your pool was before, you are definitely making improvement. Just tossing-out a big average here, but I'd estimate that most SLAMs take anywhere from 1-2 weeks depending upon the severity of algae. I think you are doing a fine job for the short time you've been going at it. Hang in there!
 
ladiekali said:
Ok. Now it seems stuck on blue. Which is better than green. All day testing about every two hours and the ppm drops to 15 I bring it back up to 16 or 17. The pool is kinda aquamarine. I never got much cc. It has stayed at or below .5 ppm. Most times it has been zero. The shallow end is pretty clear. What do I need to know? It has not changed since 6am this morning despite pouring over 3 gallons of chlorine in today. Not all at once mind you.
Click to expand...

3 gallons of bleach added to the pool is not a lot of chlorine for your size. My pool is twice as big as your's but I have to use 12 - 14 bottles of bleach to slam at first and then much more to maintain slam levels. In order to sanitize your pool, you need chlorine. There is no problem adding all 3 gallons all at once if necessary. You have to make sure you have enough CL and you must maintain through the entire slam which could take several days. I wouldn't beat myself up or spend a tremendous amount of time brushing and wearing myself out. Do what you can but let the bleach do it's work. You don't have to brush around the clock. No use overdoing it and pulling a back muscle or worst. Maintain FC and watch your PH and you will be clear in no time. like Texas Splash said... Patience.
 
Its took a week. I brushed That dang pool till my arms feel like spaghetti noodles very sore spaghetti noodles. I did raise my slam level to 18 because I was losing three PPM overnight. I finally started getting a cc reading when I did that. And my filter had to be backwashed nightly. I hadn't adjusted my Ph while slamming. Figured I would adjust that today as my chlorine level dies down. It seemed to consume more chlorine a few days into the slam. Luckily I had a few overcast days this last week.

Now I need to make sure I maintain a proper chlorine level to try to prevent this from happening again. Although every one I run into says it will happen multiple times over the summer. So how many times a day should I test my chlorine levels.

- - - Updated - - -

And it's suppose to rain On Wednesday.. is there any thing I can do to prepare for rain?
 
ladiekali said:
Its took a week. I brushed That dang pool till my arms feel like spaghetti noodles very sore spaghetti noodles. I did raise my slam level to 18 because I was losing three PPM overnight. I finally started getting a cc reading when I did that. And my filter had to be backwashed nightly. I hadn't adjusted my Ph while slamming. Figured I would adjust that today as my chlorine level dies down. It seemed to consume more chlorine a few days into the slam. Luckily I had a few overcast days this last week.

Now I need to make sure I maintain a proper chlorine level to try to prevent this from happening again. Although every one I run into says it will happen multiple times over the summer. So how many times a day should I test my chlorine levels.

- - - Updated - - -

And it's suppose to rain On Wednesday.. is there any thing I can do to prepare for rain?
Click to expand...
Have you passed all three creiteria for ending the SLAM Process?

- Pool is clear/no visible algae
-Pass Overnight Chlorine Loss Test
-No more than 0.5 CC

The biggest problem folks have is ending the SLAM Process too soon.

If you have passed, then let the FC drift back down to the target for your level of CYA. Once below 10 you will get a valid pH reading, so test and adjust then.

As to moving forward -

If you follow our methods it won't happen again. Algae can gain a foothold when the FC drops below the minimum for the CYA in the water. For the first couple/few weeks test and adjust your FC & pH daily. It is generally best to test/adjust at around the same time each day. This will allow you to understand your pool "normal" consumption of chlorine. At that point you continue add the chlorine each day, but many will back off testing to every other day, or in some cases three days sometimes. The key is, you still add the chlorine each day. The "people" who say it will happen do nt understand the effects of CYA on the ability of chlorine to do it's job. If they start the year perfect, a steady diet of 3" pucks and granular shock will cause the CYA level to continue to rise. Unless you adjust for this and raise the FC level correspondingly you end up with too much chlorine bound up to the CYA to do it's job of killing the algae.

Unless rain causes dirt & stuff to wash into the pool (mine does because of a poorly poured pool deck) then rain is a non-event. It is pure water and "may" bring a little pollen with it. A heavy rain may raise the pH due to the aeration caused by the rain hitting the surface of the pool.
 
Oh yes when it rains the shallow end turns gray from dirt!
I also have a pollen issue where even with the pump on there's pollen in the pool.

I did pass the slam test. It dropped zero ppm over night. And my cc was less than .5.

I'm trying to raise my cya to 40. As I understand the higher cya will help the chlorine stay in the pool longer and not be lost so quick to sunlight.

I have been trying to maintain. A 30-35 cya. But it often falls below 30. I think due to backwashing the filter. And refilling with fresh water.

Should I test every morning and maybe on evenings when I've had swimmers?
 
Should I test every morning and maybe on evenings when I've had swimmers?
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If you are referring to FC, then yes, you should test it once everyday. If you have a heavy swimmer's load one day, it's probably best to do another check once they all get out. Lots of swimmers = more FC usage.
 
ladiekali said:
Oh yes when it rains the shallow end turns gray from dirt!
Click to expand...

Is there dirt running into the pool from a planting bed, or is it being blown in?

If there's runoff from rain flowing into the pool, that's a huge problem that you'll need to fix. That water is dirty and will have your pool green in no time every time it rains. If it's windblown, you likely just need to let the filter get it out.
 
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