I'm on day 3 of a SLAM. I can now see the steps, walls, and floor and have brushed most of the algae off the walls. There is a lot of dirt and/or dead algae on the bottom of the deep end that needs to be vacuumed up. Sand filter pressure is up by 25% so it is time to backwash and vacuum. Do I need to vacuum to waste since there is a lot of algae and/or dirt to vacuum up and sand filter pressure is up by 25% already? Or can I vacuum regularly and just backwash afterwards? I hate to vacuum to waste because I don't want to have to add a lot of water to the pool which might lower CYA below 30.
vacuuming and backwashing during a SLAM
- Thread starter gwtw
- Start date
- Jun 8, 2019
- 4,581
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If it’s up by 25%, I would backwash first. Then vacuum to the filter. Then if it was a lot, backwash again.
Backwashing, even several times, will cause less water loss than vacuuming to waste.
Backwashing, even several times, will cause less water loss than vacuuming to waste.