Well, here goes my first SLAM!

[Mdragger88]

Keeping fc at slam level as much as possible is the fastest way to clear things up. Dose now- don’t wait.
*Remember to treat the spa & pool as 1 body of water - because they are.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

It sounds like you have never finished the SLAM. Review the SLAM process article......especially the part about finishing the SLAM

I know I haven't finished the SLAM. Since I've never manually vacuumed before, I wanted to let the water calm down. I just finished vacuuming, added chlorine to SLAM level, and am going to run the filter until this evening and see how things look (visually and via testing.)

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Keeping fc at slam level as much as possible is the fastest way to clear things up. Dose now- don’t wait.
*Remember to treat the spa & pool as 1 body of water - because they are.

They're back together again, and dose added! Since I'm a manual vacuuming noob, I wanted to let the dust settle so I could see what I was doing. While I was doing that, I figured I'd just see how much the spa would clear up while running separately.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Getting there! (Don't worry, I know I'm not done. )
Pool is holding chlorine above SLAM level, no CCs, clearing up and getting back to its normal color.
It's cold here today (for this Florida gal), so not sure that scrubbing and vacuuming will take place today especially with our new robot arriving (hopefully) tomorrow.
I won't stop the SLAM until I pass all criteria. If things look good I'll do an OCLT tonight.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Update:
Passed OCLT. Pool is clear. Robot arrives today to vacuum the last of the dead algae. (I'll brush and help).
I'm holding the SLAM until all the criteria are met. Then I'll add CYA to the recommended level, get everything else balanced, and dial in the SWG to hold FC just above the TFP target range. Once I see the TFP sparkle, and everything else looks good (daily FC consumption as expected), I'll dial the SWG to hold at the high end of the recommended range, and watch it like a hawk as we move into spring.
Lesson learned!
I'll post again when I see that sparkle!

 

[Newdude]

I'll dial the SWG to hold at the high end of the recommended range, and watch it like a hawk as we move into spring

I hold over range and then when FC consuming events happen I fall back into range. Early/late season you don't need as much as a buffer of course, but adjust the high/over target as necessary.

You don't, but many obsess over 'too much chlorine' and repeatedly slice it too thin. Instead i obsess over having 'enough chlorine for today' and if it's a 12, it's 'enough for today'............tomorrow, and maybe some of the next day.

 

[Mdragger88]

I see your solar cover I presume.
Be sure to give it a good scrub too!

Make sure you are meeting the no algae dead or alive rule (along with the others obviously) before adding cya.
Increase the cya (via the sock method) in stages as to not overshoot then manually chlorinate immediately to your new high target or so. Test cya 24hours after your addition.
Don’t depend on your swg to make up the difference if you’re behind.
Remember, It’s just a maintainer.
(A good little maintainer!)
Love it for what it is, just don’t try to make it something its not

I suspect that with your low cya that one day the uv got to your fc faster than the swcg could make it & that was all she wrote.
Lesson learned!
You’re on #teamRunHot now!

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

I see your solar cover I presume.
Be sure to give it a good scrub too!

Make sure you are meeting the no algae dead or alive rule (along with the others obviously) before adding cya.
Increase the cya (via the sock method) in stages as to not overshoot then manually chlorinate immediately to your new high target or so. Test cya 24hours after your addition.
Don’t depend on your swg to make up the difference if you’re behind.
Remember, It’s just a maintainer.
(A good little maintainer!)
Love it for what it is, just don’t try to make it something its not

I suspect that with your low cya that one day the uv got to your fc faster than the swcg could make it & that was all she wrote.
Lesson learned!
You’re on #teamRunHot now!

The pool solar cover is going to get washed and put away until early spring. We'll clean the spa cover before putting it back on the spa. This time of year we only use the spa.
Living in Florida we seem to be the exception to the "CYA never goes away unless you drain" rule, but I try not to overshoot, anyway.
New robot is trucking away.
I'm not adding CYA until the SLAM is over with - all criteria met. Not there yet.

 

[Mdragger88]

SLAM ON Sister! You’re almost there!

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Yes! Pool looks great. Really clear. Filter needs to be cleaned (will do that when it warms up this afternoon). O CCs. Chlorine seems to be holding, but will hold the SLAM and do an OCLT tonight to confirm. Fingers crossed... this SLAM may be coming to an end!

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Well, given the pouring rain and some questionable test results I'm holding at SLAM levels one more day. Pool looks (from what I can tell) crystal clear, but a whole lot of dirt and pollen are coming in through the screen with the rain drops (as evidenced from the hairnet in the skimmer) and I would bump up the FC in these conditions even if I weren't in the middle of a SLAM.

 

[Newdude]

With little/no overnight loss, there's little/no daily loss either, except for the sun which would be there either way.

Sure the higher FC level burns off a little faster, but maintaining the SLAM at the end is waaaaaaaaay easier than staring a new one in 3 weeks.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

If the sun ever comes out I won't be surprised to see TFP sparkle! Fingers crossed. (Still holding SLAM until we pass OCLT.)

 

[Mdragger88]

You’ve certainly got some good visibility!
Definitely on the tail end of this thing now! Bravo

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Passed OCLT, crystal clear, no visible algae, dead or alive. I'm ending the SLAM.
Not quite back to normal routine yet. I just added 4 pounds of CYA (sock method, now fully dissolved), so am running the filter on high overnight to get it mixed in well. Will do a full test tomorrow. I need to get the SWG dialed in to keep us on team "run hot" for a while. I'll be watching everything like a hawk for the next week (we go on a short cruise after that, so that will be the true test.)

 

[Newdude]

(we go on a short cruise after that, so that will be the true test.)

Careful on those 3 hour tours. Sometimes they go south.

 

[kimkats]

Well done! What I LOVE is the fact you KNEW the water could be better a few days ago. Anyone else not using TFP methods would say it was good enough back then. You knew to keep on going and got your sparkle back! Well done!!

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Good news, bad news (well, mostly good ).. despite all the rain we had, FC is drifting down really slowly (like .5 per day). So I won't have a lot of time to dial in the SWG before we leave for 5 days next week.
I'll probably set it to raise FC by 1 ppm per day while we're gone if the daily loss stays around .5. #teamrunhot.

 

[poolnoobgrandma]

Keeping fc at slam level as much as possible is the fastest way to clear things up. Dose now- don’t wait.
*Remember to treat the spa & pool as 1 body of water - because they are.

One thought on that (moot now. SLAM is done, pool is great).... If I don't run SLAM level water through the spa jets, couldn't algae lurk there? I spent most of the SLAM with pool and spa together, but I'm kind of glad I spent some time running the high chlorine levels through the spa jets, too.

 

[Mdragger88]

One thought on that (moot now. SLAM is done, pool is great).... If I don't run SLAM level water through the spa jets, couldn't algae lurk there? I spent most of the SLAM with pool and spa together, but I'm kind of glad I spent some time running the high chlorine levels through the spa jets, too.

Yes - that’s why we recommend that you run slam level water through all lines & any water features (bubblers, waterfalls, slides etc.) at least once a day. (More if you suspect they are gross)
Even ones that are unused usually.
During regular pool operations (not slamming) any lines should get chlorinated water through them daily as well. Even just 15-30 minutes. So there’s nothing stagnant.
If something is truly unused (like an old vac line) it should be capped & isolated from the system so whatever festers can’t affect the pool.
Many have omitted this step only to have slam drag on.
Another suspect hiding place is overflow lines & auto fill pots.