Help with slamming

[katie.e.mccall]

Hello!
I have a 22k gallon in ground vinyl lined pool. We bought our house in 2021 and had never done pools before. Worked out fine the summer of 2022- added chlorine tabs and shock and didn’t think much about it. Then we let it go green in the winter and last summer was a whole mess. Discovered TFP sometime in July/August and have attempted to learn as much as possible since! Of course we let the pool go green because it basically already was, so I’m in the process of opening/slamming our swamp now. My question today is: I’ve added now two gallons of liquid chlorine and even just 30 minutes later I only have 0.5ppm FC and 0.5ppm CC. Is that typical? For the chlorine to just get zapped up that fast? And if so, why isn’t my CC higher?

test results from Taylor k2006c kit:

pH 7.0
FC 0.5
CC 0.5
CYA 15ish (slightly less than the 20 on the tube)

Another question: I’m using a leaf net to scoop up the junk on the bottom, but I have zero visibility so I’m kinda just guessing. Is there a better way to accomplish this? Should I vacuum to waste?

 

[mknauss]

Other than the low CC, it sounds like maybe you have ammonia.
Read Ammonia - Further Reading

 

[Mdragger88]

Yes- with lots of debris/algae the fc can go quickly!
While the presence of cc’s greater than .5 indicates a problem their absence doesn’t mean there’s not one. On the bright side it doesn’t seem that you have an ammonia problem just a regular ole
SLAM Process
Check the ammonia article @mknauss posted to test for that after checking that your lc is fresh
* check the dates on your liquid chlorine - it gets weaker as it gets older.

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.google.com

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.google.com

* do your best to scoop as much debris out as possible- the less organic material in the pool the less fc will be consumed.
When you think you have gotten all the big stuff out you can vac to waste very slowly to help remove the bulk of the finer debris/mud/crud.
You may want to employ an inline leaf catcher so you don’t risk clogging your plumbing.
Once the bulk is out switch to vacuuming to filter.
Backwash when pressure rises 25% over clean pressure
* you want 30ppm cya or the sun will also be eating your fc quickly. Use the sock method to add 10ppm worth of granular cya. AFTER confirming you don’t have an ammonia problem.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Ok after adding two more gallons and retesting I got a measly little 3ppm, but after a couple more throughout the day (total of 8 gallons) I got a fc reading of 13ppm, then a couple hours later it was 10. The cya is still holding around 15–20 so I’m hopeful it’s not ammonia. I’ll retest this evening and expect to add some more lc. Thanks for your help!

 

[Newdude]

So CCs burn off pretty quick and take FC to make them. Say you added 5 ppm and it was wiped out in a half hour. The CCs might be mostly burned off a little while later. When you test at the 2 hour mark, you're out of FC, and have little/no CCs respectively at that point. There's plenty algae left to make more CCs, once FC is added.

Glad to hear the FC is somewhat holding now. You'll probably start to see 1 or 2 CCs as you make progress.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Can I follow up with you guys?

Making progress. Pool went from dark dark green with clumps of algae to a lovely turquoise with no clumps but can’t see the bottom quite yet. Still slamming. My question is- do I backwash my filter religiously? I’ve heard a dirty filter is helpful? Psi usually rests around 15 and has gotten up to 20 twice now.

 

[Newdude]

Can I follow up with you guys?

We literally come here to help people.

1) It might as well be you
2) thanks for giving us something to do.

My question is- do I backwash my filter religiously? I’ve heard a dirty filter is helpful? Psi usually rests around 15 and has gotten up to 20 twice now.

If it has good flow still at 20, that's where I'd backwash it. We recommended 25% increase, which would be mid 18s, but it's just a start point and not absolute. The higher you go, the more you need to pay attention to it because reduced flow is inevitable and it tends to go to crud quick near the threshold.

I’ve heard a dirty filter is helpful?

The crud traps finer crud, so a dirty filter is more efficient, to a certain point.

Adding DE to the clean filter will jump start its efficiency. You need to watch it though, it may jump PSI quick.

Add DE to a Sand Filter

A clean pool filter will increase the efficiency of your pool! ... your filter are to backwash it, clean the manifolds and grids, and add new DE.

www.troublefreepool.com

Usually once the water gets cloudy/milky, the FC demand lowers considerably as the algae is dead or mostly dead. Keep the FC at SLAM, which should be easier to do (or soon it will). Brush and vac at least once a day. Scrub every nook and cranny hiding in plain sight.

 

[Mdragger88]

Great to hear things r moving along!
Keep it going

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Ok yes all this makes sense thank you! I read a post about removing the ladder, which I just did a couple days ago and YUCK. It’s definitely full of algae. I’ll clean it thoroughly before putting it back in.

Along the lines of other things to clean, 2 things:
1) cleaning behind my light ring…the water would need to be below that right??

2)there is a hole about halfway down the length of my pool. It’s clearly meant for something, I just am not sure what. It isn’t a water jet, but it does bubble occasionally when I first turn on the filter from backwashing. (Maybe it’s like a vacuum attachment hole? Idk??) I have never used it, as I don’t know what it is for. Should I be capping it off? Or doing something else with it as part of the SLAM process?

Thanks for all the amazing help!!!

 

[Mdragger88]

Ok yes all this makes sense thank you! I read a post about removing the ladder, which I just did a couple days ago and YUCK. It’s definitely full of algae. I’ll clean it thoroughly before putting it back in.

great job!

Along the lines of other things to clean, 2 things:
1) cleaning behind my light ring…the water would need to be below that right??

No need to lower the water- take a pic of the light & we can instruct you on how to remove it. Most can be removed from outside the pool whilst laying on the deck. Many have just 1 screw to loosen.

2)there is a hole about halfway down the length of my pool. It’s clearly meant for something, I just am not sure what. It isn’t a water jet, but it does bubble occasionally when I first turn on the filter from backwashing. (Maybe it’s like a vacuum attachment hole? Idk??) I have never used it, as I don’t know what it is for. Should I be capping it off? Or doing something else with it as part of the SLAM process?

Take good pic of that too! & we’ll go from there.

Thanks for all the amazing help!!!

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Ok I can’t get a picture of the light because it’s far enough down that it’s not visible with the cloudy water. But that’ll come eventually. Here is the random hole on the side of the pool though- there’s also a pic of the pool at large to specify location of the hole.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Well I can’t get the dang picture to load.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Aha! Got it

 

[Mdragger88]

Do you feel suction there?
Do you have an inoperable booster pump on your pad (or a place for one)?
Lets see a pic of your equipment pad

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Ok yes! I am not at home right now to take a picture but there is a Polaris pump thing on the pad. I’ve never used it so I’m not even sure that it works? I’ll feel for suction when I get home too, though I’ve never noticed it in the past really.

 

[Lake Placid]

Ok yes! I am not at home right now to take a picture but there is a Polaris pump thing on the pad. I’ve never used it so I’m not even sure that it works? I’ll feel for suction when I get home too, though I’ve never noticed it in the past really.

If you’ve got a Polaris pump on the pad, 99.9% chance that is the hookup for a pressure side cleaner. You can feel for suction, but you’re not going to feel any.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

Ok! So do I just find some way to cap it off? I have a dolphin pool robot that’s independent of my pump, so I imagine I won’t be using it? Seems like a spot where algae could gather since it’s just open to the water but not really circulating anything.

 

[Lake Placid]

Ok! So do I just find some way to cap it off? I have a dolphin pool robot that’s independent of my pump, so I imagine I won’t be using it? Seems like a spot where algae could gather since it’s just open to the water but not really circulating anything.

No need to cap it. If the pump is good just run it for a minute or two every once in a while to flush the line. If the pump is no good you could cap it or convert it to a standard return.

 

[katie.e.mccall]

No need to cap it. If the pump is good just run it for a minute or two every once in a while to flush the line. If the pump is no good you could cap it or convert it to a standard return.

Ok. So I have discovered that the circuit switch to this Polaris pump thing has been on since we owned the house . I don’t really hear it running? But I do feel water moving through the piping into and out of it, so I think it might be working? When I put my hand over that hole it is actually blowing water INTO the pool. What the heck?

 

[Lake Placid]

Ok. So I have discovered that the circuit switch to this Polaris pump thing has been on since we owned the house . I don’t really hear it running? But I do feel water moving through the piping into and out of it, so I think it might be working? When I put my hand over that hole it is actually blowing water INTO the pool. What the heck?

Even when the pump is not running you usually see some flow from the return, although typically it is reduced flow compared to the other returns. If you switch it off do you feel a noticeable drop in flow? Usually Polaris pumps are loud enough when they’re on that you can definitely hear them running. Can you feel any vibration on the motor end of the pump when the switch is in the on position?