Gunk in our DE filter.

[Memmyjp]

Does anybody know what this is? I'm new to pools. For three weeks I'd find algae blooms in the pool. After 3 shock treatments I went to a different pool store. They gave me copper strike, a few hours later the water stopped circulating. When we took the filter apart this is what we found. FYI, I am switching to the TFPC method next season.

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[LFrankow]

coppric sulfate, forms crystals on objects, turns blonde hair green.

 

[chiefwej]

Easy answer, don't go to pool stores, read Pool School and convert to Trouble Free Pool method of maintaining the pool. You won't have algae blooms or need any of those "Magic Potions".

 

[Richard320]

It's some kind of copper compound. Be grateful it is precipitating out in the filter so you can get rid of it.

The core problem with your pool is that you used the pool store method. You "shocked" it three times. You killed off most but not all of the algae, and it rebounded. So you killed off most again. And again. What you want to do is kill it all. Eradicating algae means a fight to the death. You knocked it down but let it get back up. Three times. What you needed to do was knock it down and kick it again and again and again while it's down until you killed it so it couldn't get back up. Ever. We call that a SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain. You were missing the M is all. And then you bought the miracle snake oil.

Scrub what you can off those fingers and recharge the DE and filter some more. Don;t be surprised if it clogs again and again. It'll keep doing that until all the algae is dead and filtered out.

 

[Memmyjp]

It's some kind of copper compound. Be grateful it is precipitating out in the filter so you can get rid of it.

The core problem with your pool is that you used the pool store method. You "shocked" it three times. You killed off most but not all of the algae, and it rebounded. So you killed off most again. And again. What you want to do is kill it all. Eradicating algae means a fight to the death. You knocked it down but let it get back up. Three times. What you needed to do was knock it down and kick it again and again and again while it's down until you killed it so it couldn't get back up. Ever. We call that a SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain. You were missing the M is all. And then you bought the miracle snake oil.

Scrub what you can off those fingers and recharge the DE and filter some more. Don;t be surprised if it clogs again and again. It'll keep doing that until all the algae is dead and filtered out.

Thanks. We did check the following day. Filter looks good. I'm from Pennsylvania, and over the winter months I plan to get a better understanding of the TFPC method. I'm having a little trouble navigating the tapatalk app.

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[JoyfulNoise]

Best place to learn the TFPC method is to go to the website. Tapatalk is good for reading and posting quick updates or question but it's not supposed to replace the Website. There's lots of stuff in TFP that is not available from Tapatalk.

Also, next time you clean the DE grids you might want to consider the extended chemical cleaning method -

Physically wash off DE

Soak grids or cartridge in a trisodium phosphate (TSP) solution to get rid of oils/organics.

Rinse

Soak in dilute muriatic acid to remove scale (calcium and metals).

Rinse, replace & recharge.

TSP must be done first as HCl will create gunk out of oils.

Just a thought. Welcome to TFP


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