At the end of last summer I had two problems going at one time. The first was mustard algae, the second was sand in the bottom of the pool. I fought the algae and hoped the sand was actually dead algae.
Opened the pool to a mess of sand and leaves that had been there for the winter. Last night I vacuumed to waste as thouroughly as I possibly could. (I wasn't worried about the water loss because the pool guy who opened the pool shocked it and I needed to get my CYA levels way down. ) After vacuuming the pool ran using only the main drain another three hours while I added water and bleach.
When I got up this morning, there was a decent amount of sand on the bottom of the pool especially on the seams of the liner...
I'm assuming that this is all the proof I need to know that this is a broken lateral that is allowing sand from the filter to escape into the pool and not dead algae from last summers battle.?.
With that, is there a better way to empty the sand from the filter than scooping it out with a cup? I have a hayward filter that opens only on the top and holds 300 pounds of sand. I read somewhere else (not TFP) that you can use a shop vac. Anyone tried that?
Also, should I go ahead and replace the sand or can I fix the lateral and put the old sand back in?
Finally, just in case you need to know today's levels were:
FC - 11.5
CC - .5 or less
PH - 7.2
TA - 160
CYA - 50
My FC did not drop much at all during the night last night, so I think I'm algae free.
Thanks for this forum. I have learned a lot and am enjoying being a pool owner much more now that I feel I am somewhat in control instead of the kid at the pool store.
Opened the pool to a mess of sand and leaves that had been there for the winter. Last night I vacuumed to waste as thouroughly as I possibly could. (I wasn't worried about the water loss because the pool guy who opened the pool shocked it and I needed to get my CYA levels way down. ) After vacuuming the pool ran using only the main drain another three hours while I added water and bleach.
When I got up this morning, there was a decent amount of sand on the bottom of the pool especially on the seams of the liner...
I'm assuming that this is all the proof I need to know that this is a broken lateral that is allowing sand from the filter to escape into the pool and not dead algae from last summers battle.?.
With that, is there a better way to empty the sand from the filter than scooping it out with a cup? I have a hayward filter that opens only on the top and holds 300 pounds of sand. I read somewhere else (not TFP) that you can use a shop vac. Anyone tried that?
Also, should I go ahead and replace the sand or can I fix the lateral and put the old sand back in?
Finally, just in case you need to know today's levels were:
FC - 11.5
CC - .5 or less
PH - 7.2
TA - 160
CYA - 50
My FC did not drop much at all during the night last night, so I think I'm algae free.
Thanks for this forum. I have learned a lot and am enjoying being a pool owner much more now that I feel I am somewhat in control instead of the kid at the pool store.