Hello everyone!! Several Questions.. small particles and stains

[Brianandmarti]

Summer is upon us! I know we are all excited to enjoy these pools. Here are my questions: I'm having a problem with my sand filter not filtering out the fine particles. I'd like to hear from someone who has added DE to their sand filter to help with this. What does your filter pressure normally run? What do you raise it to with DE? Do you add DE with every backwash?

Stains: My steps are very discolored and dingy looking. How do I correct this? Also there are several stains on the bottom of the pool that look like rust places. How do I get rid of them?

Thanks so much to all of you!!!!

 

[Pool Tool]

How to Add DE to a sand Filter: Pool School - Add DE to a Sand Filter

You want to raise the clean pressure of your filter by 1 psi. It takes only a little DE. But be careful, it is very efficient. My pressure almost always skyrockets within hours of adding. Good that it works, but you need to be around to backwash as necessary.

Magic Erasers worked wonders on my steps. Just stretch your arm before starting, ha.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

You need to determine if your stains are organic or metal. Take a chlorine puck and place it on the stain for a few min. Does it lift it? If not, take some Vitamin C tablets and rub it on the stain. If that lifts the stain it is a metal problem.

As to the DE, when I've used it it just adds a bit of extra sparkle to the water. But you might be having a filteration problem and first need to clean your sand filter out. You do NOT need to change the sand but it benefits from a bit of cleaning and checking for any tunneling that is allowing the schmutz to pass thru the filter un-caught.

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter


I backwash in to a dried up creek bed, so I don't worry about the DE.