Successful haboob clean up - with pictures

Swimgirl · May 12, 2012

Well, I was pretty sucessful today cleaning the dust deposited by Wednesday's dust storm out of the pool - even though I have some filter problems. :party:

I'm putting this step by step what I did, for others who have to get fine dust out of the pool. The dust here makes me think of talcum powder, it's so fine.
The first two pictures are "before" pictures, taken this morning before I started cleaning.

Swimgirl · May 12, 2012

Step 1 was to put skimmer sock and an aquarium filter sock, one inside the other, over the return eyeball so the water coming back into the pool would be filtered a little more.
Step 2 was to test the water and put chlorine in the pool.
Step 3 was to put the baracuda in the pool and let 'er go!
Step 4 was to brush the sides of the pool (Concurrently with step 3)

Swimgirl · May 12, 2012

Step 5 was to take the baracuda out and put the skimmer basket back in (with a skimmer sock) The baracuda did stir up the dust into the water as well as suck some up.
Step 6 was to use my little catfish for some manual vacuuming of the ladder, where the baracuda missed, etc. I use a nylon knee high in the little bag that comes with the catfish. Since it isn't stretched at all, the knee high catches fine particles. Having a small vacuum that's independant of the filter, so the skimmer can be running while you're vacuuming does help with the fine dust.

Swimgirl · May 12, 2012

Step 7 was to enjoy my clean pool! :whoot:

Big_kid · May 12, 2012

SPARKLY!!!

jblizzle · May 13, 2012

Nice work ... I imagine I will have something similar to deal with when I get home tomorrow ... pump failure + high winds + 10 day vacation probably = a mess of a pool.

Swimgirl · May 13, 2012

So you were on vacation when our haboob hit. They showed the view on channel 4 from their camera in the Tucson mountains looking toward the Catalinas, and you could only see the barest shadow of the Catalinas. And this was after the major part of the haboob went through; there was just so much dust in the air.

Bama Rambler · May 13, 2012

Excellent step by step. That'll encourage someone in the future.

P. S. How do you like that Catfish? How long have you had it?

Swimgirl · May 14, 2012

I really like the catfish. It is great for things like where the auto vac missed, cleaning the ladder, and then some. I would say it holds the charge for 20 min to a half hour, so you really can do a fair amount of cleaning with it. It does great with small debris, including small leaves and twigs; I wouldn't try it with anything like large leaves. I've had it for 2 years now.