Cleaning out swamp with cartridge filter

[rlefig]

Good afternoon, I posted back in March that I put an offer on a short sale with an inground gunite pool or at this point in time swamp. Well 5 months later it looks like I am going to close on that house, 8/23 is the date. The pool has not been opened in awhile and the filer/pump is broken, I have a sta-rite system 3 ready to go that I bought used and a 1HP pump that came with it. Although at that point summer will almost be over in Massachusetts I kinda still want to open the pool. I was going to drain it and refill, until I read a recent article that my fine town of Reading has the 3rd most expensive water bill in the state. So now I am thinking of bleaching and slamming it instead.

Reading a recent article on a DE filter it was noted maybe it would be best to run the filter without the cartridge/fingers until the algae was dead (because DE's involve a lot of cleaning), would that be the same with a cartridge filter?

On a side not I already have the TF-100 test kit XL, but did not get the speed-stir. I see a lot of people mention it, I guess it is worthwhile?

Thanks

I have big plans and dreams for the backyard and will post pix.

rob

 

[sbn56]

As a former cartridge user on an AGP, I would say running without the cartridge for a day or two would be a great idea - since you don't have a valve that can be set to recirculate, it's a great way to keep the water moving while the SLAM does its' magic.

Of course, you could certainly leave the cartridge in place as long as you keep an eye on your pressure and clean the element very well as necessary -

Congrats on the new house and pool!

 

[duraleigh]

I could go either way with that idea. It makes some sense but then is countered by the fact that you will have to filter that stuff out of your pool sooner or later.

I have no reason to believe the debris will be lessened by running for 48 hours but that would be interesting if someone can post some valid reasons to confirm that.

 

[danacc]

I have the speed-stir. I'm a klutz, and I knew I wasn't coordinated enough to swirl and add 20-25 drops without spending forever and having the sample get too old! I love the speed-stir.

How big is your pool and how big is the filter? I am on the last strokes of cleaning a swampy 14,000 gallon pool with the Sta-Rite 3 S7M120. For all practical purposes, we had the cartridge out until the water was gray with a greenish tinge. (We didn't exactly choose to do this; our cartridges needed to be replaced and it took some time to get the new ones.) With a good cartridge in, the pressure was rising enough that it needed to be cleaned daily for the first few days, and then every other day for a few times, and now it goes longer. If you don't have time for that, take the cartridge out. Of course, the water will stay cloudy with no cartridge, so it will extend the process. On the other hand, I found that keeping the highly chlorinated water circulating through everything made a huge difference in the first few days, even without filtering.

 

[rlefig]

I am not sure how big the pool is as the seller still has not let us into to measure, another story for another day. I guestimate it to be 15x30 kidney shape gunite with 8 foot deep end. It has not been opened in years and is full of nice black water. I got the sta-rite used and the cartridges are old and will need to be replaced as well.

thanks