Cloudy during swim party? (added DE to sand filter)

[zimm]

Okay so I was having a pool party and all went wrong. I brushed the whole pool and the bottom had white "dust" that would stir up with the brush. The water got a little hazy and UPS brought me a bag of DE to try out in the sand filter. I added a 1/3 cup to the filter basket with no rise in pump pressure. Soon after, 5 kids, 4 adults, and a labrador dog are having a great time in the pool. I had the heater cranking for the whole day so the water was about 90 degrees by evening and the pool turned white! I don't know if it's the DE, or the bottom being stirred up, or what.

Here are my numbers I just took:

FC- 8.5
CC- 0
Ph 7.5
TA 100
Calcium 200
CYA 50
Salt 2900

 

[duraleigh]

The sequence of events is pretty hard to follow but, if you had "white dust" on the bottom of your pool, I would suggest running the pump 24/7 and brushing vacuuming and backwashing your filter as required.

The chances of it being the DE are slim.

 

[JasonLion]

It is normal to see some cloudiness for roughly 24 hours after a pool party. There might be something else going on in addition, but most likely it is just the usual cloudiness after many people were swimming. Keep the FC level at the high end of normal and run the pump/filter for 24 hours and see how things turn out before trying anything additional.

 

[Richard320]

Okay so I was having a pool party and all went wrong. I brushed the whole pool and the bottom had white "dust" that would stir up with the brush.

[center:3ikifihl]We have a clue!

[/center:3ikifihl]
Sounds like you haven't been brushing regularly. It's the equivalent of dusting the house. Neglect it too long and you just end up with it all airborne again and then it resettles.

I'd suggest daily brushing until it stops clouding up in the wake of the brush. Get that stuff in suspension so the filter can grab it.

 

[Butterfly]

btw, your calcium at 200 is low.

When is the last time you cleaned your filter?

 

[zimm]

I backwash every few days. Did it this morning and yesterday. Calcium was 300 last time but I've been adding lots of tap water lately. I have a pail of hardness plus could use

 

[duraleigh]

I backwash every few days. Did it this morning and yesterday

I don't want to veer too far from your original post but there is no need to backwash until you observe roughly a 25% increase in your psi.

 

[zimm]

You guys were right, one night of running the pump cleared it up. Must have been sediment from the pool.

So if I'm running 16psi- I should wait for 20psi to backwash? That could be weeks.... maybe that's a good thing.

 

[duraleigh]

Yep, 20 psi and, yep again, that will be a good thing.