What filter to clean waste water back into pool?

[nite82hawk]

Hi. New to the forums here. I recently bought a house with a 55,000 gallon inground pool. My first pool so I just started learning about them. I recently opened it a few weeks ago and boy was it nasty. I have vacuumed the leafs and other debris from the floor and got the water clear but I can't get rid of what looks to be dirt that makes the water cloudy when I try to vacuum it and it settles down again the next day.

So an issue I have is that when I go to vacuum, a lot of water gets pumped out that I have to stop because the level gets too low and my garden hose can't keep up and I have to run it all day to fill it back up (this also makes the water cold) and I'm afraid of the electric bill that I'll get doing this(well water).

I have tried to filter those particles through the sand filter but they don't get captured and they just runs back in the pool again.

So I'm wondering if it's possible to hook up a different filter to the waste pipe that'll filter those particles and run the clean water back to the pool so no water gets wasted? If it'll work, which kind of filter should I be looking at for this and size? Cartridge? Btw, I'm look for a used one on Craigslist to keep cost down.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

Two articles you should read:

http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/73192-Deep-Cleaning-a-Sand-Filter
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter

Try the deep cleaning first.

 

[nite82hawk]

Thanks for your reply! I had heard sand filters aren't good at capturing fine particles compared to other types of filters that's why I figured I needed to do the procedure I was inquiring about in my first post. I will definitely try this next week.

Just had a question, in the first link it says that if you do a deep clean yearly you don't have to change the sand? My neighbor told me to change it every 4 years of use. I inquired about it and it's $250 to change. If it's true, I think I'll deep clean every year.

 

[jblizzle]

You never have to change the sand. It does not wear out.