Helping a friend: This should be a good one

[Mike1162]

What was your CYA level at & what level of FC are you maintaining?
In a couple of your pictures the water looked more gray than green. That's what I would expect if the algae had been killed off.
What's the filter pressure been doing since changing the sand?

 

[Mr Bruce]

FC holding pretty well at 16. CYA 40 (I over shot a tad but I think it's ok giving the amount of summer sun we will be getting for the next few weeks.

0 Pressure change since changing sand. I stopped for a quick peek on the way home from work and noted PSI. The bottom step is already sort of visible from the right angle.

 

[Mike1162]

As long as you're seeing improvement I wouldn't change anything for another day or two. I am surprised that the pressure hasn't risen.

 

[borjis]

It probably will rise in the next 48 hours.

 

[Mike1162]

It probably will rise in the next 48 hours.

Hopefully it will, that will be a good thing. If it doesn't there most be something else wrong with the filter.

 

[Mr Bruce]

She backwashed last night from fear of the unknown. Previous conditions sometimes lead to the pressure rising very quickly which was worrying since this a brand new (expensive) pump. Has been filtering constantly since midnight last night (20 hr)

 

[Mr Bruce]

Boring update: Day 33?

Unfortunately there was a communication breakdown and she backwashed again last night before bed. I have made her promise not to backwash until pressure was appropriate.

Quick lunch visit, I don't have to squint so hard to see the bottom step.

 

[Pogueld]

[emoji4][emoji4]


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[kimkats]

WOW!

Okay friend------------talk to me and teach me. Could you look at the play sand (I bet you are right with your "clues") and look at the filter sand and tell them apart?

That is not something I would have thought of BUT it HAD to be something like that. Look at the difference already. I can see us "using" this pool/filter as a teaching example. That is why I am really interested to see if you could tell the difference when you were looking for it.

Kim

 

[pabeader]

Kim- From the descriptions that I have read, pool sand is rougher, less refined. Play sand rounder and less scratchy.

 

[n240sxguy]

Boring update: Day 33?

Unfortunately there was a communication breakdown and she backwashed again last night before bed. I have made her promise not to backwash until pressure was appropriate.

Quick lunch visit, I don't have to squint so hard to see the bottom step.

Tell her that it filters better and will clear up faster when it is a little dirty.


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[Mr Bruce]

Oh I did, don't worry. See #126

 

[Mr Bruce]

Well it's amazing what actual pool filter sand will do.

This is from Monday to today Wednesday

Also this one. Notice the small bit of concrete on the right copied from the left (over the black cord) I wanted to compare concrete colors.

This one is from lunch yesterday to lunch today. 24hr.

 

[DaninFLA]

if you were using play sand, then you made the pool a lot dirtier. if you ever owned an aquarium and used sand for the bottom you know what I am talking about. Play sand is super DIRTY, I used it once. put it in a 5 gallon bucket and rinsed it for 30 minutes straight. still clouded up the tank when I put it in. then I found pool filter sand. washed it for maybe a minute and put it in my tank and water was clear. play sand has so much fine silt/mess and it blew all into the pool when you started up. gonna take a while to remove that fine silt, I am thinking DE will be only option.

another difference between the two is pool filter sand is very uniform in size, play sand is a mix of larger and smaller grains. the mix in sizes makes it inefficient as a filter media

 

[kimkats]

Believe me HE did NOT put the play sand in! It was only after some CSI work that he figured out that the previous owner used playground sand instead of Pool sand.

I am quite impressed with the difference already! NICE!

Good work figuring out what was wrong!

Kim

 

[Pogueld]

Excellent CSI work for sure!!


[emoji176] Lisa P.
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[bdex]

That sucks that you have been fighting this monster only to figure out that a huge contributor to your frustration was another persons careless error.

I had an issue where not matter what we tried (including deep cleaning) our pool did not clear completely. I finally pulled all of the 3 year old sand out and replaced with new pool sand and it cleared right up. No idea what the issue was but at least my original sand was pool sand. You are well on your way now.


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[Mr Bruce]

Day something update. Let's start over with the day pool filter sand was replaced as day 0. So day 5.

In an experiment to see how long clean sand would go, no DE has been added since sand change. Well, the pressure gauge hasn't moved. So at lunch today I added 1/2 cup of DE, came back 45 min later and there was a slight pressure increase. We'll see how that goes.

I didn't even upload the pictures. After staring at them and comparing to Wed. pictures for 30 minutes, I convinced myself that 2/3 looked a little better, but the stairs looks significantly worse. It may have been the lighting. With no PSI increase and no significant clearing in 2 days, I am assuming that whatever is in there is so fine that the sand can't catch it. That would match with what DanInFLA said in #134.

We will see how the DEing goes.

 

[kimkats]

Wow. I was so hopeful.

HUGS!

Kim

 

[Mike1162]

I just keep thinking something is wrong with the filter. Never had a sand filter so I have no idea what could go wrong. Didn't someone mention a gasket?
If you fill a clear bottle with pool water can you see the cloudiness? If so fill the same bottle with water from the return & see if it looks better, a lot better. You might be able to hold a garden hose up to the return to get a sample of the filtered water. Just make sure the hose is empty before starting so you know its water from the filter.