I'll see if I can get the exact specs, but I read somewhere that the "rule of thumb" is to fill the thing roughly midway between half and three quarters full.
Newbie pool owner in Canberra
- Thread starter Ned Kelly
- Start date
It's just occurred to me now: When we took over the pool it had gone for months of inadequate care, and there was a quite a lot of sediment which our newly-bought barracuda needed to vac up. Is it possible that I'm overwhelming the filter - it simply cant filter so much sediment at such a fast pace? When we hook up the barracuda, and it sets to work, the water in the viewing glass of the pump is a milky brownish colour. In this scenario, is it over-optimistic to expect the filtered water to re-enter the pool looking nice and clear?
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,854
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
I don't think that's over-optimistic. If your sand filter is operating properly and efficiently, it should capture the dirt and small debris. What should happen is that the sand inside will become covered in that dirt and your filter pressure gauge should increase. So when that gauge rises to about 25% higher than when it was clean before, it's time to backwash. For those rare times when someone has a tremendous amount of muck in the pool (i.e. major storm or took-over a pool from a foreclosed home), they may opt to vacuum to waste for a short time to throw that junk straight out to the yard/drain as opposed to having it go into the filter.
Ah, okay. Thanks. I do have one of these, left behind by the previous owner so I might give that a go first and see what happens.
Hi, 'Back again.
I've had a deluge of visitors lately so haven't got much further with the pool other than to maintain it as it was. Still coming up cloudy whenever I use the pump. If I leave it turned off for a few days the water turns quite clear and I'm left with a white-ish to light brown sediment. I tried vaccing it up using the gadget above and what it seemed to do was capture any dirt debris in the sock and push the fine whitish sediment through the sock forming a white cloud in the water behind it. Seems to be that the white component in the sediment borders on being soluble but clouds up the water whenever its stirred up or I attempt to filter it out using the barracuda. 
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,288
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
I'd run the variable speed pump on low speed for a week or so, and intentionally stir up the pool water by brushing and manual vacuuming (to the filter). Lots of people feel that their filter works better after it gets a bit dirty. Some people add some diatomaceous earth after backwashing, which is pretty similar to letting it get a bit dirty with fine dust.
White sediment is probably dead algae, so it would be good to see some test results. Did your test kit arrive?
White sediment is probably dead algae, so it would be good to see some test results. Did your test kit arrive?
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,208
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
I wanted to see how you were making out with your water clouding up issue? I may not be the best person to answer your question but I can give you some visibility. (And BTW, I was cheering for the 'Tahs at Allianz stadium vs. the Brumbies in April - sorry - but you won!)