I tried something today to remove iron from the hose water before adding it to the pool and it seems to have worked pretty well so I wanted to share. Earlier this summer, I rigged up a bucket full of fiber fill, connected it to my cover pump, set them both on the top step and let it run 48 hours. It did a great job filtering out the iron but everything white got a little stained.
So I had to lower and raise the water level about 6 inches today because of bad information from the pool closers. This time I wanted to see if I could filter out the iron between the hose and the pool so I wouldn't stain my steps and skimmer like last time.
Anyway.... Here's what I did. It worked fairly well and was pretty easy and painless (pics below):
(It was dark when I took these so sorry if they are hard to see!)
Now the rant -- Since this is our first year with an inground pool we scheduled a company to blow out the pipes. They were supposed to come today but it rained massively all last week so I figured they would be way behind. I called first thing to check and they confirmed they were going to make it today. They had sent an email instructing me to lower the water below the skimmer before they arrived or there would be an extra charge. So I lowered the water and kept within eyeshot of the pool all day because we have an automatic safety cover and no fence so it's not safe to leave the open pool unattended.
At 4:55pm I called and they told me they weren't going to make it because they were way behind due to the rain. Sigh. I explained that I now had a dilemma because I couldn't close the cover due to lowering the water level. The guy told me they never should have told me to lower the water because I have an automatic cover and to just fill it back up! The most annoying thing - the package I picked when making my reservation was called "Basic close - automatic cover". So the cover was not exactly a surprise to them. So I basically hassled with all this iron filtering because their communication is terrible and I am fairly annoyed! That is all.
So I had to lower and raise the water level about 6 inches today because of bad information from the pool closers. This time I wanted to see if I could filter out the iron between the hose and the pool so I wouldn't stain my steps and skimmer like last time.
Anyway.... Here's what I did. It worked fairly well and was pretty easy and painless (pics below):
- I put 3 chlorine tabs in a big galvanized tub and broke them up a bit (my CYA had gotten down to 30 and I needed the chlorine to dissolve slowly as I cycled water through)
- I put the garden hose into the tub, filled it a few inches, and tested the chlorine to make sure the level was high enough to precipitate the iron out
- I connected the pool cover pump to my filter bucket with a 10 foot length of hose
- I put my filter bucket on the top step and strapped it to the hand rail (that's an under-the-bed bin in the pic to catch drips because my hose fitting to the bucket was leaking a bit)
- Finally, I turned on the pump and waited for something to go wrong
(It was dark when I took these so sorry if they are hard to see!)
Now the rant -- Since this is our first year with an inground pool we scheduled a company to blow out the pipes. They were supposed to come today but it rained massively all last week so I figured they would be way behind. I called first thing to check and they confirmed they were going to make it today. They had sent an email instructing me to lower the water below the skimmer before they arrived or there would be an extra charge. So I lowered the water and kept within eyeshot of the pool all day because we have an automatic safety cover and no fence so it's not safe to leave the open pool unattended.
At 4:55pm I called and they told me they weren't going to make it because they were way behind due to the rain. Sigh. I explained that I now had a dilemma because I couldn't close the cover due to lowering the water level. The guy told me they never should have told me to lower the water because I have an automatic cover and to just fill it back up! The most annoying thing - the package I picked when making my reservation was called "Basic close - automatic cover". So the cover was not exactly a surprise to them. So I basically hassled with all this iron filtering because their communication is terrible and I am fairly annoyed! That is all.
