From brown to 😍😍. Thank you polyfil!

[SSharp]

We filled our pool from our well. We knew the risks and knew we would have a battle when the water was 12" deep as it looked green from the metals. Our fears were confirmed when we added chlorine and the water turned brown almost immediately. Enter 5 gallon polyfil filter. It worked wonderfully! But with such a large pool, it would have taken forever to filter it all out.
Enter 55 gallon drum and a 10 lb box of fill. Running a submersible pump alongside a transfer pump, filtering 24/7, we went from brown water to sparkling clear in about a week. We vacuumed through our transfer pump that routed through the filter once daily.

and fyi: we do not have our pump and filter hooked up yet (waiting on electrician to finish). Will be wonderful to send through our actual filter, but feel good that most of it is out already.

Thanks TFP for the great advice along the way!

 

[crusemm]

Great Job

 

[Texas Splash]

What a fantastic testimonial. I have to remember this one. Very nice. Well done.

Curious, did you do anything specific to the pH and FC during this process to help keep the iron precipitated-out, or just keep it adjusted like normal and let the 55 gallon do the work?

 

[Flying Tivo]

It would be helpful for other if you post detailed pictures of your setup for filtering. Congratulations!

 

[duraleigh]

What is your refill source?

 

[Jellwood]

@SSharp wow amazing transformation! Ive got polyfil in my skimmer baskets right now and It’s turning our green water blue again!
Photos from yesterday and today.
Slam complete and letting FC drift back to normal levels. Have not adjusted anything else (yet).

 

[SSharp]

To make the filter, we used a plastic 55 gal drum, (we got it from his work for free). We cut the top lid off and then used a 4" sewer and drain pvc union bonded to a 4" to 3" sewer and drain bushing....to then outlet to the 3" sewer and drain pvc. Could be anything, but something that made it possible to bond and make a reasonable seal to the 55 gallon drum. We sealed it up using some silicon.

At the bottom of the pool is a submersible pump that sits in a bucket with holes (to protect the liner) weighted with a few bricks. The hose from the pump leads directly to the top of the drum. The transfer pump sits to the side with a heavy duty drain hose that sits on the bottom by the bucket (again, *very careful* not to come into contact with the vinyl liner). The water that's pulled up from the hose goes through the transfer pump and then routed to the top of the drum with a regular garden hose. We stop everything daily, take the drum to the side of the yard and dump everything out. Then spray it all down to remove the deposits as best as possible, reassemble, and then hook the pumps back up. The whole process takes about 45 minutes, but has been very well worth it. I have been vacuuming the pool bottom daily by using our transfer pump (that thing has been our workhorse!) directly on our vacuum head. There has been less and less iron and now I find only small piles every other day when I vac.

We test daily and keep our FC at around 4/5ppm. We have also been adding muriatic acid to bring down our TA (it's pretty high). The waterfall from the filter helps keeps the PH up and keeps water circulating throughout the pool.

Fill source will be water from our soft water spigot or from rainfall runoff from the roof. No more well water!

Our water won't need very much treatment when we get all hooked up... hopefully in a few days. Every time I vacuum I think to myself "It can't get much clearer than this, right?" . We will retire 'Big Gus' soon, but he's been awesome! Hope this helps someone in the future with similar water problems

 

[Rocco]

Can you provide a bit more detail on the Polyfil? Is it cotton? Where can I purchase?

 

[SSharp]

Robot or human?

 

[Rocco]

Thank you!

 

[Jellwood]

Sure! I ordered mine from Amazon! You can get this size or a huge box.

 

[Rocco]

Any thoughts on adding it to a sand filter? Placing it inside above the sand?

 

[borjis]

Don't put it in your sandfilter. Instead, stuff your skimmer basket. Cleared my green iron water in about two weeks.

 

[SSharp]

You can also spray it out with a hose and reuse it! It IS possible to get iron out and not have to be a slave to sequestrant use! Our pool is still crystal clear!

 

[Texas Splash]

It IS possible to get iron out and not have to be a slave to sequestrant use! Our pool is still crystal clear!

Great thread!

 

[Rocco]

Thank you again for the information. Purchased a box from a local Walmart and stuff the skimmer basket with it.

 

[revitup]

Don't put it in your sandfilter. Instead, stuff your skimmer basket. Cleared my green iron water in about two weeks.

How do you skim a pool with the skimmer stuffed with polyfill for 2 weeks?

 

[SSharp]

The water will still suction through the skimmer. You'll have a lot of crud in the polyfil that isn't rust. I'd clean/check daily.

 

[borjis]

Yes unfortunately skimming force is much less, but it's VERY effective removing the green.