Changed from Cartridge to Media filter - WOW

[Diesel74]

hi folks. I'm in Adelaide, Australia. We installed a pool 6 months ago. The installer talked me into a cartridge filter.

Well 6 months later, that filter is OUT! Sick of cleaning it twice per week. We are surrounded by trees. Even with a skimmer sock, the pressure would bounce. The pump go to LoFlow. Don't talk to me about adding clarifiers with a cartridge filter...just don't!

A week ago I have changed to a Hayward Pro Series 24" filter and specified we must use Dryden AFMng based on my research and recommendations. Observed the following

• Within 48 hours the clarity of water was off the charts. At night with the lights on, the little particles I would see were a third of what was there before. The shell of the pool now truly sparkles (it has a metallic fleck).
• The smell of the water. Let me be clear I was fastidious in maintenance and will continue to be but even so the water would still have a lingering chlorine smell even at 1-3ppm in spec. Not anymore. It is almost odourless like swimming in spring water.
• A week on and the pressure hasn't moved. No cleaning.

I am looking forward to the ongoing benefits and lifetime of filtration heaven!!

 

[Bperry]

hi folks. I'm in Adelaide, Australia. We installed a pool 6 months ago. The installer talked me into a cartridge filter.

Well 6 months later, that filter is OUT! Sick of cleaning it twice per week. We are surrounded by trees. Even with a skimmer sock, the pressure would bounce. The pump go to LoFlow. Don't talk to me about adding clarifiers with a cartridge filter...just don't!

A week ago I have changed to a Hayward Pro Series 24" filter and specified we must use Dryden AFMng based on my research and recommendations. Observed the following

• Within 48 hours the clarity of water was off the charts. At night with the lights on, the little particles I would see were a third of what was there before. The shell of the pool now truly sparkles (it has a metallic fleck).
• The smell of the water. Let me be clear I was fastidious in maintenance and will continue to be but even so the water would still have a lingering chlorine smell even at 1-3ppm in spec. Not anymore. It is almost odourless like swimming in spring water.
• A week on and the pressure hasn't moved. No cleaning.

I am looking forward to the ongoing benefits and lifetime of filtration heaven!!

Welcome! Normally people tend to clean their cartridge filters 1-2 times per year unless the pool has algae outbreak or some kind of accident. Definitely wouldn’t recommend any clarifiers. If you can small chlorine, that’s an indication it was breaking something organic down and may have been clogging your filter sooner than normal. Would recommend the clear choice labs test kit available over there as the only one we recommend using.

 

[Newdude]

Hey diesel and Welcome !!!

How big was the filter ? (Sq ft of carts)
How big is the pool ?

All 3 filters achieve the same thing. A larger filter goes proportionately longer between cleanings, no more, no less. Many folks change styles and go up a size and think the old filter was junk when the old filter needed to go up a size or several sizes also.

 

[Diesel74]

Filter was plenty big enough - it had over 9.5sqm of coverage for a 39,000L pool.

The other main issue with the cartridge filter was the surrounds we live in. Leaves, pollen, debris from trees. We have some pretty cool trees in Australia and they love flowering and dropping their leaves through the year. The cartridge would just clog even with a Cyclone filter in play. We would use Skimmer socks as well but then these are being cleaned every third day at least or flow is restricted.

The water now has practically no odour. ZERO. The clarity is staggering. The sparkle flecks in the bottom of the pool just gleam back at you.

It is truly set and forget. AFM is brilliant.

 

[PoolStored]

Congratulations. I'm glad you found a solution!

I suspect that your issue has more to do with the size of the cartridge vs. the media in the sand filter; and for the smell, see below.

Filter was plenty big enough - it had over 9.5sqm of coverage for a 39,000L pool.

A 9.5 cartridge filter is very small, even for a 39KL pool. Many of us in the US run 40 or 50 sqm filter. A 420 or 520 sqm. filter can run a full season without cleaning.
We have never seen an improvement in water quality with Glass vs. Sand.

• The smell of the water. Let me be clear I was fastidious in maintenance and will continue to be but even so the water would still have a lingering chlorine smell even at 1-3ppm in spec. Not anymore. It is almost odourless like swimming in spring water.

Chlorine smell is actually chloramines. If you follow our advice on maintaining your FC for your CYA, you will never get a chlorine smell. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

 

[Costas > DownUnder]

GDay, from another Adeladian....

We had our pool installed about 7yrs ago and luckily I had stumbled on this great site before our pool was installed.

One of the things I learned early on in regards to filters was to go as large as you can, similar to choosing a SWCG.

Our pool is only 36,000L and I fitted the largest sand filter that would fit in my pool equipment room. This was a 32" (816mm dia) model.

It's fairly large but it has been a great asset to my pool system as I can go through an entire swim season without requiring any backwashing.

I only backwash and clean my filter during winter when my pool fills up due to rain and requires emptying - that's it.

At the time my pool builder thought I was nuts in choosing such a large model however in practice it has been well worth it as it has been so easy to manage.

Get yourself a Clear Choice Labs test kit if you have not already done so and follow the TFP way of keeping your water under control. My pool water has always been clear with no chloramine smells for 7 yrs+.

 

[Diesel74]

Congratulations. I'm glad you found a solution!

I suspect that your issue has more to do with the size of the cartridge vs. the media in the sand filter; and for the smell, see below.


A 9.5 cartridge filter is very small, even for a 39KL pool. Many of us in the US run 40 or 50 sqm filter. A 420 or 520 sqm. filter can run a full season without cleaning.
We have never seen an improvement in water quality with Glass vs. Sand.


Chlorine smell is actually chloramines. If you follow our advice on maintaining your FC for your CYA, you will never get a chlorine smell. Link-->FC/CYA Levels

Waterco Opal 135 Sqft Cartridge Filter - Shop Now, Best Prices

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www.bestpoolsupplies.com.au

filter 12-17sqm - quoted the wrong number initally.

this was the filter we had installed.

Chlorine smell aside, yes was using stabiliser and CYA levels were always perfect.

The water is immaculate now. I mean like crystal spring water. I have also seen a decrease in the build up on pool edge.

AFM is a level above Glass. You know that. Apples for apples.

 

[PoolStored]

@JoyfulNoise can you comment, I cannot. OP commented on switching to cartridge filter, but AFM seems to be an alternative sand.

• Filters 95% of all particles down to 1 micron vs 20 for sand
• A self-sterilizing surface that resists bacterial growth & biocoagulation
• Provides exceptionally safe & clear water
• Prevents the formation of harmful disinfection by-products ( THMs, NC13) resulting in lower DBP’s & better air quality
• Significantly lowers chlorine oxidation demand, and reduces chemical consumption
• Outlasts all other filter media
• Uses 15% less media by weight / Only needs 85% of AFM vs. sand
• Attracts and removes heavy metals, organic matters, and microplastics
• Offers water and energy savings thanks to shorter and slower backwashes compared to sand

AFM-ng®- Activated Filter Media

Contact our office to discuss the amount of AFM media you need for your filter. Additional technical information is available.

www.commercialaquaticsupplies.com

 

[Diesel74]

I know four other people who converted from Sand to AFM and they are in awe with the results! Two work in the industry and sniff out snake oil for a living. I am not putting this out there for a challenge of opine or narrative or to plug AFM. But we all should know what amazing looks like when it comes to pool water clarity and safety. I haven't even started on backwashing or maintenance yet suffice to say I have saved at least 2 hours in cleaning clogged cartridges at 35L per minute, that's 4200L of water saved already plus my time!!

 

[PoolStored]

AFM seems to be a sand filter, sand alternative. I'm confused. Do you have a sand filter with this AFM alternative, or are you somehow using AFM with a cartridge filter. Very strange.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

AFM is just an activated zeolite-based media. Dryden Aqua is a pool equipment manufacturer out of the EU that sells low chlorine based pool filtration systems, mostly intended for the commercial pool market, that utilizes a range of products to allow pools to conform to the low FC/no CYA EU regulations. Their systems typically use coagulant injection coupled to cavitation cells that cause suspended solids to aggregate and then use an activated filtration media to capture and reduce the levels of certain organic compounds. Then they typically do low chlorine injection and their preferred stabilizer is a mix of sodium chlorate and titanium oxide nanoparticles. The titanium oxide stays suspended in the pool water and makes it more opaque to UV radiation which cuts down on FC loss.

The AFM filter media is activated and behaves in a similar fashion to activated charcoal - it absorbs a lot of organic compounds. That’s probably where the lack of “smell” is coming from because the stuff that does “smell” is loading up in the pool filter media. Some of it can be backwashed away (mostly the suspended solids) but the organics will eventually foul up the AFM media and there’s no way to regenerate it … at least not in a simple fashion. Once the AFM media is fouled, it will need to be replaced.

One could use simple pool sand to achieve similar results but with more backwashing and deep cleaning of the sand at regular intervals.

Like most things pool related, there’s always trade offs.

 

[generessler]

Fwiw, I have a CCP 320 cartridge filter, 320 square feet, which is 30 square meters for 20,000 gallons, 76,000 liters. There are 40 foot, 13 meter, evergreen and other trees and shrubs within a few feet of the pool and 80 foot, 25 meter, pines next door. They rain down pollen, needles, leaves, seeds, blossoms, and random other organics all year. The water has been perfectly crystal clear for 5 years since we moved in. I need to clean the cartridges twice a year.

 

[Diesel74]

My cartridge filter pressure would spike considerably in two weeks without cleaning and it was tiresome. Tripling psi. It would be filthy dirty as well. The pool installers and Waterco know what they are doing better than I ever will with the size recommendation for the cart filter set up they put in.

We are surrounded by jacaranda, eucalyptus and other deciduous trees. I went away for just 4 days at Easter. When I came back my skimmer basket was so dense and overflowing i couldn't believe it. That is the level of tree debris we are talking about.

AFM all the way for me now! Set, forget and enjoy!! It's ok to recommend something and share positive experience.

 

[Diesel74]

AFM seems to be a sand filter, sand alternative. I'm confused. Do you have a sand filter with this AFM alternative, or are you somehow using AFM with a cartridge filter. Very strange.

Sand with AFM!

 

[Costas > DownUnder]

We are surrounded by jacaranda, eucalyptus and other deciduous trees. I went away for just 4 days at Easter. When I came back my skimmer basket was so dense and overflowing i couldn't believe it. That is the level of tree debris we are talking about.

I get pretty much the same if the wind is blowing. I'm in the Eastern suburbs so trees everywhere, positive is that they provide nice shade cover on hot days.

If AFM is Zeolite based, as JoyFulNoise mentioned over time it will foul up and will be difficult to clean once impurities embed themselves into the Zeolite.

I recall a number of posts on Zeolite back when I was deciding on equipment etc and decided against it due to that issue.

I have been using glass media and have been very happy with its performance. On a still night with my pool lights switched on, my water is very clear to the point where you cannot easily discern that there is water in the pool.

 

[Newdude]

filter 12-17sqm - quoted the wrong number initally.

I have 46 sqm on mine.

Two work in the industry and sniff out snake oil for a living.

From their own industry that pushes it ?

My cartridge filter pressure would spike considerably in two weeks without cleaning and it was tiresome.

Small filters with water chemistry problems are a double whammy.

The pool installers and Waterco know what they are doing better than I ever will with the size recommendation for the cart filter set up they put in.

Waterco knows nothing about the environment where the filter will be. That accounts for the overwhelming bulk of crud that needs filtering. They, and the installers used a filter that was 1/3 the size it could have been because they use the pool volume as their guide and thats the wrong metric. I can change the depth to be half as deep with twice the footprint to suck up environmental crud while the gallons stays the same and they install the same filter on two drastically different pools. And that's at the same location. Imagine a sizing recommendation for every pool in the land? Its flat out absurd. The size of the opening in the ground and the amount of crud falling/blowing is what matters, not the gallons.

Then water is mismanaged after the fact and will foul any size filter.

 

[Donldson]

Nothing suspicious about someone who joins a site and almost immediately starts promoting a single product as a miracle cure. No sir, not a single red flag raised.