Aqualoon Filter Balls
- Thread starter pypeke
- Start date
Have never heard of them and there are no reviews.........would be interesting to see if they would be willing to help you with the price for them to do a review on their site to them.
Kim:cat:
Kim:cat:
I was just about to post about this!! My pool guy insists it is far better than sand, and that's what we're going to start out with in our new sand filter. I can barely find them anywhere online and I sure would love some reassurance.
I'm sorry, this is nothing but a product looking for a problem IMHO. Sand has been around for millions of years and unless you use something else silly in the water to actually damage it, sand will last forever. The only people who say you should replace sand on a regular basis are the folks who sell sand of sell the replacement service.
They claim "longer life", but how do you have anything longer than forever?
They claim "Polyethylene is a 100% recyclable material, which means that AQUALOON has added an ecological aspect to its technology", so again we are going to replace a 100% natural product with a petrochemical product?
They claim "Easy disposal, non toxic" which tells me they want you to replace it on a regular basis. Yearly, every other year? Who knows, they don't have anything in their advertising.
They claim "longer life", but how do you have anything longer than forever?
They claim "Polyethylene is a 100% recyclable material, which means that AQUALOON has added an ecological aspect to its technology", so again we are going to replace a 100% natural product with a petrochemical product?
They claim "Easy disposal, non toxic" which tells me they want you to replace it on a regular basis. Yearly, every other year? Who knows, they don't have anything in their advertising.
CJadamec
TFP Expert
So you want to fill your sand filter with pillow stuffing in a fancy package.
Will it work? Yes it will work as a filter, Polyethylene has been used as a filter media for many years in many different forms
Does it have the same particle size retention? They claim retention down to 1 micron, Sand is effective down to ~40 micron
Will backwashing be effective to clean the media? At first yes but over time the fill will compress and become harder to backwash which will lead to the need to replace the media.
Does it last longer than sand? No not even close.
Is it better than sand or will it have better performance than sand? It depends on how you spin the numbers. Cost wise it looks to be reasonable at ~25USD for the equivalent of 50lbs of sand.
It looks like a neat product that promises a lot. I'm doubtful that it will live up to all its claims. Let us know how your experience goes.
Will it work? Yes it will work as a filter, Polyethylene has been used as a filter media for many years in many different forms
Does it have the same particle size retention? They claim retention down to 1 micron, Sand is effective down to ~40 micron
Will backwashing be effective to clean the media? At first yes but over time the fill will compress and become harder to backwash which will lead to the need to replace the media.
Does it last longer than sand? No not even close.
Is it better than sand or will it have better performance than sand? It depends on how you spin the numbers. Cost wise it looks to be reasonable at ~25USD for the equivalent of 50lbs of sand.
It looks like a neat product that promises a lot. I'm doubtful that it will live up to all its claims. Let us know how your experience goes.
I would definitely stick with the sand. Many thousands of people here are successful using sand in their sand filters.
Hey everyone! I just wanted to post an update, 3 months later...
Long story short: GREAT filtering from the Aqualoon! Now I can only compare it to cartridge filters; it's been a dream in comparison.
Tons of use, construction in the neighborhood (so dust, dust and dust)... and my pressure gauge didn't budge for the first six weeks or so, and my water was LOVELY.
It finally inched up a bit, and I tried to backwash... Here's the thing. I don't know if my filter is crappy at backwashing, or if it was the Aqualoon, but when I backwashed (you're supposed to go until the water is 'clear').... the water was clear the whole time. I'm new at this, so I shrugged and let it go.
By 4 weeks later, my pressure was barely higher, but the pool was also not as clear, and dirt, etc was accumulating in the corners making me believe the circulation was deteriorating. Sure enough, the return jet seemed a bit sluggish.
Anyway, tonight I just opened the filter (I'm kicking myself I didn't take pictures). The Aqualoon was grey and swimming in murky gray water.... but they were still fluffy, not compacted. I fished some out, easily rinsed them clean back to like-new whiteness.
Hmm.
So I dumped them ALL out, rinsed them all by hand with a hose, and put the unit back together. Essentially, I manually backwashed them.
WOW!
So my conclusion is: Aqualoon does a GREAT job of filtering, but either it doesn't backwash well.... or my filter is crappy at backwashing. I suspect the latter.
Long story short: GREAT filtering from the Aqualoon! Now I can only compare it to cartridge filters; it's been a dream in comparison.
Tons of use, construction in the neighborhood (so dust, dust and dust)... and my pressure gauge didn't budge for the first six weeks or so, and my water was LOVELY.
It finally inched up a bit, and I tried to backwash... Here's the thing. I don't know if my filter is crappy at backwashing, or if it was the Aqualoon, but when I backwashed (you're supposed to go until the water is 'clear').... the water was clear the whole time. I'm new at this, so I shrugged and let it go.
By 4 weeks later, my pressure was barely higher, but the pool was also not as clear, and dirt, etc was accumulating in the corners making me believe the circulation was deteriorating. Sure enough, the return jet seemed a bit sluggish.
Anyway, tonight I just opened the filter (I'm kicking myself I didn't take pictures). The Aqualoon was grey and swimming in murky gray water.... but they were still fluffy, not compacted. I fished some out, easily rinsed them clean back to like-new whiteness.
Hmm.
So I dumped them ALL out, rinsed them all by hand with a hose, and put the unit back together. Essentially, I manually backwashed them.
WOW!
So my conclusion is: Aqualoon does a GREAT job of filtering, but either it doesn't backwash well.... or my filter is crappy at backwashing. I suspect the latter.
Eeesh, scary stuff. I know how clogged a skimmer sock gets, I can only imagine these things being polluted with algae and or pollen. No way a backwash will clean them off. They would need a good amount of pressure and water. Yet another company trying to reinvent the wheel. A wheel (sand) that does an adequate job, never wears out and if it needs to be replaced won't ruin the environment or pollute our landfills.
Hi,
Started using aqualoon also in my filter. Filters great, but indeed, backwashing does not work properly. It is a brand new filter, and only clear water is coming out when i do a backwash. I also open my filter and clean them by hand by rinsing them with the hose. And they were really dirty. I do have a lot of micro biological stuff in my water, and with sand it took me always over three weeks to get clean water, now, after a couple of days, it was almost clear already. But nowhere to find a link to the firm making them, so I could ask about the backwash stuff. So by now, I will do it by hand.
Started using aqualoon also in my filter. Filters great, but indeed, backwashing does not work properly. It is a brand new filter, and only clear water is coming out when i do a backwash. I also open my filter and clean them by hand by rinsing them with the hose. And they were really dirty. I do have a lot of micro biological stuff in my water, and with sand it took me always over three weeks to get clean water, now, after a couple of days, it was almost clear already. But nowhere to find a link to the firm making them, so I could ask about the backwash stuff. So by now, I will do it by hand.
I just watched a video on youtube that shows them in a laundry bag being placed into a washing machine. Do the directions mention this?
Just came across these yesterday. Love the idea of more effectively filtering the small particles. Hate the idea of cleaning them by hand and backwashing being useless!
Any new experience or feedback from the manufacturer?
I never had a problem with my sand filter keeping the pool sparkling clear with just pool sand. Twice a year or so I would just polish the water by using a little DE to filter the really small stuff.
Pool School - Add DE to a Sand Filter
I just don't understand the idea of switching out the sand, that never has to be changed to something that you need to take out and run through the washing machine and then also replace very 4 or so years.
Not very Trouble Free in my book.
I have Aqualoon balls, 4 boxes of them, 700g each box. All that happens is that the filter pressure doubles, water flow almost stops, the pool is unusable. I read from people praising these things so it appears they must work. What am I doing wrong? Help.
You may just want to switch back to sand. The consensus opinion form people who post here are like yours, they are problematic and really try to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
I agree & consider these things a toy & a nuisance. Quality crushed 20 silica quartz is the way to go.
Incidentally, sand changes & the related service is a looser. The service life of well kept sand will exceeds that of the tank, valve and other components.
Hi! I also have Aqualoon filter balls in my system. The new pump and system was installed in March 2018. My pool guys swear by this stuff, but so far I have had nothing but a headache from it. You have to be very careful what chems. you add to your pool. No Clarifier!! It sticks to the balls and turned them blue and did nothing to clear the cloudiness from the pool...backwash never worked! first time I had to wash them in the washing machine. After getting the pool back in swimming condition it worked great until winds brought pollen! Second washing complete...then algae set in and it was hopeless 
I now have a totally green pool with a bunch of phosphates! I have spent $300+- on chlor-brite, algae killer and chlorine tabs! and its still green. Decided to take the advice of others and drain the pool. We will NOT be using Aqualoon in it ever again. I maintained the pool great for the 4 years we lived here, with a DE filter and this is the worst that could possibly happen. The season is over...sad face. Oh, and after you wash them in your $1000 washing machine with only TIDE and bleach, (wash rinse repeat, for 2 loads of balls...thats 4 loads, I live in TEXAS and we are on water restrictions!) you have to run a clean cycle to get all the little particles out of your washer! Thanks for reading my vent! Its the first forum I have been in that was talking about this! Don't do it!
I now have a totally green pool with a bunch of phosphates! I have spent $300+- on chlor-brite, algae killer and chlorine tabs! and its still green. Decided to take the advice of others and drain the pool. We will NOT be using Aqualoon in it ever again. I maintained the pool great for the 4 years we lived here, with a DE filter and this is the worst that could possibly happen. The season is over...sad face. Oh, and after you wash them in your $1000 washing machine with only TIDE and bleach, (wash rinse repeat, for 2 loads of balls...thats 4 loads, I live in TEXAS and we are on water restrictions!) you have to run a clean cycle to get all the little particles out of your washer! Thanks for reading my vent! Its the first forum I have been in that was talking about this! Don't do it!