Hi folks,
This is my first post to the forum. My husband and I are a little stuck and don't know what to do. I grew up with a pool at my parent's house and worked for three years as my summer job in a pool store, so when we bought a house with a pool, I was comfortable with basic pool chemistry balance and clean-up procedures. However, what we were faced with turned out to be out of the ordinary. Although the pool was covered when we got it, it either wasn't closed properly or went an entire season without a cover. It was only half full and the water was BLACK. Once we filled it with water and got to scooping, we found about a truckload of leaves and dirt at the bottom. Lots of scooping and chlorine brought it to blueish murky fog. And that is where we sit now. I am still continuing to shock it to keep up with the algae.
The 24' above-ground pool came with an Aquatools AT84100 Cartridge Filter. At the beginning of this mess a couple of weeks ago, I replaced the cartridge with a new one (Sta-rite). It has been working fine. But because the pool has so many particulates in it, we are finding the water pressure from the return line decreases significantly within just a couple of hours of use after each time we clean the filter. We know we need to clean the cartridge often, but every two hours isn't feasible - we both work full time. My husband is concerned that the pump will overheat if we run it at this state, so because of that he is only running it a few hours in the evenings and then turning it off before we go to work or to bed. Unfortunately, that amount of filtering isn't going to clear this pool! I know that ideally we should be running it 24 hours for at least a few days straight while at shock level.
This is my first time ever working with a cartridge filter; I've always only used sand. Any tips on how to clean up an murky, algae-infested with a cartridge filter? How much can you run it between rinses and are our fears of overheating the pump valid? We would appreciate any tips to get us through this mess to clear it up! Thanks!
This is my first post to the forum. My husband and I are a little stuck and don't know what to do. I grew up with a pool at my parent's house and worked for three years as my summer job in a pool store, so when we bought a house with a pool, I was comfortable with basic pool chemistry balance and clean-up procedures. However, what we were faced with turned out to be out of the ordinary. Although the pool was covered when we got it, it either wasn't closed properly or went an entire season without a cover. It was only half full and the water was BLACK. Once we filled it with water and got to scooping, we found about a truckload of leaves and dirt at the bottom. Lots of scooping and chlorine brought it to blueish murky fog. And that is where we sit now. I am still continuing to shock it to keep up with the algae.
The 24' above-ground pool came with an Aquatools AT84100 Cartridge Filter. At the beginning of this mess a couple of weeks ago, I replaced the cartridge with a new one (Sta-rite). It has been working fine. But because the pool has so many particulates in it, we are finding the water pressure from the return line decreases significantly within just a couple of hours of use after each time we clean the filter. We know we need to clean the cartridge often, but every two hours isn't feasible - we both work full time. My husband is concerned that the pump will overheat if we run it at this state, so because of that he is only running it a few hours in the evenings and then turning it off before we go to work or to bed. Unfortunately, that amount of filtering isn't going to clear this pool! I know that ideally we should be running it 24 hours for at least a few days straight while at shock level.
This is my first time ever working with a cartridge filter; I've always only used sand. Any tips on how to clean up an murky, algae-infested with a cartridge filter? How much can you run it between rinses and are our fears of overheating the pump valid? We would appreciate any tips to get us through this mess to clear it up! Thanks!
Your problem isn't with the filter or type of filter, it's chemistry. You have algae and no amount of filtering will kill algae. For that you need chlorine, but the precise amount. That's where the testing comes-in. What test kit are you using? Is it a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C?
