New Pool Questions - This time on Filters

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snewo

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Jun 7, 2009
78
An hour NW of Philly
Thanks for the help so far...but being a pool newbie, I have new pool questions.....This time on filters:

1st: In the new plaster pool I've seen the filter pressure jump up to "clean me please" 2 times so far in the first week. Although everything I read says this is normal (Yes, I'm actually brushing my pool like I'm supposed to) something seems strange to me. Should I be seeing something in the grass when I backwash my filter? For some reason I'm expecting to see plaster residue or something at my hose output. As you can tell from my statement I'm not seeing anything. The filter operates at the correct pressure post backwash, so it's not like I think I'm doing something wrong or anything. Are the particles so fine that I might be missing them in my backwash area?

2nd: Is there are reason to use DE over the Naturifiber stuff that my PB gave me? My frequent backwashings mean that I'm buying some more sooner that originally anticipated, so I might as well find out why I should prefer one over the other.

Thanks in advance for the help.


Snewo
 
snewo,

The backwash water should appear dirty but, regardless, your pressure rising indicates the need to backwash and you should do so.

Backwashing twice in a week may indicate you have organics (algae) in your water. It may also be plaster dust since it sounds like the pool is quite new. Can you post a set of test results? How old is the pool?

I have no opinion on the DE substitute you are using.
 
The pool is very new (Plastered and filled exactly a week ago). I am thinking it is plaster dust due to the newness of the pool as well. My docs from the builder even said I may have to backwash a few times during the first 2-4 weeks. I'm not THAT shocked about doing it. I'm curious whether I should have seen something in the backwash area...because I didn't. As for my water numbers, I ordered the Taylor kit only to be told yesterday that it's backordered. Whatever happened to customer service where they let you know it's backordered BEFORE the day it's due? I'm in the process of finding another source in town. If I can't get my quick fix then I'll hit the 'net to buy it. I'm going to the pool store today to buy some more filter media, so I'll have them run my numbers. I'll post them in a bit.
 
The largest difference between DE and the fiber stuff is that DE is usually much less expensive.

The plaster dust is extremely fine. You might see some general whitening of the area where the backwash water went, but it could just have well soaked into the ground along with the water. However you should have gotten some DE or fiber coming out along with the dust and that should have been visible.
 
I think I saw some of the DE material, I'll check it out once it stops raining. At this rate I won't ever have to top off my pool since the rain keeps doing it for me.

Here are the numbers the Pool Store gave me, I still need to order my kit:

FC - .1
pH - 8.2
TA - 115
CH - 135

I know I need to get my FC up. I have 11 pucks in my Rainbow 320 chlorinator and I have it set to 5 until I see some good reading coming back on FC. I'm looking forward to not using it anymore once I can bring the SWG online in 3 more weeks.

From what I understand the curing of the plaster is going to continue to skew some of these numbers high (pH and CH at least). I'm adding 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid a day per the PB instructions to counteract the curing. I only had 1 gallon left, so I went out and bought another on just in case it's still not down in the proper range.

Now I'm off to get that test kit.
 
But that would increase the amount of acid that I'm supposed to add to the pool at one time (at least according to everything I read). At 27K gallons 1/2 gallon of acid is the recommended amount in literature....but the question is WHY is that the recommended amount. Is that just in case I'm a total doofus and add too much making my pool a skin removing acid bath? If that's the case I don't mind adding more, since I feel confident of the readings. If, on the other hand, it's recommended in order to protect the plaster....well then....I don't want to do it. Any idea why they use that amount in their recommendations?


Thanks for the help.
 
They are trying to come up with directions that someone who has no idea what they are doing and are not willing to test the water can still accomplish. The actual goal is to keep the PH between 7.2 and 7.8. If you have a test kit and know how to use it, it is much better if you actually keep the PH in that range, rather than using a guess at how much acid it will take.

When making large PH adjustments, you should not add the acid all at once. You should add perhaps half the calculated amount, wait 30 minutes, test the PH again, and continue adjusting from there.
 
We just had a big rain here. I went out to check on my filter since it was close to needing a backwash the last time I checked (before the rain). The filter is reading back at normal levels now. Any idea why? It was a big rain FWIW. I went out of my way to bring the water level back to mid-skimmer level since it was significantly higher. Seemed strange to me.



Snewo
 
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