Filter not filtering or super dirty water?

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MitchRyan912

MitchRyan912

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LifeTime Supporter
Jul 21, 2015
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Madison, WI
This has been going on since we rebuilt our pool a few summers ago, where it seems like I’m having to vacuum entirely too often, and sometimes vacuuming in the evening only to find a dirty pool floor the next morning.

it seems to be worse this year, so I don’t really know what to think. The filter shell is super old, but we had brand new internals and valve installed during the plumbing rebuild & new liner process.

Is it possible that our pump is too powerful, forcing sand through the laterals? What about the new sand they put in after rebuilding the filter? Could some small percentage of that sand be too fine, and be getting through the filter (when not vacuuming to waste after SLAM’ing)? Could it be something else entirely if it keeps coming back after vacuuming to waste?
 
You mention a few different possibilities, all of which are good questions. In your scenario, the thing that would help us best is a full set of test results from your Taylor K-2006C test kit. We'll need that first to eliminate any chemical imbalance. You might also try to collect some of the stuff you're finding in the pool to see if it's gritty, slimy, or some other texture. Perhaps try to affix a nylon or sock over a return jet or simply try to manually collect the stuff you see. Let us know what you find and we'll try to help.
 
Picking up replacements Taylor test chems at my pool store on Friday, as most of the reagents are expired as of this spring. I got two diffferent pH results and the powder for chlorine was super crusty.

i have to scrub kinds hard with the vac head to get things moving. Simply passing the vac over the dirty spots (liner seams and small impressions in the pool floor) doesn’t pick up whatever it is.

That said, whatever it is, it’s a brown to light brown color, which makes me suspect that it’s either sand or something washing off the decorative rocks that are along one side of the pool.
 
Your nightly catch is fairly typical this time of year. Lots of bugs, pollen, and airborne debris that's landing on our pools. All we can do is check it at least once a day and clean it out. Once you get your test refills, post a fresh set of test results and we'll help you from there. There's a possibility the staining you see at the bottom is organic, but hard to tell yet without results. If you have a chlorine tablet, you could try rubbing on that area for a short to see.
 
When your filter was re-worked back in 2016, do you know what type of sand was used? If there are no issues with the sand, I'm starting to think there may be an issue with one of the laterals or connection to the center standpipe to be letting that debris get by. Doesn't look like anything organic to be flying by that fast and that large.

My lame joke of the day to answer your questions ...
A close up of the skimmer vacuum cover plate. Not really sure what that is on there.
Click to expand...
Answer ... The words "THIS". Bwwaahaahaa. Okay, I never said we were comedians here at TFP. :mrgreen:
 
After vacuuming, I set the filter valve to recirculate, to figure out if it was a filter problem (ie stays clean = confirmed filter problem).

The pool has accumulated more... sand or whatever it is since yesterday evening, and has gotten dirtier throughout the course of the day today.

PB is coming out on Monday to see what they can tell us. We’re closing on the house next month, so we want to make sure we get some quality time in with this pool (no pool at new house).

PB suspected (over the phone) that it could just simply be algae from SLAM’ing the pool. I’m not sure about that, but this “stuff” seems to go POOF whenever I run a brush/foot/vac head over it, as if it is some VERY light material.
 
but this “stuff” seems to go POOF whenever I run a brush/foot/vac head over it, as if it is some VERY light material.
Click to expand...
That's indicative of algae for sure. But you can't SLAM until you have the proper test kit, and a SLAM can easily take several days. In one of the pics the debris almost looked like solid chunks, but if it's light as you described, that's algae.

So once you get your Taylor K-2006C or TF-100, you'll be able to SLAM properly. Looking forward to those results. Have a nice weekend.
 

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Picked up refill chems for my Taylor kit this afternoon. Opted not to get new calcium test reagents, as I have a vinyl liner and was told I didn’t need to test for calcium. If I do indeed need those, I’ll grab them next week.

FC: 4.0
CC: 0.0
pH: ~6.8 (put in a gallon of acid this morning)
TA: 80
CYA: 0 (haven’t put any in the system yet)

Tested calcium with 2 year old test reagents, and it was around 300.

Anything else I should check for?
 
Well, we know you need to SLAM, but you have a couple things to adjust:
- A pH of 6.8 is too low. It would be good to raise that to about 7.2, at least 7.0 for now.
- No CYA at all? None ever added? If you are sure it's zero, use the Poolmath calculator to dose enough stabilizer for a CYA goal of 30
- Then SLAM the pool continuously with an FC of 12 until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria. But make sure to get that stabilizer in the water first and that it is all dissolved.

After the SLAM. any other levels can be fine-tuned.
 
Texas Splash said:
- A pH of 6.8 is too low. It would be good to raise that to about 7.2, at least 7.0 for now.
Click to expand...
This was an accident, as the old pH test must have been off or pH was temporarily too high from dumping 5 gallons of 12.5% chlorine in earlier this week.

Texas Splash said:
- No CYA at all? None ever added? If you are sure it's zero, use the Poolmath calculator to dose enough stabilizer for a CYA goal of 30
Click to expand...
I’ve been trying to vacuum to waste, so havent added any CYA yet. I didn’t want to just dump it into the street if I needed to vacuum further.
 
Morning levels:

FC: 4.0
CC: 0.0
pH: 7.0

Added CYA & chlorine very early in the AM, and thankfully it was pretty overcast & dreary today until just about now, so 10 hours out of sunlight.

Afternoon readings (10 hours after treatment):

FC: 25.0
CC: 0.0
pH 7.0
CYA: 70

Just vacuumed, and did something different this time... stopped the pump, set it to waste, turned it back on again and THEN pulled out the skimmer basket. Often times pulling the basket w/ a sock on it will cause debris to cloud up the whole skimmer, escaping the sock. It did it again, but all that water was going out to waste, and not into the filter and/or back in the pool. Crossing fingers that this clears things up, but the water & pool floor at least LOOKS fantastic and clear.
 
I'm glad your water is looking better. I was hoping you would only target a CYA of 30 for now to make your SLAM easier (less bleach), but if you targeted 70, just make sure to keep that FC at the proper SLAM (FC) level - 28. Read the SLAM page each day and follow all the guidance until you pass all 3 SLAM criteria for ultimate success. Good luck!
 
64F97323-10B3-4776-A5DF-FC42C932EAB1.jpg
Ewwww... whatever came out of the pool ended up looking like mud!

So in my 5th and final year as a pool owner, this is really the first time that I’ve had any major algae/water quality issues. Earlier this week, the water got cloudy for the first time, and dumping 5 gallons brought the water up to over 30 ppm of chlorine, clearing up the water and killing everything in the pool. I guess I didn’t realize that that’s what it was (dead algae), plus... I had my 2 of my 3 speed settings set too low and for NOT a full 24 hours of on time (I realized this when I went out at nearly 5 am, that the pump wasn’t running...). Probably not enough filtering time...
 
Also, I’m not sure if guidelines have changed, but I has a great Pool Calc app on my phone (no longer works after the ios11 update sadly), and I used to shoot for 40-60 CYA and 4-6 ppm chlorine.

12.5% chlorine in 5 gallon refillable jugs is pretty cheap at my pool store ($2.75/gal), so using too much isn’t a huge deal. I don’t mind supporting what may be the only store anyone on here has ever heard of that stocks Taylor K-2006 kits and individual reagents on their shelves!
 
You can keep this thread going.

Try the Pool Math app. It is awesome!

SLAM level for your CYA of 70 is 28, so you want to keep it there until water is clear, CC is 0.5 or less, and you pass the OCLT. Once you meet those three tests, you can let your chlorine drift down to your normal target.
 
Other than a sudden clouding up after a week straight of heavy rain, the pool water has been pretty clear. It’s just all the junk on the bottom of the pool that’s been an issue.

Had another heavy rain last night, so that’s going to change things a bit. I think the pool gained maybe 1” of water, which I believe is close to 1000 gallons of water. Anyway, here’s the test results for around noon today:

FC: 21
CC 0.5 (first time seeing CC in a long time)
pH: 7.2
TA: 90
CYA: 60

Pool floor is starting to get a bit dirty again, but it’s taken MUCH longer to arrive at that point than it did a few days ago.
 

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