Is it ever going to filter clean?!

[shadylady23]

Please tell me there’s some tricks of the trade to get this to filter out faster?! I’ve been in slam for like 5-6 days! I’ve added a filter sock, some filter floss, some DE and still cloudy! I feel like there’s improvement but this is sooooooo slow! Any other thoughts of what works faster? Should I consider getting a new filter system entirely?

 

[Razorhog]

My guess is that you aren't maintaining shock levels. Post a full set of test results and we can go from there.

 

[shadylady23]

I’ve been keeping at 13 checking it twice a day and adding as needed. My cya is 30... I didn’t add any yesterday but I just checked it this morning and it only dropped to 10, (adding more as we speak to get back up to 13).... I’m actually going to bump it to 15

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It’s even been passing the overnight loss test, so that doesn’t seem to be it. I really think it just needs to filter as it’s that grey blue color at this point

 

[Razorhog]

Ok sounds like you have a good handle on things. Has the pressure on your filter gone up causing you to backwash?

 

[shadylady23]

I was backwashing daily for like 3 days straight and then read it’s better to wait for pressure to build before doing so. So far, It hasn’t gained pressure in the two-three days Since I’ve been waiting. I was just out there increasing he FC and noticed the pressure was a hair lower than normal, so I cleaned the filter sock and took out the floss, and now it’s at it’s usual normal.

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I’m going to vacuum today, maybe thatll help? So far I’ve just scooped out the few leaves I could and shocked and filtered.... It’s so cloudy I can’t really see down there though, and I don’t have a deck and definitely don’t want to get in!

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Before it started getting warm I could see the bottom and there was only a few leaves though, so I don’t think there’s much to vac up.

 

[Casey]

Sand filters take a long time to filter dead algae. They are good. Cartridge filters are better. DE filters are best but they have their downside. You just need POP... Pool Owner Patience.

 

[shadylady23]

I was afraid of that. I’m the least patient person! I’m ready to go out and just buy a different filter! ��.

 

[Husky25]

If you've passed the OCLT and CC<=0.5, maybe reduce your filter run time to allow whatever is making the water cloudy to fall to the floor and be vacuumed slowly. Perhaps the motion of the water is keep the filter from catching whatever is suspended.

I don't want to suggest flocculent because 1) it's tricky with sand and 2) I don't have enough experience with it. Certainly not enough to advise someone through the process. Many here do though.

 

[niteshift38]

I've used Flocculent, but it IS tricky with a sand filter. You have to vacuum to waste ONLY (Can't specify that strongly enough) and go sooooo slowly vacuuming. If you don't vacuum slow enough, it was a waste of time! I hooked my vacuum filter hose up DIRECTLY to the pump to account for the water loss due to vacuuming to waste. Had to replace about 8" of water, but it DID speed up the clearing of my pool by several days. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!!

 

[shadylady23]

Does dead algae ever sink? Maybe my pool pump is so strong it never lets its settle? It’s a Intex SF 60100. 2450 gallons per hour the manual says.

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I was wondering too, at that rate, (after I actually get it clear and I’m on normal runtime), How long should I run the pump regularly?

 

[kellyfair]

Sand filters are slower, but they do work. You just have to be patient. Don’t backwash too much... they actually do better when they are a bit dirty.

Having said that, when is the last time you did a deep clean of the sand filter? If it has been a long time, your sand could be channeled, which allows water to flow through the channels without much filtering.

Curious to see what you might get in a hairnet if you fixed one over a return.

 

[shadylady23]

Is a hairnet another name for the filter sock that I put over the skimmer basket? I did just today completely break down the sand filter to make sure no channeling was happening and cleaned it out.

 

[kellyfair]

Pretty much.

 

[shadylady23]

Okay guys! Big Improvement today! I bumped up the FC to 20 in case I was dealing with mustard algae and added a maple syrup filter bag to the return jet (because our Duda Bags changed from two day shipping to over a week after ordering and we just had one here), and I can see the bottom pattern of the liner today! Still cloudy, but VAST improvement in just a couple hours! I’m hopeful after running like this all night things will just be way better! ��