Vacuuming ppol turns water cloudy

Jul 26, 2009
2
Hello all,

I have a re-occurring problem. WHen I vac my AG pool to waste, when I am finished the water is cloudy. I assume that it is from the sludge on the bottom being stirred up but the issue is that the filter does not seem to catch it and it will settle back on the bottom the following which requires more vac time and the cycle repeats. Any suggestions. The pool is less than a year old, above ground vinyl liner and about 14,000 gal with a zeobryte filter. Thanks
 
Welcome to the forum :lol: It seems like your issue is really two problems....

1. Your current method of filtering and vacuuming is not cleaning the pool properly

2. Something is causing the "sludge" in your pool in the first place.

I would think if you figure out the source, it'll be pretty easy to get it cleaned up permanently. What does the sludge look like? Can you see it on the bottom? What color is it?

Can you post test results? How are you chlorinating the pool?

Also, let us know the city and state in which you live.
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Perhaps you are also vacuming to quickly... you have to move very slowly or it just gets stirred up.

:!: :!: Right on Mom. As Mom says and reworded by me, "You can't ever go too slowly vacuuming"! And change direction or lift and set vac head down as if you are doing brain surgery. :lol:

That being said, my Polaris (pressure side) zips around the pool at incredible speeds; anyone who sees it and knows the P-280 are impressed and sent home with instructions from me to check their hose screens; that usually turns out to be their problem. AND it does stir up any accumulation of fine debris on bottom requiring more filter time. The Aquabot (robotic) moves quite a bit slower which concerned me at first as I was used to the P-280. My new Tracker 4x (suction side through skimmer pipe) moved so slowly, compared to the other two, I thought it was defective or I didn't have enough suction. Turns out it is moving the speed it is supposed to (after a bit of lowering the vacuum on main drain to increase vacuum on skimmer ). I mean it really, really moves SLOWLY, compared to the other two, like a very, very old feeble person, :wink: and barely stirs up any silt when it turns around to change direction. It gets up virtually all of the silt that the other two miss and/or stir up.

BTW... when you vac up a lot of fine stuff, and want to send to filter to conserve water and chemicals instead of to waste, you may have to backwash (or clean cartridge) fairly often, maybe several times, during the vac session unless you have a fairly good sized or even over-sized filter. (I've ordered a Pentair Quad 80 sq ft, DE+cartridge, to replace my old stainless steel 36 sq ft, DE with new grids (using cellulose instead of DE though) that is in excellent condition, because of the extreme increase in silt from puppies swimming so much. Also, I can be sure the new one won't fill up so fast running it during freezing temps, especially during the night and bursting pipes or valves. Been there, done that. We normally keep pool open all year. This year has been so strange we might have many more and much lower freezing spells than usual.) (I'm also ordering a backwash SlimeBag to catch filter material and return polished waste water back to pool when I install the new valve that has vac to waste. I'm so excited. :-D )

Another issue altogether is vacuuming up larger debris. If there is a substantial amount you'll have to empty the pump pot frequently. I have lots of leaves. I just purchased a Pentair big leaf catcher that goes in line in the vacuum hose. Sure is easier to open and empty it rather than shutting off valves and emptying the pump pot. :-D

gg=alice
 
I have determined that the sludge on the bottom of the pool is dead algae, my question to the experts is, Would the concrete pavers I have holding my ladder in place give off phosphates that the algae are feeding on thus giving me a constant algae problem?
 
Welcome to TFP!!

I suppose your theory is possible, but even if it is, maintaining a free chlorine level closer to the max of the suggested levels in Chemgeek's chart (see link in my sig) should alleviate the issue :)

I suspect that it's not phosphates but some other source of organics causing the higher then usual chlorine demand :wink:
 
Would the concrete pavers I have holding my ladder in place give off phosphates that the algae are feeding on thus giving me a constant algae problem?
Short answer.....No.

If your pool has algae, it's because it is not properly chlorinated.

Read some of the beginning articles in Pool School and ask lots of questions. We'll help you get your pool clear.

Before anyone can really help, we'll need a full set of test results (current) and tell us the city and state in which you live.
 
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