Zeobrite vs. sand? Did I get "chumped" ?

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Polar_Bus

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May 30, 2008
41
southern New Hampshire
My pool company talked me into a filter chemical called Zeobrite. They claim far better filtering performance vs. pool sand. Of course the Zeobrite costs $38 for an 80 lb bag (I have a 200# filter).
The more and more I learn from long time pool owners is that many pool companies sell chemical "gimmics" just to maintain future buisiness, and that in many cases said gimmicks don't really function vs. the elevated costs to maintain. I am wondering if I got taken for a "new pool chump" when I chose to purchase the Zeobrite, and my Pool Frog mineral system..... Your thoughts?
Rich
 
Hey Polar,

Welcome to the forum.

The jury is out on zeobrite. My filter is sand and does remarkably well on sand so I don't intend to change.

You will find few friends of Mr. Froggie on this forum. Mineral systems generally don't provide enough of what they promise to do you any good. If they did, the side effects could be worse than the benefit.

One of the premises of the forum and BBB is that plain chlorine is the finest thing you can put in your pool. Simply put, it works with virtually no side effects. :lol:
 
I like the performance of my Zeo over sand, but I had the same questions. I swapped out my sand when it was ~8 years old, there was only about half of it left in the filter also. At one time my spider gasket went and I backwashed sandout.

It was more money, but I do know that I don't have to backwash nearly as much anymore. That is one of the Zeo claims that I found to be true for me. I only need to backwash once a month now.
 
They told me that too. I have normal sand and am on my 4th year. I will be changing next year to zeo though as I have others who have not had to backwash as often either. That changing every year thing is not true in my book. I actually talked to the service guy at my pool place and he said no way on the every year thing. As long as it still cleans and is not throwing sand back in the pool, why mess with changing it?
 
There are two schools of thought on changing sand, either every 4 to 6 years or never. The only reason you would change the sand more often is if you are using baquacil or have scaling problems that have scaled the sand.

ZeoSand gets both positive and negative reviews. Several people say that it filters a little better but it can occasionally cause problems. The ZeoSand sometimes gets crushed and the resulting powder can get into the pool if you aren't careful.
 
I use regular sand with just a little DE added after each backwash. That is less expensive and more trouble free than ZeoSand. I don't have anything against ZeoSand, many people say they are quite happy with it, the extra cost is minimal taken across the years that the ZeoSand lasts, and the problems can usually be avoided. Sand plus DE is simply a better choice for me.
 
Thanks. I will consider both over this year before deciding and maybe even visit with the local pool techs as well.

Anyone else have a preference? I would like to know more pros and cons on each.

Thanks for your suggestions! I sure do appreciate all the info that I have been getting on this site!
 

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I am into a year with zeo. Very happy. Less backwashing. Better water clarity is true. Don't forget there is a need to put salt to "re-generate" the zeo after a while. This is the requirement of my australian sourced volcanic zeo. I think USA sourced should be the same.
 
duraleigh said:
Hey Polar,

Welcome to the forum.

The jury is out on zeobrite. My filter is sand and does remarkably well on sand so I don't intend to change.

You will find few friends of Mr. Froggie on this forum. Mineral systems generally don't provide enough of what they promise to do you any good. If they did, the side effects could be worse than the benefit.

One of the premises of the forum and BBB is that plain chlorine is the finest thing you can put in your pool. Simply put, it works with virtually no side effects. :lol:
Click to expand...

Yeah, that'd be me, the non-fan of Mr. Froggie....side effects are a very kind understatement :wink: :roll:
 
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