Clarifier, or add DE/Sand?

[tooclosetosee]

I have all my levels just about perfect and fairly stable (I add about a gallon of 6% chlorine every 2 days). One thing however is that after about 3 weeks of swimming in the pool and lots of rain the water gets cloudy. I know that the site says not to add clarifier (anything extra), but I added it a couple days ago and it really cleared up the pool and I can see the bottom with no problem at all and within 8 hours of adding it. Before I had trouble seeing the bottom. I am not using anything to soak up sunscreen or oils. Should I be? Is that the problem? It appears that a scum-ball would help.

Temp = 84F
FC = 7.0
CC = 0 to 0.5
PH = 7.4 (added borax to bring it up to 7.6)
TA = 80
CH = 240
CYA = 45

I run my pump about 5 hours a day (I calculated this will give me one full turnover in a day). It isn't on a timer or anything as I flip the switch manually. I have been running it when I get home from work at 5PM till before I get ready to go to bed at 9PM. I also run it when we are in the pool.

I have been using trichlor pucks with my in line chlorinator at a low setting and watching the CYA and so far the CYA has only been going down or staying the same. For the most part I have been using the BBB method.

So, should I just keep doing the clarifier thing every month or so? Should I add sand and/or DE to my filter? I have the valve on the top of the filter. Does this make it more difficult to add? I read that I can just mix it up with water and add it directly to my skimmer. Can I figure this out and do this without needing to take my valve off?

My previous thread that I created.
purchased-house-with-fiberglass-pool-t57810.html

I found and read the following pages.
how-often-can-i-use-clarifier-t26640.html
pool-school/add_de_to_a_sand_filter

 

[JasonLion]

If the pool clouds up, something is going wrong and it would be best to figure out what that is. Unfortunately, nothing you mentioned gave me any hints about what would cause the pool to cloud up, even though you posted all the normal information.

I really like scum balls, but they wouldn't be related to anything else you mentioned.

There is certainly no point in using clarifier if the water is already clear and sparkly, which argues against using it on any regular schedule. However, if the water clouds up it is an option (though not by any means the first choice).

Adding DE to the filter is easy, mix with water and pour into the skimmer (slowly). There is no need to do anything with your multi-port (other than have it in filter mode, which it should be in anyway).

 

[tooclosetosee]

That is what I was thinking. I am assuming that since the clarifier works so well then it doesn't have anything to do with the chemical levels in the pool and has more to do with my filter.

Another thing is that I use a barracuda G3 cleaner and I was told to always backwash after using it. I use it about once a week and backwash after every time. Each time I backwash I let it run until the water is clear which usually takes a couple minutes. Is this necessary? I have also read that I should only need to backwash after a 25% increase in PSI.

I ordered some DE and I will see how that does.

 

[JasonLion]

There is no need to backwash after each use of the cleaner unless your pressure is going up quite a bit. On some pools the pressure would go up a lot and it would be something you need to do, but it doesn't sounds like you are in that situation. Backwash when the pressure goes up 25% over the "clean" pressure and you should be totally fine.

Backwashing the filter too often could have something to do with the pool clouding up. Sand filters aren't very good at catching the finest particles until they get a little "dirty". Depending on several details, a week could easily not be long enough for the filter to get dirty enough to catch the finer particles.