trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain removal

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M

mark2013

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Jul 15, 2013
45
Nashville TN
trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain removal

The story is my pool was neglected for a long time and I slammed it. After getting organics and algae etc filtered out and no overnight fc loss and zero CC for a week, the pool would not clear and was green. Finally understood it was metals and let the FC drop. Color began to shift back to blue but still would not clear. I drained enough to repair stairs and skimmer (allowing rust into pool) and used pink stuff on all stains then treated with the rest of pinks as sequestrant and drained more water then filled pool. Water shifted to an even nicer rich blue but still will not clear. As of today I added de which was suggested but for some reason I was scared of it. Pressure went from bouncing needle at 11 to 12 to a more steady needle at 22psi. So what next? How long do I wait to know if DE is working...I started on the pool 4 weeks ago may 19 and kept the fc at 30+ for 14 days before realizing there was a problem w/metals and letting FC drop. If I can just get it clear for swimmers we can use it now and I can keep draining/ adding to purge the metals. I am scared to shock because I don't want metals to redeposit and I have low cya...so i have dilluted 1 cup trichlor into 5 gal bucket added 1/2 couple hours later other half...then few hours later another 2 gallons to dilute left behind granules from initial cup/5gals. At this point I am up for any ideas other than draining/filling. I even though about letting FCC drop to zero to start an algae bloom. Hoping it would bind to the rust....then I could shock and vacuum. Am I crazy from endless pool maintenance? I guess I just feel defeated by draining.
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

Are you on a well? Because if you are, draining solves nothing right? If you are not on a well, then we have to figure out how the metals got in there and that would be, more than likely, algaecides.

You will need to add sequesterants weekly to keep the metals in check regardless. I'm not a metal pro but letting an algae outbreak happen is just plain silly. I don't know why you would think it could help unless you were being sarcastic. Lets see what others think.
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

Not on well ..city water. Have made repairs. Metal is iron oxide which is rust as I understand. Now I've got it suspended in water instead of staining the liner/stairs. After much reading on ascorbic acid treatment i came up w/my own version and used jacks pinks and vitamin c tabs to remove stains (this did not require me to lower fc to zero to complete). And i was able to drain down to make stair repair and do stain removals at the same time. I then drained further to get low below skimmer for repair..then filled. All overnight. Water clarity did improve after drain fill but not as much as I expected. If I have to keep draining/filling then OK I will but I would think there is some trick out there that I can try
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

Well that person did sequester the metals and seem to remove something using sock but I did not see that there were any clarity issues when that person started, only staining. Also I didn't see that they drained. By the way my pool has has time to filter turn over 2x roughly w/de in it and I cannot see a clarity change. At this point I am thinking two things. The metal cannot filter or the metal is slowly coming off liner as it is filtered at same rate. the metals were simply way too high when I started and I've put more metal into water off liner by stain removing and pink stuff doing its thing...I'll post some pics
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

You added way too much DE! You should only add enough to raise the pump pressure 1 psi, typically less than half a cup.

It is recommended to backwash a sand filter when the pressure gets up to 125% of the clean value, but you went instantly to 200%. You filter is going to be working really hard, and not doing a lot of good until you backwash and add a reasonable amount of DE, then give it a chance to clear up your water.
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

Yes good advice way too much de.... I back flushed and added 1/2 cup....pressure jumped from 12 to 17... So I was way off on my estimate that pool has turned over. I didn't realize filter pressure at 22psi is barely moving any water. At 17 its not flowing hard...I can put my thumb on jet and stop the flow. So how long does it take for the de To stabilize? Within 1 minute it raised 1psi. But within 3 it raised 5psi. So I backwashed again just for about 3 seconds and rinsed....pressure when rinsing is 12. Back on filter and pressure went to 12...after five minutes it is at 15...backwash again for 5 seconds and back to 12 on rinse then 14 filtert...then creeps up to15 16 after 1 minute. It seems to hold at 16 now. I did back flush again for 10 seconds and same thing
 
Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

The Pool School article on adding DE to a sand filter says to add 1/4 cup of DE and check the pressure rise after 30 minutes. Add more as needed. In your case I would start with something less than 1/4 cup per addition.

I would imagine that the DE gets dispersed throughout the top layer of sand and doesn't just sit on top. I suspect that your 5-10 second backwash isn't long enough to get it all out, and you're seeing residual pressure from the previous DE addition. I would do a regular backwash next time.
 

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Re: trying de...how long & what next to clear?? after metal repairs and stain remova

Thanks it seems that a little under 1/4 cup does the trick to move 1to 2 psi. Someone suggested my filter was channeled days ago and I didn't see how it could have been but it must have been. Because formerly on filter pressure was 12... And now I realize that rinse is 12....so previous filter and rinse pressure the same. Now filter is 14. With de it is at 15/16
 
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