Adding Diatomaceous Earth to Intex sand filter questions

[Blacklisted]

I am just getting to the end of a SLAM and want to add DE to my sand filter to help the filtration. 1st attempt was yesterday and I added the 1/2cup recommended and seemed to be working and I had to go to work. Came home and filter had a low flow indication and high pressure on the filter. I back washed this morning and tried again with around 1/3 cup. About 2hrs later I had to back wash again because of high pressure and didn't add any more for now. My question, is this normal and filtering that much better than regular sand or am I using too much? My water is almost back to normal from SLAMing, just a little murky right now but not bad. Should I expect to have to backwash and put more DE in multiple times a day for a while?

How much DE is everyone else using on the Intex sand filters? Do you put it in dry or mix with water? I did it both ways and it seemed to work better wet. When I put it in dry it seemed like it passed through the sand filter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tim5055]

Watch the pressure gauge as you add it in small amounts. Stop adding when pressure rises 1psi. Then backwash when pressure rises 20 - 25%.

 

[Blacklisted]

Watch the pressure gauge as you add it in small amounts. Stop adding when pressure rises 1psi. Then backwash when pressure rises 20 - 25%.

That's what I did but don't know if I did it slow enough or too much or it just got clogged up that fast.

 

[jblizzle]

What does your water look like? Sounds like the filter and DE are doing their job by catching something.

 

[Richard320]

I concur with jblizzle. You wanted fine filtering and you got it. But all those bleached algae carcasses have to go somewhere.

 

[Blacklisted]

What does your water look like? Sounds like the filter and DE are doing their job by catching something.

Water is fairly clear, just finishing up the SLAM process so there is probably still some fine stuff in the water.

I concur with jblizzle. You wanted fine filtering and you got it. But all those bleached algae carcasses have to go somewhere.

I will keep at it, maybe start with smaller amount of DE and when the water gets cleaner add a little more. As is now I run around 5psi clean and 20% would be 1psi so if I raise it 1psi there isn't much left before I need to back-flush.