Tiny Particles Floating in Water

[chuckill]

So lately if I look at the surface of the water from a certain angle I can see a bunch of particles floating around. At night, if I look directly in front of the pool light, I can see a bunch of particles floating around. I just recently switched to the BBB method (thank god), and I'm wondering if that could have something to do with it. Or possibly the timing of my switch happens to coincide with a bunch of stuff falling out of trees and into my pool? When I used to take my water to the pool store for testing they would always talk about sulfates or total dissolved solids, any chance it's one of those? Also, I was thinking it might be time to change out the sand in the filter, since I don't know how old the stuff is that's in there. I've posted test results below just in case. Thanks

FC - 8
CC - 0
PH - 7.4
TA - 80
CH - 400
CYA - 80

 

[spishex]

If you're ready to do a sand change and you stare at your pool at night often, consider changing the whole filter out for a cartridge or DE filter. Or even putting one in parallel so you could still have the sand filter for vacuuming. The difference between what they filter (~25 vs. ~10 microns) is enough to be noticeable at night.

You should not notice it during the day though, even with a sand filter. The sand may be channeled and allowing debris through, or you may be backwashing too often for the filter to get down to the small stuff.

Are you sure it's not air bubbles? You'll normally see a bunch of them collected on the walls of the pool if it's as extensive as you're describing.

 

[JasonLion]

You can see very small particles in the water in front of a light at night in almost any pool. There will be more of them with a sand filter than with a DE filter, but they aren't anything to worry about. BBB, sulfates, and total dissolved solids have nothing to do with it.

There is rarely any need to replace the sand. Some people replace it every five years, others keep their sand for decades. Every couple of years it is a good idea to open up a sand filter and clean any obvious debris out and make sure the sand isn't clumping up. Serious clumping, which isn't easily broken up by hand, may require replacing the sand.

One trick to improve the filtering of a sand filter is to add a little DE to the filter through the skimmer (just enough to get a 1 psi increase in pressure). The DE does need to be replaced after each backwash though. Some people can't see the difference, others find it a dramatic improvement.