Added food grade DE to sand filter

[JRivers]

Title says it all! I didn't even realize that there were two different products. I put in about 2.5 cups of food grade DE into my pool. What are the consequences of this?

 

[1poolman1]

It will be gone the next time you backwash. Shouldn't be an issue. If you're concerned, backwash now for about 30 seconds.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The consequences are a cloudy pool for weeks on end. Pool grade DE is not the same as food grade. The food grade stuff will break up into fine particulate that will be impossible to catch with a sand filter and the cloudiness will persist for a long time.

Backwash your filter now. I would even go so far as to say you need to crack the filter open and deep clean the sand until it runs clean. Food grade DE can be a nightmare to deal with.

 

[JRivers]

The consequences are a cloudy pool for weeks on end. Pool grade DE is not the same as food grade. The food grade stuff will break up into fine particulate that will be impossible to catch with a sand filter and the cloudiness will persist for a long time.

Backwash your filter now. I would even go so far as to say you need to crack the filter open and deep clean the sand until it runs clean. Food grade DE can be a nightmare to deal with.

I put it in 2 days ago, so the damage is probably already done. But I'll do that. I've been dealing with an algae bloom and have been SLAMing for 5 days. At this point, I'm tempted to just drain the pool and start over.