Cleaning Pool after Floc

[UrielM]

Hi all,
I have a 5500 gallons concrete pool, my pool was crystal clear and chemically balanced.
When set up the garden , a lot of soil went into the water and the water became muddy.
I started the process of cleaning by using a liquid water clearer which didn’t help much (my local store didn’t have aluminium soffit)
After I bought the aluminium soffit powder all the dirt sunken).
I used a manual vacuum ( on battery) but most of the dust went up and it seems like the dust is too thin for it, I then opened the waste for minutes and then repeated that process.
Eventually, my pool returns to be cloudy.
Can I use the pool send filter ( and backwash frequently ) to improve the water quality, will it clog?

 

[wireform]

Uriel, MA NISHMA
I think you are trying to say you used floc which isn't good for any filter and I think you are suggesting to use your sand filter and then backwash. If you did use floc then you must vacuum to waste otherwise it will ruin the sand filter and backwashing it won't help.

 

[UrielM]

Hi
I did run my filter for 1 hour after the floc , I hope it’s not damaged,
My problem is that I can’t really vacuum since the dust is raining up.
Thanks

 

[wireform]

You need to wait for the dirt to settle and that means shutting off the machinery like the filter pump and any other pump causing water to flow in the pool. Connect a hose to the vacuum port or the skimmer pipe and carefully vacuum manually to WASTE which is to a drain and not through the sand in the filter. Your sand filter should have a setting called "waste".Hopefully the sand can be cleaned and won't need to be exchanged.

 

[UrielM]

Thanks for your help
I didn’t mentioned that I have an overflow gutter pool.
My sequence was , after floc , I vacuumed the bottom and the opened the waste for few minutes, than I shut down the pump , tried to vacuum again and then open the waste for few minuets. And then since my water became cloudy again I used the filter option for one hour, but since I was afraid to damage my filter I stopped , backwashed and rinse.
My vacuum can’t hold the dust that sunk to the bottom since it’s too thin.
Should I use more floc?

 

[wireform]

NO FLOC. I'm not sure what a gutter pool is but I assume it has a high water level that comes over the top of the pool wall to a linear drain so then there's no skimmer. There still needs to be a place to plug in a vacuum hose that connects to a vacuum head that you manually push via the long poll. You don't need a filter for this as this water goes to the sewer drain and not back to the pool.

 

[UrielM]

NO FLOC. I'm not sure what a gutter pool is but I assume it has a high water level that comes over the top of the pool wall to a linear drain so then there's no skimmer. There still needs to be a place to plug in a vacuum hose that connects to a vacuum head that you manually push via the long poll. You don't need a filter for this as this water goes to the sewer drain and not back to the pool.

NO FLOC. I'm not sure what a gutter pool is but I assume it has a high water level that comes over the top of the pool wall to a linear drain so then there's no skimmer. There still needs to be a place to plug in a vacuum hose that connects to a vacuum head that you manually push via the long poll. You don't need a filter for this as this water goes to the sewer drain and not back to the pool

NO FLOC. I'm not sure what a gutter pool is but I assume it has a high water level that comes over the top of the pool wall to a linear drain so then there's no skimmer. There still needs to be a place to plug in a vacuum hose that connects to a vacuum head that you manually push via the long poll. You don't need a filter for this as this water goes to the sewer drain and not back to the pool.

I really appreciate your help ,
When to your opinion it will be safe to run the pool with filter on?

 

[wireform]

You may need to repeat the process 2 or three times as you vacuum the pool will start to cloud over.....then shut down and wait again for the same process.....
Hopefully the sand didn't get messed up and you can keep going .

 

[Mdragger88]

Flocculant - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Prepare to replace the sand

 

[UrielM]

Hi,
I am still struggling with getting rid of the dirt ,
My problem is that when I vacuum the bottom of the pool either manually or the by cleaning robot the dust is going up and unfortunately very little dust is being sucked out.

 

[sande005]

Show us a picture of the pool, your setup for manually vacuuming, and the plumbing going to/from your filter. It will make it so much easier to then advise.

With floc, after it settles on the bottom, one MUST set your vacuum so that water is discharged on the ground or into a drain - never through the filter, or back into the pool. The vacuum must be moved VERY slowly across the bottom to suck up the settled floc. As you note, it is very easy to disturb and it breaks up into "dust". You will empty a lot of water out of the pool by doing this, likely so much you have to stop vacuuming to refill. Add chlorine as you refill the pool the last time for this cleaning session - you need to get a good reserve built up for the next step.

Some of the dust will resettle - and you will have to repeat the above. Give it at least a full day, and better 2 or even 3 days, in between attempts to clean. Do NOT run your pumps or filters during this waiting period - you want the water as still as you can to encourage the dust to settle. Hence the chlorine.

You may have to repeat this one or two times, depending on how much floc you used.

 

[UrielM]

Thanks
As it can be seen , I had send a lot of water to waste but still have a lot of dust on the bottom.
I have been trying for to weeks to vacuum the dust using portable vacuum, and the last to days with robotic vacuum as well.
since a lot of water coming out of waste mode,
What I usually do , is open the waste for few minutes when I see that the dust settled.
Since I have a overflowing pool , I closed the valve to the balance tank and vacuum water from the bottom of the pool ( from some reason , water level drops rapidly but dust is still on the floor)

 

[sande005]

I don't think we're understanding what an "overflowing" pool is. More pictures would help. Same for what you call a portable vacuum. And finally, the plumbing and equipment area, especially how it connects to the filter.

That is an awful lot of dirt to get out!

 

[UrielM]

Overflow pool technology works on the principle of overflowing water into the perimeter channels. This water is then drained into a storage tank, from which the water is drawn by a pump into the filtration system,
Unfortunately I had a new garden setup, and the workes spill soil to the pool

 

[wireform]

My opinion: at 5500 gallons just drain it all out, clean it out well and refill and call it done. Make sure you do a deep clean of the sand filter Deep cleaning sand filter

 

[UrielM]

Thanks ,
I have one more question regarding the sand filter.
I run the filter for 1 Hr just after floc and recycle the water for two hours, so the dust didn’t sunk yet. In addition I backwashed and rinse for 2 minutes. To your opinion will my filter was gummed? How can I verify it ?
Thanks

 

[wireform]

Thanks ,
I have one more question regarding the sand filter.
I run the filter for 1 Hr just after floc and recycle the water for two hours, so the dust didn’t sunk yet. In addition I backwashed and rinse for 2 minutes. To your opinion will my filter was gummed? How can I verify it ?
Thanks

There's no way to see the sand except for you to look and see when you do the deep clean as linked.

 

[UrielM]

Thanks again ,
I wondered how can I know I do need a deep clean / sand replacement without opening the filter ( e.g. water flow, water clearly)
It’s a new pool

 

[wireform]

Not sure you're asking or stating but when you check the quality of the sand it'll be clumpy and gooey.
You can still have water flow but with channeling from gummed up sand the filter wont hold back dirt and filter the water.

 

[UrielM]

First of all , I really appreciate your response.
One thing I didn’t mention is that I floc the pool more than two weeks ago ( b.t.w , I just find out that I probably didn’t vacuum to the filter after floc only after my first attempt to use water clarifier).
I did ( from some unknown reason) decide to backwash my filter today for less than a minute.
I have two questions
1. To your opinion, what are the chances that my sand is gummed after the backwash ?
2. Since the dust in the bottom of the pool breaks down and raise up very easily, and thus make it almost impossible to vacuum, should I repeat to flocculate presses again ?