DE Filter and Algae question

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C

ccuellar4

0
May 28, 2016
23
Albuquerque, NM
Hi All,

So this is year 2 of battling my pool. Year 1 was way worse, but year 2 has still gotten off to a rocky start.

To start the season off I've performed a deep clean of all the grids and they looked great. I noticed there were a couple of "ribs" broken in the grids, but they were individual and no adjacent areas of two or more broken "ribs" on any single grid. I reassembled the filter and closed it up. After starting the pool everything seemed about right; however, after charging my filter pressure shot up and no matter how much backwashing I performed, pressure never decreased. I reopened my filter and performed another deep clean, all of the grids had a deep green colored algae covering them.

I have since switched over to recirculate mode on my equipment and started the normal "SLAM" treatment to try and kill the algae. My main question is: is it likely that the algae was clogging my filter and, because I hadn't killed it, I couldn't backwash it off of my grids? Or what could be the culprit on why I couldn't successfully remove the algae from the grids during backwashing?

A follow up question is: I have a DE filter that I've just switched from cellulose fiber to actual DE. Isn't DE supposed to be easier to backwash off of grids so I don't have to open my filter multiple times a season?

As always, thank you all for your help. It's very much appreciated.
 
Algae will clog a DE filter very quickly. Switching to recirculate was a good idea. Once the algae is all white, then start to filter it out again. You always recharged with DE right away right?

I am not sure that DE is any easier to backwash than cellulose, unless you left the cellulose in way too long.

Once the water is clean and you maintain adequate FC for your CYA, then the filter cleanings should drastically reduce in frequency.
 
jblizzle said:
Algae will clog a DE filter very quickly. Switching to recirculate was a good idea. Once the algae is all white, then start to filter it out again. You always recharged with DE right away right?

I am not sure that DE is any easier to backwash than cellulose, unless you left the cellulose in way too long.

Once the water is clean and you maintain adequate FC for your CYA, then the filter cleanings should drastically reduce in frequency.
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So for cellulose I've left it in for several weeks without backwashing. The filter would steadily rise in pressure after a certain duration and was impossible without opening the filter to clean it out. When open, you can see that the filter was only moderately dirty but the cellulose clung to the grids in clumps. I was reading that cellulose breaks down in chlorine environments over time and becomes clumpy. I'm not sure how true this is which is why I switched to DE again.

I do recharge relatively quickly. But that does bring up the question, what happens if I take too long to recharge with a pool that is cloudy due to algae?
 
So I went ahead and did a full clean again. I noticed that in all honesty, the grids really weren't that dirty. But I cleaned everything off, closed it up, and sent it on its way. I noticed after only 20 minutes my pressure had gone up 10 psi. I mean my pool is dirty but not that dirty. I performed a backwash and recharge just in case. Sure enough, the pressure went straight back up. So now that I've ruled out the filter being dirty and not having been charged, I would love advice on where to check next.

So some observations if it helps:
1) When on filter, water flow seems fine at first and slowly becomes a trickle as pressure increases.
2) When cleaning the grids, I noticed the "rib" breakages, but again I would guess that less than 5% of any single grid has a broken rib.
3) When on recirculate, water flow is strong and uninhibited.
4) When on backwash, I don't really notice that dirty of water.
5) I do notice there is a water leak around the handle of the multiport valve.

My guess is that there is something wrong with my multiport valve... Any other suggestions?

Thank you for all your help so far.
 
I'm not an expert, but I think your filter is just rapidly being clogged by algae/organic material based off what your pool looks like. I've been at mine for about two weeks now and am just finally getting to a point where my filter pressure doesnt rise within the first hour or two. It can be a long process, keep at it!
 
Thanks! I must have selective memory. I didn't remember it being that crazy last year... but it must have been worse, last year the water was a disaster. So I'll just keep backwashing/recharging and hoping it gets better soon enough with some focused attention this weekend. I appreciate all the help.
 

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kevreh said:
What's your chorine level? Is it dropping after a day or two? Like others have said I would just recirculate while shocking so I don't clog the filter all the time.
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Chlorine level is dropping as quickly overnight or the time I'm at work. It's definitely not able to maintain shock level yet unfortunately. CYA is at about 40 right now and I also have my cover on to try and minimize the chlorine loss due to sun.
 
Well, I guess thats good. The chlorine is doing its job. I had a little haziness to my water, so I shocked. Now that everythings cleared up my fc is sitting right at 10. So its done doing its job. Don't know if you mentioned it, but how often are you adding bleach to maintain shock level?
 
kevreh said:
Well, I guess thats good. The chlorine is doing its job. I had a little haziness to my water, so I shocked. Now that everythings cleared up my fc is sitting right at 10. So its done doing its job. Don't know if you mentioned it, but how often are you adding bleach to maintain shock level?
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I'm adding it morning and twice in the evening. This weekend I'm hoping to baby the pool more.
 
Also, you mentioned your starting the season. As in, recently? Its pretty late to be opening since you've probably had plenty of warm days. Just guessing. If the weather is in the 60s-70s around April I open it up. If I wait longer things sit and stew (=more algae). This fall, when you close, shock it and if possible use those floater things with chlorine pucks. If I follow these "best practices" my pool is 80% clear when I open it.
 
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