Help! Is my DE filter busted?

[SJBalaC]

First season pool owner. Pool company opened the mesh cover and vacuumed the pool about a week ago. Today I ran my robot vacuum for the first time this year, and it came back with a cup or two of some grayish sand-like stuff.

Could it be DE “leaking” from the filter? Should I start emergency shopping for replacement filter grids?

 

[nobody291]

Does it feel like sand or DE? It looks more like sand to me in the picture. DE would be a very fine powder, much finer than normal sand.

 

[SJBalaC]

Thanks for your reply. It did feels like sand to me.
I have never handled DE before, I don’t know what it would feel like.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sj,

Since you have a Saltwater pool, it is much more likely to be calcium.

Put a little bit of Muriatic Acid on it and see if it foams like crazy.

This can happen when you let you chemicals get out of balance.

Show us your numbers..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[SJBalaC]

Sj,

Since you have a Saltwater pool, it is much more likely to be calcium.

Put a little bit of Muriatic Acid on it and see if it foams like crazy.

This can happen when you let you chemicals get out of balance.

Show us your numbers..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

That was spot on, foam it did!
Perhaps I should add that over the last week I had to add 4 gallons of muriatic acid, half gallon at a time, to bring pH and total alkalinity to acceptable levels.
10 days ago calcium hardness was at 425. I will retest tomorrow and post.

Thanks a lot,
SJ

 

[SJBalaC]

Sj,

Since you have a Saltwater pool, it is much more likely to be calcium.

Put a little bit of Muriatic Acid on it and see if it foams like crazy.

This can happen when you let you chemicals get out of balance.

Show us your numbers..

Thanks,

Jim R.

These are my numbers:

Latest Test Result Summary:
FC: 7.5 (48 minutes ago)
CC: 0.0 (48 minutes ago)
pH: 7.6 (48 minutes ago)
TA: 80 (48 minutes ago)
CH: 400 (48 minutes ago)
CYA: 100 (48 minutes ago)
SALT: 3300 (48 minutes ago)

CH is down from 425, checked about a week and a half ago.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sj,

Looks like your CSI is about -.3 which should be ok.

If you keep your CSI between 0 and -.3 you should not be getting calcium flakes..

I suspect your current numbers are not what they were in the recent past.

I used a pool temp of 72, not sure what your water temp is now..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[SJBalaC]

Sj,

Looks like your CSI is about -.3 which should be ok.

If you keep your CSI between 0 and -.3 you should not be getting calcium flakes..

I suspect your current numbers are not what they were in the recent past.

I used a pool temp of 72, not sure what your water temp is now..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Jim,

Thanks for your help.

I had no idea about CSI, why it matters, or how to make it appear in Pool Math App.

Will keep an eye on it, from now on.

SJ

 

[BDY]

Hit the settings gear in the top right corner and select “track Csi”
And pool math will calculate it for you

Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)

How is CSI calculated? Very simple – use our PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more.

www.troublefreepool.com