HELP sediment AGAIN

[trenabethune]

Please help.........I vacuum (using battery operated handheld vacuum) to remove any debris that may be at the bottom of the pool and to brush the bottom and sides of the pool. The water in the pool is crystal clear. After the sand filter has been running there's black sediment on the bottom of the pool. I have tried: vacuuming to waste, zeofiber, changed the sand in the 3 year old sand filter, and purchased a new pump. Nothing has worked! I don't know what to try next.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Whenever we hear of a situation like yours, the first place we have to start is a full set of reliable water test results. You would be surprised what we can tell from proper test results from either a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C test kit. I don't see either of those in your signature, do you have one to use? That would be step #1 for us to help.

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[trenabethune]

I will purchase the recommended test kit. I have been using pristine blue and have had the sediment issue after running the filter for a few years now. Do you think it might be the pristine blue system? I am thinking about changing to chlorine.

 

[Texas Splash]

Do you think it might be the pristine blue system?

Two things about that: First, it's probably not controlling organics as you might expect (algae). Second, you've added copper to the water that can only be removed by exchanging water. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's wait for you to get one of those test kits noted above and post a full set of results from one of those. In the meantime, you might consider getting a local water test only to see what they show for copper (iron too). Don't fall for any miracle potions at the local store. If the copper level isn't too high, you might not have to change water, or at least not that much.

If you have any "Blue" mineral packs installed, I would remove them and start using liquid chlorine immediately to increase your FC level to about 3-5 ppm for now. We'll watch for your new test results.

 

[trenabethune]

Hi. The following are my test results:

Free chlorine 14 ppm
Total chlorine 15 ppm
PH 8.3
Total alkalinity 56
Calcium hardness 68
Cyranuric acid 5 ppm
Iron .1 ppm
Copper .1 ppm
Phosphates 1451 ppm
TDS 650 ppm

Thanks for your help! Please note that we just had 4 days of heavy rain and I shocked the pool last night.

 

[trenabethune]

Please note that the water is still clear and the sediment only appears at the bottom of the pool after the filter has been running. Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

T, we'll need to wait until you can get one of those test kits I mentioned above. We can't really give you accurate advice on pool store tests like the one above. That's how unreliable they are. For example, having such a high FC level with next to no CYA makes no sense. Phosphates and TDS are a pool store tactic to sell you products you don't need. The pH test is fairly straight forward, so if yours is that high you need to lower it right away with muriatic acid. The iron/copper levels (if accurate) don't seem to be too high yet, but I would not use that mineral system.

So besides the water testing, are you able to collect any of that sediment to see how it feels? Is it soft, gritty, etc? Does it go everywhere or only settle near the return jets?