How do I clean my pool from red dust

[AussieOi]

Hi There

We have had our entire state blanketed in red rain - dust storm particles in the rain. My pool filters have been running every day since that happened 5 days ago and the water is still murky.
How do I clear it up....
Am i best to leave the pumps / filters turned off for a few days to let it settle to the bottom.... as the dust is so fine the filters obviously are not capturing all the dust in the water.....
Or is there a chemical that will help bond the dust to settle to the bottom...
Cheers

 

[mknauss]

You posted this in the algae sub forum. So are you sure it is just dirt? Have you done a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to check?

 

[AussieOi]

You posted this in the algae sub forum. So are you sure it is just dirt? Have you done a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to check?

Absolutely mate
My pool has been crystal clear for months, The whole state of victoria got red dust rain - millions of tonnes of dust from central australia dumped down onto everyones homes, pools, cars

 

[AusPhil]

You posted this in the algae sub forum. So are you sure it is just dirt? Have you done a Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to check?

Yeah, I have it here as well Marty, between smoke ash and dust it’s interesting... ends up as brown spots on the bottom but definately dust

 

[Shanksy75]

Hi all, I have the same issue with my spa. Its thick with the stuff!! I guess the only way to get rid is to drain it and wipe it down. But before doing that I wonder if there are any less drastic options?

 

[Costas > DownUnder]

Am i best to leave the pumps / filters turned off for a few days to let it settle to the bottom....

Don't turn your pump off for few days as this will not really help anything.

Do you have a variable speed pump? If so you can ensure that it is set to run at a relatively low RPM so that it is not churning up the water - This will ensure that the dust will settle.

What sort of filtration do you have?

If you can see the dust then the common filters (Sand/Cartridge/DE etc) all have the ability to filter visible dust particles in the water unless your filter is not working correctly (most dust will settle to the floor anyway).

For the dust on the floor of the pool, you need to either vacuum the dust up using a pool vac connected via your skimmer etc or (better option) use a robot pool cleaner.

 

[mknauss]

If it is fine dirt, then filtering is the best thing to do. As the filters get a bit dirty, they will filter better. I would not mess with the chemistry as you say it is fine. I assume you are use a proper test kit. Using clarifiers or floc will just make a mess and neither should be used with a cartridge filter.

 

[aussieta]

the dust is so fine it is passing through sand filters and cartridge filters
dont know anyone with de
in one of the horse troughs that is not in use it hasnt settled after four days

 

[AussieOi]

Appears thru my research the best option is to add floc, allow to settle, vacumn on backwash, and top up pool afterwards.

Popular Melbourne surf park closes after ‘crystal-blue’ water turned brown

The surf park had a brown and orange tinge and workers were seen trying to desperately clean the dust away.

7news.com.au

 

[AusPhil]

the dust is so fine it is passing through sand filters and cartridge filters
dont know anyone with de
in one of the horse troughs that is not in use it hasnt settled after four days

Well it’s certainly fine but at least my sand filter with Zeo media is quite happy to filter it out, though my filter is way oversized and not stressed by the pump flow rate in any way.
A lot of this dust has been airborne for days and thousands of kilometers in some cases so even thinking of it as fine dirt is wrong.

to the OP you may well have little choice if you can’t filter it out But to use floc but I’d hardly cal in he best option

 

[aussieta]

Appears thru my research the best option is to add floc, allow to settle, vacumn on backwash, and top up pool afterwards.

i know you meant vacuum to waste NOT backwash, but newbies might be confused

 

[AusPhil]

Hi There

We have had our entire state blanketed in red rain - dust storm particles in the rain. My pool filters have been running every day since that happened 5 days ago and the water is still murky.
How do I clear it up....
Am i best to leave the pumps / filters turned off for a few days to let it settle to the bottom.... as the dust is so fine the filters obviously are not capturing all the dust in the water.....
Or is there a chemical that will help bond the dust to settle to the bottom...
Cheers

Going back to the original question.
1. What filter have you got, make,model, media?
2. Pump?
3. Turn over is not normally considered from a chemical balance issue but for clearing this red dust you may need to run the pump longer.
4. it can take a while to actually clear this stuff, 12 months ago Canberra got a huge dump a bit like Victoria did last week and it took me a couple of weeks before we got it all vacuumed away, patience was the key.
5. Circulation? if it's turbulent then you play a longer waiting game as it takes longer to settle to the bottom but it will settle.
6. Test Kit? curious more than required for clearing dust

I actually don't think it will directly settle just by having the pump off for a few days... i have found that a simple smooth near laminar flow from the return will result in better accumulation on the floor

So let's get some more details to try and help
Cheers

 

[AussieOi]

Hi
The Floc has worked great, dispensed and ciculated for 2 hrs, then turned off pumps, and over 24hrs the dust has all settled on the bottom, turned my filter to waste and vacumning up preetty well, 95% jobe done