How do I filter this?

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tsands_conch

Member
Jul 7, 2020
8
Florida, USA
Recently shocked the pool and ended up with this gunk, we recently had a ton of pollen in the pool. Poured flocculant in two days ago and can’t seem to filter this out. When I pull the filter cartridge and turn the pump back on, it shoots this back out the jet. Vacuuming the bottom shoots out a cloud of this stuff. Have tried putting socks over the vac filter and I also have a slimmer sock on the skimmer. Nothing seems to be able to catch this stuff in the filter. It’s light brown in color. Pool is 14ft x 42”. Also just ordered the TF-100 which should be here in a day or so. Thanks!

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Welcome to TFP! :wave: Looks like you have some algae there, or perhaps residual product captured by the floc. A couple items I would point out:
- We almost never recommend using floc because if allowed to get to the filter it can mess it up and make it gummy. You may need to look into doing a really thorough cleaning on that filter cartridge or perhaps even replacing it.
- I suspect you have algae in the water. That would explain the blow-by of that very fine stuff you see. Once you get your TF-100 you should be able to confirm a few more things as well. But for algae we follow the SLAM Process. You can't really do it yet without the TF-100, so just do your best to keep the FC at about 5 ppm and continue to brush/vacuum consistently to keep things from sticking and settling.

Once you get the TF-100, pots back with a full set of test results and we'll be glad to help.
 
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Welcome to TFP!

Floc isn't supposed to be filtered, it is supposed to be vacuumed to waste. If you ran it through your filter then consider it destroyed, it isn't going to work correctly again no matter how much you clean it. That's one of the main reasons we virtually never recommend the use of floc. If there is floc in that pile (and it looks like there is) then it needs vacuumed out of the pool, not filtered.

And I do agree with Pat, the water clarity does indicate that there might still be organics in the water that are on the verge of causing a problem. The TF-100 will give you and us a better idea of what is going on and the best path forward in correcting it.
 
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Donldson said:
Welcome to TFP!

Floc isn't supposed to be filtered, it is supposed to be vacuumed to waste. If you ran it through your filter then consider it destroyed, it isn't going to work correctly again no matter how much you clean it. That's one of the main reasons we virtually never recommend the use of floc. If there is floc in that pile (and it looks like there is) then it needs vacuumed out of the pool, not filtered.

And I do agree with Pat, the water clarity does indicate that there might still be organics in the water that are on the verge of causing a problem. The TF-100 will give you and us a better idea of what is going on and the best path forward in correcting it.
Click to expand...

Right, but even my vacuum doesn't seem to be able to filter this stuff. I've got a Ryobi which has a felt-looking filter (and I've put a sock over this to double up) and it just goes right through and back into the pool.
 
Hi, welcome to TFP! Fine debris that is not captured by the filter needs to be vacuumed to waste. Are you getting rid of the fine debris temporarily and then seeing it return within a few hours or are you seeing it immediately come out of the return back into the pool?
 
Once algae is present, you'll never be able to filter it, at least not the live algae. It will blow-back over & over. I know because that's exactly how I found TFP back in 2014 for the same reason. I suspect there is more of that stuff in suspension that is hard to see or in hidden areas that is making the situation worse. You'll see best results by following that SLAM Process page and by using one of those proper test kits.
 
It's not meant to be filtered at all. Floc just binds to the stuff in the water causing it to sink, not make it easier to filter. It is meant to be vacuumed to waste, it should never touch a filter.

You might need to replace the filters for your Ryobi vacuum now too...
 

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Donldson said:
Welcome to TFP!

Floc isn't supposed to be filtered, it is supposed to be vacuumed to waste. If you ran it through your filter then consider it destroyed, it isn't going to work correctly again no matter how much you clean it. That's one of the main reasons we virtually never recommend the use of floc. If there is floc in that pile (and it looks like there is) then it needs vacuumed out of the pool, not filtered.

And I do agree with Pat, the water clarity does indicate that there might still be organics in the water that are on the verge of causing a problem. The TF-100 will give you and us a better idea of what is going on and the best path forward in correcting it.
Click to expand...

If I had to guess, my CYA will be off the charts since I've been using tablets. I've removed the chlorinator for now; I bet we'll have a little science experiment here soon. Too much cyanuric acid will mean saying sayonara to my pool water o_O.
 
Alright, received my TF-100 and did a test run yesterday afternoon then again this morning. I've vacuumed to waste a few times and refilled. Water is clear now.

The TA R-0009 bottle rapid fires tiny drops, is that normal? I tried counting the tiny drops yesterday and this morning divided my total by two as I suspect two of the tiny drops=1 normal drop.
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As for the R-0009 drop size. Sometimes on a fresh bottle of reagent, a static charge is present which can cause the drops to jump off the tip. This causes smaller than normal drop size. The recommendation is to wipe the tip with a damp paper towel between drops to mitigate the issue. After a few tests, the static charge seems to go away and the drop size returns to normal.

Be sure to hold all reagent bottles completely fertical and allow the drop to fall off the tip - don't force the drop off by squeezing the bottle too hard. Time between drops should be about 1 second.
 
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