New Pool - Cloudy Water

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Re: New Pool - Cloudy Water

Look around for the sand. IT should be #20 silica pool sand. Stay away from the Quickrete brand at HD. Other than that, just pool sand should be fine. I would measure the suction opening to be safe so you get the right plug(s). Some people installed shut-off valves to help isolate the pad for times like this. Might be something to consider. Other than a plug, you might get by with something else (i.e. tennis ball), but if not, measure to be safe. Some Zeosand may seep out, but not a ton. You'll want to have a tarp or something nearby to scoop it to as you empty the filter. A Shopvac may help towards the bottom. Some Teflon tape on the threads may not be a bad idea. Take your time on refill to not damage anything once full. It stinks to have to go in there twice. :hammer:
 
Re: New Pool - Cloudy Water

That should work. Not the least expensive. Anything that says 'Pool' in the name will be more expensive.

Do not use Quikrete brand. A number of red flags have been raised on that product.
 
Re: New Pool - Cloudy Water

When I take the filter off to swap the sand we're going to make a little gravel area for the filter pad from the same stone that we put around the pool.

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Thanks folks. I'm going to vacuum to waste one more time and then I'm going to go for it today. I measured the plugs and they fit so that shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully if I make a mess it will be confined to the area we're going to convert to a gravel pad!
 
While you’ve got the plugs in, I would consider adding ball valves right off of the skimmer and return in case you have to do this again ever.

In in terms of what you’re doing, get your plugs in, drain the filter, pull the multi port valve, and scoop out the zeosand. As was said, use a wet/dry vac towards the end to get the last little bit. Be careful to not damage your laterals. While you’re doing this you should tape over the standpipe.

Then, make sure that the standpipe/laterals are centered, replace the drain plug, and fill your filter halfway with water to prevent any damage to the laterals. Slowly and carefully add the sand being careful to do it evenly and not shift your laterals and standpipe from the center. Get all your sand added, replace your multiport, and remove your plugs. Run your filter on “rinse” for approximately 2 minutes before switching it back to filter.
 
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Thank you sir. The job is completed. We did everything except add the ball valves since I had already run to the store. It shouldn't be too hard to do that in the future based on how easy it was to break down the set-up.

The entire job only took about an hour, and I've been vacuuming since. The water is already the clearest it's been since I initially turned the filter on. Think I'll have crystal clear water within a couple of days.

Thank you all for helping me get to the bottom of this and fixing it.
 
Jbro said:
We added a gravel area under the pad while we were at it. Now we just have to have the permanent electricity run out to the pump and we should be good to go.


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Looks real good! I would just make sure to be super careful of that power cord when mowing/weedeating right there.

The only other suggestion i have I have is to ditch those flex hoses in favor of PVC.
 
That's a good point about weed eating. I think I'll tape the cord up tight to the base and out of the way.

Maybe after I tackle the electricity (by tackle I mean digging the trench for the electrician) I'll work on replacing the flex with PVC.
 
We were backflushing every 20 minutes due to pressure and now it's lasting about 40 minutes. That Zeosand powder is nasty stuff but we're finally getting it. The water is not polished yet but we can see clearly to the bottom all the way around the pool and it looks like we got all the little piles that were all over the bottom. Maybe a small amount will settle out and one more extensive vacuuming will be required. wOOt.
 

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Jbro said:
We were backflushing every 20 minutes due to pressure and now it's lasting about 40 minutes. That Zeosand powder is nasty stuff but we're finally getting it. The water is not polished yet but we can see clearly to the bottom all the way around the pool and it looks like we got all the little piles that were all over the bottom. Maybe a small amount will settle out and one more extensive vacuuming will be required. wOOt.
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Awesome :kim:
 
Have made huge progress but still fighting this stuff. Right now the water is very clear but more piles of sand all over the bottom. (Pool hasn't had much use to stir it up.) If I vacuum to waste, I only get about 10 minutes vacuuming time. If I vacuum to the filter it passes through unless I load it with a 1/2 cup of DE first. With the DE the pressure goes way up after only 5 minutes of vacuuming and the suction becomes so weak I don't think I'm picking the sand up. Plus now that the water is clear it looks like some DE passes through when I load it. Not sure if that's to be expected?

Are there any kind of coagulants that might work on this sand and be safe for a vinyl liner and safe for my new filter sand?

I'm thinking of sending in a pile of kids to stir everything up into suspension, then adding a coagulant and hopefully filter the mess off in one fell swoop. Is that a pipe dream?
 
Re:  New Pool - Cloudy Water

Revlus said:
After reading the entire thread... sure sounds like what I had. The "dust" in the sand settled and needed to be carefully vacuumed out to waste.

If you jump in.... can you feel it? Gritty like sand?? or just feel nothing? (I felt nothing)

Anyhow, worth a try I think to keep going as you are with the vacuuming. I had added some new sand and didn't rinse enough. so while my issue wasn't as bad as yours, I certainly got the collection of that fine powder in some areas. Vacuum to waste and it was gone and life is good.

For what its worth... THIS VACUUM is what I used... and it doesn't stir things up too much and does a great job sucking most things up except perhaps larger leaves.
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I bought this vacuum and it came today. I think it might work but it doesn't fit my vacuum hose. I'm looking for an adapter but apparently not using the correct search terms. The problem is the fitting on my pool hose is the same exact size as the fitting on the vacuum head so they won't connect.

I could try moving to 1.5" hose (I guess mine must be 1.25") but not sure if my 1 HP pump will have enough juice with the larger diameter. Any thoughts?
 
I ended up buying 1.5" vacuum hose last night and vacuumed some to waste with the new vacuum. My pump doesn't seem to work properly when vacuuming to waste and within minutes the suction is limited. Ended up vacuuming through the filter and got every last drop of sand off the bottom. The pool did cloud slightly during/after this process.

This morning there is more evidence of Zeosand on the bottom once again. However, there seems to be much smaller amounts so I'm slowly getting there. The pool is still a bit less clear than pre-vacuuming, but not too bad. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Getting ready to do a full suite of tests. I suspect my CYA has dropped from 50 due to so much vacuuming to waste and re-filling, so I want to get a good reading on that. My FC has been holding steady every night so no problem with organics/algae.
 
Test results from today.

FC: 9.5
CC: 0.5 (probably less but I only ran the test at the 10 ml resolution today)
pH: 7.4
CYA: 40
TA: 60
CH: 50
CSI: -0.86

FC is a little higher because I was adding for 50 CYA, and I added a little extra bleach last night since we'll have a pool full of kids today.
 
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