Pool Fill Discoloration Cycle

[Raymundo]

Having problems when I add water (softened). I'm still getting some iron or minerals (or something) through the softener b/c my water turns slightly cloudy and there's a greenish tint to it. After letting it settle (usually over night) I vac it out to waste but eventually have to add more water to keep the level up so it's been a vicious cycle of fill, vav, fill, vac.....and the water is seldom clear like it should be
I'm having no issues with keeping my levels where they should be other than alkalinity because of the well water.
I haven't had my fill water tested yet for iron/minerals but probably should
FC - 4
PH 7.4
TA - 200
CYA - 30
CH 120
I've looked at other posts about filtering the water from the hose (some for/some against) and am to the point where I'm willing to try about anything as a fix. The stuff sweeps right out but it usually takes 2 times to get it all but then needs more water of course
Attached are some pics of the stuff on the side of the stairs after sweeping (the pool bottom is usually twice as much) and one of the pool after sweeping to waste (cloudy -ish). This will settle out and will have to sweep it again to clear it up


Looking for advice on what to do
/R

 

[727Pool_Life]

What is your reasoning for vac to waste? Seems like, as you stated, it is counter productive. The filter will/should catch all those particles and not cause you to have to refill so much. If you were to vacuum normally do you need to back wash after or are you still good? Im not an expert in the sand filter arena (hopefully someone else chimes in) but maybe adding some DE to it will help even more to filter better.

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, not helpful to vacuum to waste in your case.....let your filter do it's job.

I haven't had my fill water tested yet for iron/minerals but probably should

Absolutely. Filling from a well and water turning slightly green sounds like iron content.

Do you know for a fact your fill water goes through the softener first? If so, then your softener is not working......it's job is to remove the iron.

 

[Raymundo]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll get the water tested today. It definitely goes through the softener, I can see the usage on the electronic meter as it's filling the pool. Softener is fairly new and we don't have any staining issues in the house so that's the puzzling part

When I run it through my sand filter it seems that the majority of it goes through back into the pool as I eventually see the "dust" coming back out of the returns. I just assumed that the particles are too small to get filtered out in the sand. I've never used any DE product so maybe that's a good place to start. What's the process to do that?

 

[duraleigh]

If visible material coming from your returns, the sand filter is not functioning properly.

Possible damaged lateral but more often it is clogged up. Could also be the standpipe is not seated properly but a correctly functioning sand filter does not let any VISIBLE debris back to the pool.

 

[Raymundo]

Update: I had the water tested and there was 0 iron in it and 0 iron in my softened supply water so that ruled out iron problems. I took a sample of the stuff on the bottom of the pool and put it in a mason jar in the sun and found it was definitely some sort of algae. So I SLAMMED the pool Thurs, Fri, Sat and used DE for filtration and am proud to report that we were swimming in a crystal clear the pool yesterday!! Couldn't have done it without being able to research solutions on this site
HOORAY for TFP!!!

 

[Raymundo]

After reading your suggestion I researched DE on TFP and decided this was the thing to try. DE made all the difference in filtering out the small "dusty" particles to clear up my pool. I'm sold on using DE to get a polished look to the water. It's the clearest our pool has been in years !!