SAND ALTERNATIVE

[ovcactus]

Hi all,
Going to change the "sand' in my sand filter this season and replace it with a "filter glass" medium.
It's my understanding that filter glass has a slightly negative electrical charge that allows it to hold fine, positively charged particles such as iron and manganese.
Hoping this helps reduce some of the annual scale build up from hard minerals and will allow me to go longer periods of time between the blasting removal, in addition to the other known benefits.
Anyone have any experience with this medium?
Where is the best place to buy at cheapest price?
Thanks
MJ

 

[mknauss]

Certainly your choice, but sand is the proper medium for a sand filter.
Your scaling issue is due to improper water chemistry.
Good luck.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The concept of negative surface charge on glass doesn't really apply to pool water as pool water already has high ionic strength (lots of dissolved ionic species) and therefore any surface charge on the glass will be quickly be masked by those species. The likelihood that glass could be made sufficiently attractive enough to change the way in which minerals deposit on your bulk pool surfaces is pretty much zero. This is case where filter glass manufacturers like to take a complicated scientific process and make it seem like it will impact your pool. It won't. The filter glass will likely not perform any better or worse than standard pool filter sand, which by the way is mostly silica (glass) anyway.

You can certainly put that stuff in your filter if you don't mind paying the premium for it but it's not going to work any better.

Also, in Tucson, sand filters are a terrible option for pools. We pay a lot of money for water here and having to backwash a sand filter is just a huge waste of water. If you plan to do any significant modifications to your pool equipment, switching to a variable speed pump and a cartridge filter and a salt water chlorine generator will do you a huge solid in terms of pool maintenance and costs.

 

[Mdragger88]

Your poolmath logs are quite old but I noticed they don’t contain any ch or csi results.
Keeping ch & csi in check are going to do more for scale issues than any alternative filter media will. You must toggle on csi tracking in the settings of poolmath.

Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)

How is CSI calculated? Very simple – by using the PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more

www.google.com

Unless something like floc or clarifiers have messed up your sand there’s really no reason to replace it.
You can also deep clean it if you’ve never done so. It is a regular part of sand filter maintenance.

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

This post will walk you through the anatomy of a sand filter, and then provide a video at the end for how to deep clean your sand filter. The filter used in the photos and videos is a Hayward S180T top mount sand filter. The images are of a similar filter. Obviously not all filters are...

www.google.com

Sand Filter Use and Care - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ovcactus]

Certainly your choice, but sand is the proper medium for a sand filter.
Your scaling issue is due to improper water chemistry.
Good luck.

Your response sounds a little glib. I’m no chemist, but what you’re implying is that muni water delivered to your home with existing hard minerals (limestone, calcium, magnesium, etc. can ALL be 100% “neutralized” and/or “eliminated” by adding chemicals which will create a perfect, scale-free pool? Is that correct? What chemicals would those be?

 

[ovcactus]

Thank you for the info mdragger88

 

[JJ_Tex]

Your response sounds a little glib. I’m no chemist, but what you’re implying is that muni water delivered to your home with existing hard minerals (limestone, calcium, magnesium, etc. can ALL be 100% “neutralized” and/or “eliminated” by adding chemicals which will create a perfect, scale-free pool? Is that correct? What chemicals would those be?

I wouldnt think of it as adding a chemical that "neutralizes" the minerals in your water. Think of it as keeping your pH, Calcium, TA, etc in check so that it will not add scale. Read up on the CSI for more info:

Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)

How is CSI calculated? Very simple – use our PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more.

www.troublefreepool.com

PS - All of the posters who responded live in the same area as you which is notorious for hard water, and each of them are experts that have learned how to manage their pools for that environment.

 

[Mdragger88]

Calcium Hardness - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Specifically check out part 10

 

[markayash]

Your response sounds a little glib. I’m no chemist, but what you’re implying is that muni water delivered to your home with existing hard minerals (limestone, calcium, magnesium, etc. can ALL be 100% “neutralized” and/or “eliminated” by adding chemicals which will create a perfect, scale-free pool? Is that correct? What chemicals would those be?

It’s based on dealing with a lot of pool owners over the years that have had similar issues.
More about balancing the water than adding a magic chemical. In fact TFP is against adding extra “‘snake oils” to fix issue and it’s a proven concept.
But it’s your pool and everybody is different

 

[woodyp]

"glib" is not a term I can imagine anyone ascribing to JoyfulNoise! That boy is serious about his water chemistry! CSI is most likely your issue as has been suggested.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

"glib" is not a term I can imagine anyone ascribing to JoyfulNoise! That boy is serious about his water chemistry! CSI is most likely your issue as has been suggested.

What does “glib” mean . I was an engineering major … we only had to take liberal arts classes when forced to …

 

[markayash]

What does “glib” mean . I was an engineering major … we only had to take liberal arts classes when forced to …

I googled it

1. Given to or characterized by fluency of speech or writing that often suggests insincerity, superficiality, or a lack of concern.

 

[woodyp]

Makes me think back on all the time I spent having to actually learn stuff before Google was around.

 

[Mdragger88]

Makes me think back on all the time I spent having to actually learn stuff before Google was around.

Lol - we have an old set of encyclopedias & I was explaining to my kids that was our google! Well, until “Ask Jeeves” finally came along & encarta then you would save up all your questions for your allotted computer session & you better know how to search properly cuz each extra click/page load took 5-10 minutes!

 

[JamesW]

Here is Tom Cruise talking about chemical balance and calling Matt glib.

 

[ovcactus]

"glib" is not a term I can imagine anyone ascribing to JoyfulNoise! That boy is serious about his water chemistry! CSI is most likely your issue as has been suggested.

It wasn’t. My response was directed at the first reply from mknauss.
But look, I appreciate this site for pool owners and to help separate fiction and hype from fact.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond.
Always something new to learn

 

[Flying Tivo]

Do you have a water softener for home? Is it tied to the pool fill line? This would be another step towards keeping CSI in check.

 

[markayash]

It wasn’t. My response was directed at the first reply from mknauss.
But look, I appreciate this site for pool owners and to help separate fiction and hype from fact.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond.
Always something new to learn

Good thing about this forum is we have everybody from Pool builders to electricians to Chemist and they like helping others,
When I first joined I had a question about wiring my GFI and timer and was basically called an idiot for attempting wiring on a pool on an electrician board.
Came here and was told what I was doing wrong and why.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Good thing about this forum is we have everybody from Pool builders to electricians to Chemist and they like helping others,
When I first joined I had a question about wiring my GFI and timer and was basically called an idiot for attempting wiring on a pool on an electrician board.
Came here and was told what I was doing wrong and why.

Most of the contractor forums do not want DIY'ers around. They pretty much tell you that when you look at their rules and codes of conduct. I suspect it's a liability issue for anyone with a license. They're ok if you just browse and read but few, if any, will answer your questions and most will just be outright rude to a DIY'er ... I even gotten some pretty snotty responses on the Mike Holt forum. So don't feel bad, they're mostly jerks ... unlike us where we are mostly really nice jerks ...

 

[markayash]

Most of the contractor forums do not want DIY'ers around. They pretty much tell you that when you look at their rules and codes of conduct. I suspect it's a liability issue for anyone with a license. They're ok if you just browse and read but few, if any, will answer your questions and most will just be outright rude to a DIY'er ... I even gotten some pretty snotty responses on the Mike Holt forum. So don't feel bad, they're mostly jerks ... unlike us where we are mostly really nice jerks ...

Allen helped me, not only did he tell me what I was doing wrong ( had a mechanical timer behind the GFI ) but explained how the GFI breaker worked which wasn't how I thought it worked