So, i added some DE to my sand filter. Ugh!

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Brushpup said:
Well, now that we have this sorted out, what in the world is food grade DE for anyway?

Mike that is your asignment now, inquiring minds want to know and you started all this! :mrgreen:
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Lol. I THINK it is primarily used for insect control on farms. Being labeled as "food grade" means if livestock accidentally ingest it, there won't be any harmful effects. I've also read it's actually added to livestock feed by some farmers in order to eliminate or at least mitigate internal parasites found in the digestive tract. I believe some humans use it for the same reason. Supposedly the food grade DE is mined from freshwater deposits and pool grade comes from saltwater diatoms. I've found a couple of proper margaritas and a few good splashes of hot sauce does the same thing.

If someone wants to try it on their Cheerios, I've got a free, barely used, bag up for grabs.
 
Many people take up to 3 doses a day. I'm NOT one of them! I have visions of some Jurassic Park type mishap gettin' stirred up inside me belly, so NAHHH (Uncle Si voice), they can keep that! Supposedly, it has quite a lot of benefits such as ridding the body of parasites and toxins, overall improvement in health and energy, good for skin, hair, nails, high blood pressure and cholesterol, on and on. Maybe YOU should be the guinea pig for the rest of us here. Try it and report back with results. Hopefully you won't have to follow it up with half a bag of the pool grade stuff in order to get rid of it. :mrgreen:
 
Thanks, Patrick. Good one, Jeetyet. I'll pass on the DE consumption. My sand filter from here on in will ONLY contain SAND as a media. Lesson learned. For me, it definitely wasn't worth the hassle and the 10 degree drop in pool temp running the filter for 5 days straight w/o the solar cover.

Skimmer socks will be in today. Maybe they'll help removing the few offending particles that dare float through my light beam. They'll probably end up being more trouble than they're worth though.
 
Mike....

Just to clarify - I was trying to figure out a "pattern" as to why both you and I were blowing DE through our filters. And the ONLY DIFFERENCE now is that I am using the STUPID Ecosmarte Glass Media vs. Pure Sand like you.

Looks like PURE SAND is CLEARLY the way to go.

Glad you are on the road to recovery.
 
Thanks, Toofast. Ya, I'm also still at a loss for an explanation as to why even some of the pool grade stuff got through. Barring an actual filter issue, which I still don't think I have (but without checking is entirely possible), it only leaves a few logical explanations I can think of. Pool sand itself- maybe "pool grade" sand is somewhat variable in particle size depending on the brands parent processing facility. Sand bed age- just my guess, but I'd imagine owners of new pools (new filters) aren't likely to immediately start fartin around with things. Yes, maybe clarifiers, flocks, aromatherapy juice, etc, but IMO, less likely filter additives. Filter design/pump pressure/flow rates- too powerful a pump and too passive a sand bed seems like a logical reason for DE to blow through. IMO, one or a combination of these variables must be the reason the "DE sand trick" works for some but not others.

Surprisingly, the skimmer sock has done a very good job filtering out remaining DE. After seeing the sock, I never would've imagined it would catch it, but it does. There's still brushing to be done, however. Rather than forming deposits at the seams and small depressions in the liner, it's tending to form an invisible extremely thin layer across the entire pool bottom. Couple more days and I should be GTG.
 
NHfloater said:
Thanks, Toofast. Ya, I'm also still at a loss for an explanation as to why even some of the pool grade stuff got through. Barring an actual filter issue, which I still don't think I have (but without checking is entirely possible), it only leaves a few logical explanations I can think of. Pool sand itself- maybe "pool grade" sand is somewhat variable in particle size depending on the brands parent processing facility. Sand bed age- just my guess, but I'd imagine owners of new pools (new filters) aren't likely to immediately start fartin around with things. Yes, maybe clarifiers, flocks, aromatherapy juice, etc, but IMO, less likely filter additives. Filter design/pump pressure/flow rates- too powerful a pump and too passive a sand bed seems like a logical reason for DE to blow through. IMO, one or a combination of these variables must be the reason the "DE sand trick" works for some but not others.

Surprisingly, the skimmer sock has done a very good job filtering out remaining DE. After seeing the sock, I never would've imagined it would catch it, but it does. There's still brushing to be done, however. Rather than forming deposits at the seams and small depressions in the liner, it's tending to form an invisible extremely thin layer across the entire pool bottom. Couple more days and I should be GTG.
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Yep - so I am 100% of the believing that a "clean sand/media bed" is why the DE is blowing through. It is the ONLY explanation. Dirt makes a sand filter work better...and all the Backwashing in the world won't get it out (which is NOT a bad thing)

Do you have a link of what sock you used....that way I can buy. I tried one myself that did not work.

Thanks!
 
Toofast, out of curiosity, have you tried cellulose as an additive to your sand bed? Despite going through this small nightmare with DE, I'm tempted to try it. Maybe it would adhere itself more effectively to the sand. Hey!...I sense you pool gurus rolling your eyes! ;) I'd imagine it would be much easier to remove in the event of another blow through scenario, and likely much less offensive to have in the bottom of my pool.

Ya, I'm a glutton for punishment.
 
Alright, a few posts back I said sand would be the only filter media I'll use from here on in. I lied.

I'm still struggling with getting this remaining DE out of the water. It's nice and clear until I sweep the bottom. Constant filtering is only doing so much. The skimmer sock DEFINITELY helped, but hibernation time for my pool is rapidly approaching. I'd like this stuff to be gone before I close it down.

I picked up some Pro Guard cellulose to use in place of DE, as a filter aid for the DE. Ya, madness. I added a cup to my skimner, fully expecting to see it blast out the return. NOTHING came out. My mother happened to be at my house visiting, so I put her to work and had her watch the return from a different angle. Another cup went in. We both saw nothing come out. 4 more cups were added in succession. Again, nothing. I looked at the pressure gauge. A 1psi increase :)

I'll report back in a few days and tell you folks how it's working as far as removing the DE, but so far so good with the cellulose staying in the filter.
 

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Here is a pic after running my pump overnight. I sprinkled about a tablespoon of cellulose into the skimmer WITH the sock in place, to improve its effectiveness. The cellulose is pure white. As you can see, the slight clumpiness is the cellulose. The overall cream color is the DE it trapped overnight. Upon placing the cellulose "charged" sock/basket assembly into the skimmer, the pressure dropped 1 psi to 15. This AM it was down to 11. I removed the basket and fired the pump up again and the pressure was 16 (up 1 from a clean sand bed) indicating the initial 7 cups of cellulose added was apparently still in there.
 

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Here's a pic of just the sock (no cellulose added) after 12 hrs. The main reason I'm posting these photos is to show the effectiveness of a skimmer sock in general, not necessarily at removing DE. I couldn't find many pix using google, so hopefully this is helpful for non-forum members too.
 

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toofast said:
I am right there with you....still have piles of DE on my pool floor.
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Not sure how similar an IG skimmer basket is to an AG, but it might be worth taking another shot at the socks. Maybe doubling them up would help. You just gotta keep sweeping those piles into the water column. As you can see, adding a bit of cellulose to the sock was fairly effective in my case. Maybe it'll work for you as well.

Ill keep you updated as to how my battle is going, aside from obviously very s l o o o o w ly.
 
Well here's my update. All of the small deposits of DE are gone. When I run the broom across the pool floor, whether in daylight or at night under the scrutiny of the light, I see ZERO debris getting kicked up! I can say, with absolute certainty, 99.9999% of the DE is out of my pool. I'm sure there is a trivial abount left, but it's not showing anywhere except possibly in my skimmer sock. I say possibly because it could just be regularly occurring debris such as dust, airborne fine sand particles, etc.

This nightmare is FINALLY over. The cellulose media in the filter and skimmer sock worked great. I wish I had known about it earlier. While this ordeal completely sucked, I'm EXTREMELY happy this forum was here and I was able to publicly document everything so that the next guy or gal that has a similar problem, can hopefully come across this thread in a search. I'm not saying cellulose media will work in every situation, but it worked wonders in mine.

Thanks to all who participated.
 
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