What to do about charges of DE that got through the filter and into the pool water?
This is a corollary to my recent thread about cloudy water. From talking to several pool professionals, the theory behind my unusual foaming is that the DE actually got through the grids, so that now I have a pool full of suspended DE particles. Let me explain why this may well be the case since otherwise it sounds implausible. Last year I had new grids put on my Apollo VA-52 vertical filter. (Not being able to get them off myself I had a local pool repairer do it). When I soaked them in filter cleaner prior to opening the pool this season, I noticed that, when I took the grids out of the cleaning solution, some of the grids seemed to move around and were a bit loose. Not thinking anything of this, I opened the pool - which cleared up to a point but then seemed to stop at a very cloudy point and then the foam started (described in more detail in a different part of the forum). What also seemed odd to me is that every time I backwashed, took apart the filter and cleaned the grids, there never seemed to be very much DE on them. They hosed off way too easily for how dirty the pool water was. So, the thinking behind all of this is that if the grids were loose (there is a threaded shaft and nut on the one end that holds the whole filter mechanism - including the 10 grids - together), the DE and other stuff could get through the grids, into the center piping and back into the pool. Also supporting this theory is that every time the filter starts I've seen a whole bunch of debris and bugs enter the pool at the return jets. Have never seen that before.
Anyway, the recommendation given to me is to put the grids back in (after tightening them up good), but not add any DE. Hopefully some of the DE will fall out of solution and get trapped on the grids. Not sure if that will happen or not. Next step would be to shut the filter off for a day and see if more DE settles to the bottom, and then can be vacuumed to waste. Then, finally, add new DE and start filtering. So far I'm only at the first step. I have the grids in and running the filter but there is no DE in it. Thus far, the foaming has increased instead of being less.
Any suggestions about this situation would be greatly appreciated since I have a swimming event coming up next weekend at my place and really need to get the pool in good shape. Nobody would want to swim in it (including me) the way it looks right now.