What about Glass Filter Media?

[DoItYourOwn]

Moved from here.

I also want to know more about Glass Media and what is a good sand filter housing to use it with:

I have a DE Filter last 6 years. It takes a lot of maintenance and I backwash a lot. It is now dumping DE in the pool. I have a 30,000 gal pool. Backwashing is easy but does use some water and I have a multiport valve that works really well. I would like an opinion on using a Sand Filter but with Glass media like Glass Perls https://www.waterco.com.au/.... Isn't this possibly the best option when it comes to filtering the smallest particle size, ease of maintenance (less backwashing than DE, and simple - no removing cartridge, cleaning, etc...), last for 8-11 years, lowest pressure. Is there any downside to this from an ease of maintenance and energy efficiency perspective? I know it’s more expensive initially but I am looking for ease of pool Maintenance.

Also Will glass media work with a slow flow variable speed pump at 25 GPM or less? Is it heavier than sand and can the laterals break and glass media go into the pool? Would they just sink to bottom of pool and not cause people harm?

 

[Richard320]

Try using the search box up at the top. It may be a while before someone with firsthand experience comes along and sees this. I'll give you a summary of what I've seen here: sand replacements don't seem to work as well as they claim to.

I'm wondering why you backwash so much. Do you get a lot of algae or something? That's a chemistry problem. I have a DE filter. It was here long before I bought the place almost ten years ago and it still filters great with two cleanings a year.

 

[DoItYourOwn]

Thanks for the quick reply! Reasons i backwash:

1. I have a variable speed pump and run at a low flow rate to save on electricity (25 GPM, 18 hours per day).
2. I have a lot of trees and bushes that small debris fall into the pool.
3. Even when my pool chemistry is perfect I have to do micro backwashes (10-15 seconds) 2 times a week or my DE filter pressure rises so my variable speed pump RPM’s rise and my electric usage goes up 200-400%.

I also have to change my DE every 3-4 weeks which as you mentioned is probably more of pool chemistry issue. I have a low chlorine pool(.5 to 1ppm) using a pool frogger system that I am planning on getting rid of and going to SWG (salt water generator) soon.

 

[Richard320]

Put a knee-high nylon, a foodservice hairnet, or a skimmer sock over your skimmer basket and it will strain out most of the pollen and anything bigger than pollen. Cuts way down on filter clogging, since the filter only has to deal with microscopic stuff.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Can I please ask- Where in the world is Wernersville?

This being an internationally read forum, its helpful for us to have a good idea of where you are. This clues us iin to you climate, your water conditions and other things that help us answer you.

Please be a tad more specific than just "Wernersville" 'k? Thanks!

Maddie

 

[Flying Tivo]

If you are used to DE, then you can get a sand filter using regular sand and can add DE to sand filter to increase filtering. I would not recommend glass media, I use ZeoSand but it has it learning curve.

 

[DoItYourOwn]

Can I please ask- Where in the world is Wernersville?

This being an internationally read forum, its helpful for us to have a good idea of where you are. This clues us iin to you climate, your water conditions and other things that help us answer you.

Please be a tad more specific than just "Wernersville" 'k? Thanks!

Maddie

Wernersville, Pennsylvania is in USA about 20 min southwest of Reading (between Philadelphia and Pittsburg). Our pollen count is also very high!

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum

I believe your issues are more centered around trying to maintain that chlorine from .5 to 1 ppm than to any filtration problems. It is exceedingly difficult to keep algae out of your pool at that FC level and the algae is clogging your filtration.

Sand filters (with sand in them) work perfectly in the largest aquariums in the world......I wouldn't try to re-invent the wheel with any other type media.

In fact, I would suggest you get you SWG up and running and you may find your current filtration is just fine.

Please read "The "ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" up in Pool School.....you'll throw Froggy into the woods and start chlorinating correctly and have a sparkling, trouble free pool.

 

[Costas > DownUnder]

Is there any downside to this from an ease of maintenance and energy efficiency perspective? I know it’s more expensive initially but I am looking for ease of pool Maintenance.

No real downsides except for initial cost of the media.

Whether it performs much better than sand is open to debate. I have been using glass media since my pool was installed approx. 1 yr ago so I have no first hand experience with sand media however I find that the glass media works well as far as filtering goes.

Also Will glass media work with a slow flow variable speed pump at 25 GPM or less? Is it heavier than sand and can the laterals break and glass media go into the pool? Would they just sink to bottom of pool and not cause people harm?

Glass (as well as sand) actually perform better at lower flow rates - most filter media does, as you have less pressure forcing particles through the filter bed which means more particles are likely to get trapped by the filter.

Glass media looks and feels and pretty much behaves like fine sand so it is not really an issue if it somehow ends up it in the pool.

When you first add glass media to your filter - you add a certain amount of coarse glass media (refer to your filter and glass media specs) and then the majority of the fill is done with a finer particle size glass media. This actually helps the laterals by maintaining good flow around the base of the filter which is one small advantage of glass media (apparently.. ).