I'd made a post on the "Let's see your water..." thread, and I didn't want it to turn that thread into a discussion that was too focused on my pool, so I made this complimentary thread.
I don't think there's anything too crazy going on, but sharing in case others recognize a pattern and want to share their experience.
Quick (very) recap for those not wanting to read the other thread: My pool, after opening, looked pretty clear, but lots of sand/silt on the bottom. After I started adding water and vacuuming, etc, it got quite cloudy. My water was not too bad (levels-wise), and I had it in spec withing about 24 hours. Meanwhile, the cloudiness ... wasn't getting better very quickly. I think it was around day 4 that I decided to add some DE, but I added garden-variety DE (meaning, literally for gardens, not pools), which worked about as poorly as those of you in-the-know would expect. For those of you not in the know, make sure you don't do that; instead, read How to add DE to a sand filter. So, several cycles of backwashing and filtering later, and then adding the right type of DE, things are gradually getting better. It was almost 'decent' this morning before I went and did some manual vacuuming and then turned the robot loose. Post-robot, it's somewhat cloudy again (my robot, even with my custom-made 80-micron basket, does no good whatsoever with the sand we have out here). I knew the robot wouldn't collect it, but if I let it kick up the dust, maybe the filter will get some/a lot of it.
I am still a bit baffled why I had this problem at all, this year. It's not happened to me before. Hence, I will do an OCLT tonight just to be sure there's no organics in the pool.
For a few days, I toyed with converting to cartridge filter, but I just spent money (actually toward the end of last season, but swimming-wise, just 2-3 months ago) converting to SWG, and I'm reluctant to spend another bucket of money just yet.
I've been reading up on the failure modes of sand filters that have suffered winter damage.
When I manually vacuumed earlier I noticed that when I was calling it done (as in, I was done, not the job!) had very little suction. I'd had a sock on my skimmer and it was quite clogged with what appeared as a fine brown sludge. Could easily have been fine sand and DE, but I suppose it could also be a muck of dead organics. After rinsing that out and putting it back, I noticed the back pressure on my filter was higher than usual, so I backwashed the filter again. Between the two steps, I think I got a lot of junk out of the pool, and I expect it will look much better tomorrow.
At this point, I think I'm just dealing with a surplus of very fine sand and the wrong DE that I added several days back. I haven't yet re-added the right DE since today's backwash. I may do that in a bit, or just let it idle for the day.
I feel like letting my suction side crawler (Wanda the whale) is the best way to deal with this, but she's not doing a good job of moving around the pool lately. I've got my eye on a Zodiac MX8 Elite, but, again, rather not spend the money
I have some new feet for Wanda on the way - maybe that'll breathe new life into her!
I don't think there's anything too crazy going on, but sharing in case others recognize a pattern and want to share their experience.
Quick (very) recap for those not wanting to read the other thread: My pool, after opening, looked pretty clear, but lots of sand/silt on the bottom. After I started adding water and vacuuming, etc, it got quite cloudy. My water was not too bad (levels-wise), and I had it in spec withing about 24 hours. Meanwhile, the cloudiness ... wasn't getting better very quickly. I think it was around day 4 that I decided to add some DE, but I added garden-variety DE (meaning, literally for gardens, not pools), which worked about as poorly as those of you in-the-know would expect. For those of you not in the know, make sure you don't do that; instead, read How to add DE to a sand filter. So, several cycles of backwashing and filtering later, and then adding the right type of DE, things are gradually getting better. It was almost 'decent' this morning before I went and did some manual vacuuming and then turned the robot loose. Post-robot, it's somewhat cloudy again (my robot, even with my custom-made 80-micron basket, does no good whatsoever with the sand we have out here). I knew the robot wouldn't collect it, but if I let it kick up the dust, maybe the filter will get some/a lot of it.
I am still a bit baffled why I had this problem at all, this year. It's not happened to me before. Hence, I will do an OCLT tonight just to be sure there's no organics in the pool.
For a few days, I toyed with converting to cartridge filter, but I just spent money (actually toward the end of last season, but swimming-wise, just 2-3 months ago) converting to SWG, and I'm reluctant to spend another bucket of money just yet.
I've been reading up on the failure modes of sand filters that have suffered winter damage.
- Cracked casing - nope. No leaks, doesn't really have anything to do with my problem anyway.
- Damaged Laterals - Don't think so. I am gradually getting the sand out of the pool. Not seeing plumes of sand from the return jet. Now I think of it though, I did on that first day... maybe I can't totally rule this out yet.
- Damaged multiport valve - Don't think so. I do have a slight leak into the waste port, but very small, and it's not new this year. (I mean, my waste hose will accumulate a few cups of water between backwashes). I think if I had a real problem here, it would take the form of allowing water to bypass the filter, and if that were the case, I'd see plumes of white DE when I add it to the skimmer (or shortly after, rather.) That's not happening.
When I manually vacuumed earlier I noticed that when I was calling it done (as in, I was done, not the job!) had very little suction. I'd had a sock on my skimmer and it was quite clogged with what appeared as a fine brown sludge. Could easily have been fine sand and DE, but I suppose it could also be a muck of dead organics. After rinsing that out and putting it back, I noticed the back pressure on my filter was higher than usual, so I backwashed the filter again. Between the two steps, I think I got a lot of junk out of the pool, and I expect it will look much better tomorrow.
At this point, I think I'm just dealing with a surplus of very fine sand and the wrong DE that I added several days back. I haven't yet re-added the right DE since today's backwash. I may do that in a bit, or just let it idle for the day.
I feel like letting my suction side crawler (Wanda the whale) is the best way to deal with this, but she's not doing a good job of moving around the pool lately. I've got my eye on a Zodiac MX8 Elite, but, again, rather not spend the money
I have some new feet for Wanda on the way - maybe that'll breathe new life into her!