What to do about particles floating in pool?

Question

We just bought a home with a pool. I've done a bit of research online, and feel pretty comfortable with the system, but one thing is bugging me. Regardless of how long I leave our pump on (sometimes for 24 hours or more), when I look at the water, I see tiny debris throughout the surface of the pool.

I've tried using a pool net to scrape the top of the pool (several times) but the particles never really go completely away. Our pool is in a screen-enclosed area, so I don't think it's anything external.

We run a pool vac, which gets the bottom pretty clean, but I just can't seem to get rid of the smaller stuff floating on top. My next move I guess will be to recharge the DE filtration system... but I wanted to see if there are other causes for this that I could remedy before dropping $150 on a tech to come out and clean/recharge the filter?

Answer 1

Is the skimmer basket unit working properly so that the pump sucks in water from right at the water surface? If not then repair or replace it with new parts as necessary.

Your DE filtration system may have some problems. The internal screens that hold the DE matrix in place may have holes that allow water to go right through the filter without passing through a layer of the DE material. If so then the problem screens would need replacement.

It is also possible that the last time the filter system was replenished with DE material that not enough was added and so some portion of the filter screens are not covered with a layer DE material or the layer is way way to thin. In this case your planned back flush and maintenance check of the filter is in order.

Answer 2

about a month ago I had a swimming pool installed at my house. It is a fibreglass pool and the installers had it filled 2/3 with water during installation to get the inside outside pressure equal.

It started raining and kept raining for about a week. When the install was completed and needless to say, the water was really awful, I asked the installer, well actually insisted that I want to clean the pool, you know......it would be my first pool clean.

First I start of getting all pH levels right and once that was done, I ran the pump for 36 hours, Friday 18:00 till Sunday at roughly 06:00.

All excited about my "supposed to be clear by now" pool, I woke up early that Sunday morning and to my utter disappointment, there I stood, starring at a dull creamy cloudy pool.

What I did next, worked like a charm......

1. I went and bought hth Xtreme Floc and poured half a bottle into my pool and ran the pump for about 3 hours on circulation to get it all mixed up a bit.

2. I left the pool standing for about 12 hour so that all the particles drop to the bottom (DO NOT switch on your automatic cleaner, it will just mix it all up again....I did and I had to wait again)

3. I took the inlet pipe and carefully sucked up the thick layer of "coffee" on the bottom of the pool to waste. I continued to about where the water was 2cm above the weir.

4. I then topped up my water to the correct amount....I think, 2cm under the top of the weir and ran the pump for 6 hours. By this time it was already much better, BUT I HAD THAT PARTICLES YOU ASKED ABOUT!!!!

5. I then added a floc block in the weir and ran the pump like normal (it makes the sand in the filter sticky, thus catching almost all those particles floating around)

6. Lastly, someone told me to put a thick sock on the outlets to catch the real fine ones and I must say, that helped a lot.

I am no expert, but this worked for me.