Brown powdery sediment on pool floor

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Writchey
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My Pool: My diving pool is about 30 feet long by 15 wide and goes from 3 feet to 8 feet in depth. I have a Waterco sand filter with a multiport valve (which leaked and I replaced the o-ring a few weeks back) There is a single skimmer assembly and it appears there are three outlet points from the filter. I have a Hayward pump.
Location: Glendale AZ

Brown powdery sediment on pool floor

Postby Writchey » Sat 07 Aug, 2010 11:27

swimnsaveusa wrote:
Writchey wrote: Also, when was the last time you changed the sand? It is possible the effectiveness is now depleted.


I just moved into this property in June and have no way of knowing the history of the pool. When we made an offer for the property back in May the pool was clean and clear.

During the home inspection we ordered, the inspector noted the multiport valve was leaking so when escrow closed I went about cleaning up all the little things his inspection uncovered. I determined the leaking multiport probably needed a new O-ring so I replaced that, but unfortunately got the valve stem put back together wrong and the timer ran the pump when the valve stem was incorrectly positioned. Eventually through the help of a local pool supply house I assembled it correctly, but I don't know what effect letting the system run with the mis-aligned multiport might have had. Perhaps this could have damaged the laterals? If there is a serious probability misalignment could cause damage, you would think the design would incorporate a keying system to prevent botched alignments. Even something as simple as a heavy scribe mark would help.

If I cannot clean this up using the course I am on (shocking, scrubbing, and algaeside) I probably have no recourse except to look hard at the option of replacing the sand. How much would you estimate it should cost to have an expert accomplish this?

I want to emphasize that the sediment has changed color and decreased as I worked on getting rid of the green algae. The sediment is now definitely green colored, which strengthens my conviction that the filter is simply not removing what I vacuum. A pool supply store here recommended a sand rejuvenation treatment so I bought a bottle, but am waiting to gather more evidence before using it.

Will floculent help this issue? That, and Pool Bright were other suggestions to try.


floridapooltech
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My Pool: License # CPO34-283076
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Brown powdery sediment on pool floor

Postby floridapooltech » Sat 07 Aug, 2010 11:50

ok. "sand rejuvenation" is just another chemical the pool store sold you to get money. Sand usually lasts about 5-8 years before it needs to be replaced. The laterals are most likely your problem as they are what seperates the sand from returning to the pool. The botched installation of the spider gasket is not going to cause any damage inside your filter, if anything, it would only cause a leaky mess! You may not have even damaged the gasket if you caught it fairly quickly. Make sure when everything is fixed, you don't backwash the filter too often as a dirty sand filter will always clean better than a clean one. Replacement sand is going to cost quite a bit as your putting in somewhere around 200 lbs. most likely. Like I said it most likely the laterals, not the sand. Also, don't let the pool store con you into buying a bunch of chemicals which will not "cure" the problem, but temporarily fix it. If you can, perform a full panel test and post the results on here along with photo's of the algae. I'm very curious to see what your CYA and pH/alkalinity levels are at since this will have a huge impact on your FC or effective sanitation. In the mean time, don't put the flocculant, algaecide, pool bright, or rejuvenation kit and whatever else they are guessing and having you buy in until we see the results!

The results should contain:

FC
TC
pH
TA
CYA
CH
TDS
PHOS
NITR
danswthwolvs
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Brown powdery sediment on pool floor

Postby danswthwolvs » Thu 25 Sep, 2014 22:57

First make sure all leaves & sticks are out of pool so that what u have remaining is the brown sediment or algae.
The filter will not get rid of this by itself..... so no amount of "waste", "backwash, or "rinse" will help - your just doing a lot of water in!!! and going round in a (vicious circle)
When algae settles on floor of pool Go to skimmer box and clean out then line and 'NO' not with a"stocking" - not fine enough, but thin WETTEX or CLEAN RAG. must be finer than stocking.
Then put skimmer box vacuum head in place & vacuum keeping eye on suction & pressure
After short vacuum turn off and clean Skimmer box liners in bucket of water. You may have to repeat this only once or twice.
'Pool Inlet Pipe' & 'Skimmer Box Vacuum Head 'could also have a homemade vacuum bag, pehaps pump strainer basket could have a dense stocking place inside. GOOD LUCK :thumbup:

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