Ionizers and D.E. Filters Compatible??

[epic]

Having a D.E. filter, I understand it helps remove metals in addition to particles.

Question: Are D.E. filters compatible with Ionizers?

Since the Ionizer develops Copper and Silver ions into the water, is the D.E. filter going to just filter that out and make the Ionizer ineffective?

Thanks,
Ed

[Teapot1]

Never come across ioniser in a DE pool to be accurate. DE powder is the silica bodies of long dead sea creatures so I dont personally see how inert silica would do that? I know people who used zeolite with an ioniser and that reduced the copper as there is an elctrical charge on zeolite that attracts the positive charge from the copper. Used ionisers extensively for a number of years though and I would never fit one to a plaster/tiled/pebble finished pool unless you want ugly expensive to remove staining. Ok in a vinyl/glassfibre pool if the dose is kept tightly controlled. Big issue is the sellers of such ionisers have you test the active ionised copper level, however there is a residual copper element building up (obviously silver too but no one tests for that). On my own pool the active ionised copper level was kept between 0.6-0.8ppm however when I got my new test kit which can test for anything you can dissolve in water the actual residual copper level was 4.5ppm! True I never had algae but the vinyl liner was changing to green at the water line.
You can buy a hell of a lot of chlorine for the cost of an ioniser, many many years worth without the staining and toxic to plants and animals copper level. What is the issue you are trying to deal with that you believe the ioniser will cure? The Australian government clamped down on ionisers years ago because of the outrageous claims being made by manufacturers. They simply said if your ioniser can kill bacteria at the same rate as chlorine you can continue to sell them. Not a single one did without at least 0.5ppm of chlorine being present so 0.5ppm of chlorine was actually doing the work. Therefore in my professional opinion stick with chlorine unless there is some major thing you are trying to do.

[epic]

Thank you for your input TEAPOT1 -- I started using the ionizer last summer when we had extreme heat for extended days. I was adding chlorine regularly and it was getting painfully in the pocket. So I purchased it to help supplement. I have not seen any staining so far. My question stems from the D.E. package info that says, "removes metals", that's all. With the price of Chlorine skyrocketing -- ex: Costco used to sell 40lb for $84, now it's 36lb for $160,,, I was looking for alternatives.
Thanks,
Ed

[Teapot1]

Understood Ed, the copper build up takes quite some time so staining could take years. In my vinyl pool the liner material had metals in the vinyl compound so the + charges could have repelled the ionised copper up and till it finally tipped the balance. Have you looked at salt chlorination? I only see regulations and cost for liquid chlorine increasing so a salt chlorination would mean buy a bag or two of water softner salt a season. A bit more for electricity but we'll come to that shortly.
DE powder is expensive and replacing it messy to. Switch to Dr Drydens AFM ng glass media and its fitted for life. It filters to 1 micron (with the correct flow rate) and with flocculent sub micron. Easy to backwash and it doesnt biofoul so bacteria etc do not colonise it. It doesn't mudball or channel like sand does. Could save you a ton of money against DE.
Then the electricity costs, are you using a single speed pump? Fitting a variable speed or adding a variable speed drive to your pump could easily save you 50-60% of your electricity bill. We would need to know a bit more about your setup but I have specialised in this for 12 years and run my pool (I did re engineer it for max efficiency) on 5% of the electricity it used originally, not saying you would get that result but certainly around 60% saving.
Add up all the savings and additional things will pay for themselves, especially if you can sell the ioniser.