Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Pool pumps, pool filters and the plumbing of
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azpoolpros
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Posts: 3
Joined: Fri 22 May, 2009 17:40
My Pool: Dont have a pool but care for 50 a week.
Location: Mesa

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby azpoolpros » Fri 22 May, 2009 20:22

Every pool that I have ever serviced with zeobest, or zeobrite, has had nothing but problems.

Example:

Drained a pool due to green water plus it was very hard. with new water I raised cya to 60ppm and shocked and it was good for 3 weeks when all the sudden the pool turned green. told my customer must be the sand, he say's "no no I just replaced it with the world famous zeobest a few months ago". so I says ok and shocked the pool super hard using trichlor, even though it had like 10ppm+ chl. -- 1 week later the pool looked the same so I took the liberty to open the filter and look at the media and it was that zeobest stuff, had a bunch of clumps, looked and felt like clay, so I removed as much of the clay stuff as I could and the next week the pool looked great. But 1 week later it was green again...with 10ppm+ chl. Would have like to have figured it out but the customer fired me, maybe they thought I had somehow caused this problem.

I have had many other cases like this. I know not to use special additives with zeobest like algaecides and clearifier as this just adds to the problem. Just recently I had the same problem as above, but this time instead of recommending to the customer to have the sand changed I tried to "treat" the media with the annual treatment and I think it just made the problem worse.

So if you have had problems like this please share, I feel like I'm the only person that hates this stuff. Is there something I'm overlooking????


Thanks!

Sparkling Pool Service
Mesa, AZ


Paul Teague

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Paul Teague » Sun 30 Aug, 2009 13:36

I have spent $700 to maintain the 33' above ground I got last year from the world famous big "W" brand, now known as Family Leisure I have brought them 2 samples of pool water and on 2 seperate occasions they told me there was no salt showing in my Copper/salt system. Coicidentally this was 30 days apart and I bought 100lbs of salt from them and added it the first time. The water was constantly cloudy this year and would not clear up no matter what I did. Then i added the ph add and flock they said add, and the pool turned forest green/brown. When I told them this the second time, they sold me a bill of goods about the copper was making my pool forest green/brown. At this point I am into them for $210 in chemicals to fix the problem between the two trips, including flock, shock, ph raise, salt, farm grade chlorine, a dozen bottles of clarifier, etc, not including the $400 I spent at year beginning for chemicals.

I decided to check out my local small pool guy. He tested every aspect in front of me with an electronic tester. I knew it was correct because I did not tell him my ph was through the roof - his tester told me what I already knew. He asked me if I was using zeo-brite or sand, and I told him zeo-brite and he told me the story about cloudy water. It seems zeo-brite is cheaper than sand on the front end, but unlike sand that lasts seven years, zeobrite is usually a 1 season product. The "W" did not tell me this. They also did not tell me until after I bought the pool and had it for a year the copper/salt filter does not work as well on pools above 27'. So now I am buying a chlorine filter, another $95, I bought more Flock, algaecide, sand and am starting over at end of season. Will never go back to the "W" brand again.

Paul Teague
Atoka, TN
aliciadecker

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby aliciadecker » Thu 22 Oct, 2009 00:48

I put in Zeo sand about a year ago, I noticed I was having cloudy issues sometimes without any reason, so the pool store guy said I needed to add one more bag then what manufacture says. I did it, it may fix the cloudy issue but I have so many other problems who has time to care about cloudy. I have had a green pool 4x in 2 mos. I have used a rediculous amout of shock just to get a detectable level. In two mos my cy has gone from 100 to 150. I thought the shock went bad until my chiropractor told me his problems with zeo. He had to drain his pool 2x in 6 mos. He had problems with they cyan too. I'm not a pool person, I know what has worked for the last 7 years and what hasn't. I have never had such problems! Most of the chemicals aren't working. I am now draining my pool, and by tomorrow eve will have regular silica sand. I have wasted so much money in the last 3 mos my blood just boils! I hope the word gets out soon and saves alot of ppl money. I lost 4 algae treatments, 1/3 of a 50lb pail of shock, an extra bag of zeo, a pool full of water, and alot of disention in my home because of it!
Rene pacheco

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Rene pacheco » Wed 28 Oct, 2009 09:38

so would you discourage me from buying zeo for our new triton60 sand filter? email
Guest

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Guest » Sat 08 May, 2010 03:46

To the pro who thinks CYA as high as 60ppm is OK : You deserved to be fired. CYA that high is significantly deactivating the free chlorine. Go to troublefreepool.com and learn something.
aguirrebta

Do you recommend the Zeobrite or definitely use sand instead

Postby aguirrebta » Sun 30 May, 2010 19:01

I am asking anyone that is knowledgeable in this area to please let me know if using the Zeobrite will make things harder on me when maintaining pool chemicals. I have a 24" Round Aboveground Pool with Ionizer. My sand filter is a Purex Triton 20" Meteor High Rate Sand Filter. Please let me know as soon as possible I am going to be opening my pool up again. Thanks for your help.
poole tester

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby poole tester » Mon 06 Dec, 2010 21:51

I put in Zeobest last year in a new Pentair filter and had cloudy problems on and off all season.

A few weeks ago my filter completly blocked and there was not enough pressure to run my creapy crawler. After a few days of messing with it, the fliter actually damaged my impleller from back pressure...

I tore the filter apart and the ZeoBest is filthy, backwash didn't clean it.

Hmmm, seems like a lot of money and effort was wasted here. I can't recommned it.....

Searching to se what other people thought and I found this site.
Karen

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Karen » Mon 30 May, 2011 12:02

I recently read the other posts on this forum, and it saved my pool. At the end of the season last year, I started fighting algae problems and green water. I couldn't figure out why. All chemical levels were correct, and chlorine was always high because of fighting the algae problem. I was using tons of algecide too. Two weeks ago when I opened my pool, the algae war began again. Needless to say, I had put Zeobrite in my filter the previous summer. This year after 5 lbs of shock in an 11,000 gal. pool, tons of algecide, Green to Clean chemical, etc. I finally saw this forum. I opened my filter and couldn't believe the "pea soup" that existed there. The Zeobrite was completely green. It was disgusting. The top layer of water in the filter was relatively clear, but as I removed the Zeobrite and got to the bottom I was afraid for my health! I just replaced the Zeobrite with sand, and within a few hours the pool water is clearing up. Thank you!!!
Thamilton

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Thamilton » Fri 03 Jun, 2011 14:29

The problem you described is due to the zeobest not being installed correctly. The clumping is caused by not having the filter half full of water before adding zeobest to filter tank. It must also be backwashed prior to starting.
TSH Pool Tech

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby TSH Pool Tech » Fri 24 Jun, 2011 21:10

I am a swimming pool technician in the Northern California area with a few clients in our business that we have setup with Zeobrite sand filters. About a year and a half after we installed these filters in the same month, like uranium half life, all of our clients pools turned green. Keep in mind, our business has been in the industry since 1982, there isn't anything we haven't seen until Zeobrite. Chemically, our pools were perfect down to the zero measurement of phosphates. I determined this had to be a filtering media problem: Zeobrite.
It was at that moment we felt we have been sold up the creek with this media and dreaded eating the replacement costs of all of our clients afflicted. I wasn't about to give up just yet. I took a sample of the Zeobrite from all of our clients filters and began making a makeshift lab in my kitchen. I'll cut to the chase, Zeobrite has to be cleaned!
There were two methods I found to work the best, Chlorine or sand filter cleaner that sells in a 32oz bottle. The way I cleaned our clients Zeobrite was to shut the pumps off, switch the backwash valve to recirculate, pop the top and remove some of the water down to just where I can see the Zeobrite. This was done by moving the backwash lever to backwash and letting the water out some, then moved back to Recirculate. I carefully poured 1 gallon of chlorine into the tank. This is a very risky way to clean, goggles, rubber gloves and a some protective clothing are a must, no exception. Using a 3/4" Sch 40 PVC pipe, I carefully stirred the Zeobrite around as to not break the laterals underneath. This circulated the chemical around into the entire tank. I then let the chemical soak in the tank for half an hour. Came back, sealed the filter back up with the cap and ran the backwash cycle. For the chlorine cleaning, our particular client had the backwash discharge run into a sewer pipe. If it had ran out into the grass there would have been grass and shrub damage. Clients that had discharge into the yard, I used the sand filter cleaner, which made a foam mess that eventually subsided. A cycle of Rinse finished the task and then back to Filter. Two months had past and our Zeobrite clients have pools that are crystal clear again.
TSH Tech

Part 2

Postby TSH Tech » Fri 24 Jun, 2011 21:23

A company by the name of Bio-Dex makes a cleaning agent specifically designed for Zeo products. We haven't tested that product yet, but will do so in the next summer season year.

Zeobrite offers the clarity of a DE type filter with the maintenance of a sand filter. Uhhh, yes and no. We have found that cleaning the Zeobrite before each swimming season must be performed without exception. Pools that have high frequency of becoming dirty, with oak trees and other high oily shedding shrubbery must be cleaned 2 times a year without exception.

Zeobrite's secret to filtration is keeping it's pores 'rough' and 'jagged', chemicals such as water clarifiers, liquid algaecides or other chemicals that trap inside the filter clog those pores rending Zeobrite pretty much useless and the pool will cloud up or turn green which ever comes first. Regular backwashing and physical cleaning of the media is a must for Zeobrite in order to maintain a crystal clear pool.

Nowhere is this information readily available, I had to discover this for myself in my kitchen labratory and experiment on my own clients :thumbdown: Eventually I found the answer and I hope this information helps all of you. It's not a bad product, it just needs maintenance that regular beach sand does not require.

-Tech "G", TSH
TSH Tech

GREEN Zeobrite

Postby TSH Tech » Fri 24 Jun, 2011 21:48

Karen wrote: I opened my filter and couldn't believe the "pea soup" that existed there. The Zeobrite was completely green. It was disgusting. The top layer of water in the filter was relatively clear, but as I removed the Zeobrite and got to the bottom I was afraid for my health! I just replaced the Zeobrite with sand, and within a few hours the pool water is clearing up. Thank you!!!


When cleaning our clients filters, we discovered this phenomenon: "Green Zeobrite". It's simply a discoloration, the product is not destroyed by any means.
Brand new, it is white, but should you discover it turned green as Karen discovered, hope it not lost. Zeobrite discolors when there is copper present. Copper in pools comes in very basic forms, copper pipes, pool heaters and copper-based algaecides. I experimented with a Muriatic Acid type cleaning hoping to whiten the Zeobrite, only to find the discoloration is permanent. However, it did perform a very deep cleaning of the product. I don't advise this type of cleaning due to the sheer danger of messing with acid. Bio-Dex Zeo Filter Cleaner is perfect for the job. Green Zeobrite 'n all! :thumbup:
Harvey

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby Harvey » Sun 06 May, 2012 18:51

I have had no problems. If you read all the comments it is obviously that it is a user caused problem, the "pool specialist" did not know how to use the product .

Harvey
BeckyB

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby BeckyB » Sun 10 Jun, 2012 17:48

I have have had my 24' above ground pool for 5 years. It was installed with Zeobest sand and I have never, ever had a problem with it. I've never even had to shock it during the swim season. Only to open and close. This year is the only time I can't get it clear. Pool guy says its time to change the sand. Other than that it's worked like a dream.
TSH Tech

Problems with zeobrite or zeobest

Postby TSH Tech » Mon 11 Jun, 2012 02:31

Every pool is different. I attribute my experience when making the following statements; Some pools are problem free with Zeo-sand and typically have little to no vegetation planted around the pool. Other pools with Zeo-sand simply crash out green on a whim due to excessive tree sap & shedding, plant shedding, lawn services blowing debris into the pool because they're too lazy to remove the debris, all create problems with Zeo-sand.

Update - The pools mentioned in my previous posts have all had their Zeo-sand removed and regular sand filled. It has been determined these particular pools encounter unusual amounts of sap and vegetation shedding, making Zeo-Sand a poor choice in filtering media for these pools, given their surroundings. The improvement of water clarity since switching to regular sand was significant requiring normal backwashing to clean the filter.
On the flip side, we have additional customers running Zeo-Sand that a experiencing no problems with the filter media.

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