Backwashing

[brucelieb]

I have been fighting cloudy water and algae. I think I got the algae situation under control.
I have: well water
black vinyl pool,
sand filter hayward.
I have used a whole lot of shock and have been running my filter 24/7 for a weekor more
with 3" chorine tabs in the auto chlorinator .
I brush the walls, vac on waste, run the aqua bot, check my chems, add baking soda.... All my stats are good but on the low side, except CYV it seems real low.. I should buy the taylor test kit you talk about.
(I use aquasomething test strips)
so here is the question of the day...WHen and for how long do I backwash?????? do I have to? should I add floc to kill the cloudy milky look?

[Denali]

I have been fighting cloudy water and algae. I think I got the algae situation under control.
I have: well water
black vinyl pool,
sand filter hayward.
I have used a whole lot of shock and have been running my filter 24/7 for a weekor more
with 3" chorine tabs in the auto chlorinator .
I brush the walls, vac on waste, run the aqua bot, check my chems, add baking soda.... All my stats are good but on the low side, except CYV it seems real low.. I should buy the taylor test kit you talk about.
(I use aquasomething test strips)
so here is the question of the day...WHen and for how long do I backwash?????? do I have to? should I add floc to kill the cloudy milky look?

Hi,

Backwash until you see clear water exiting through the backwash. If you can't see the water, try 2 minutes and then run on rinse for 30-45 secs. Switch it back to filter and check the filter pressure. If it's back down to normal, clean level, you're done. You backwash as the filter pressure goes up. When you notice the suction has dropped at the skimmer, time to backwash.

Floc might help with the cloudiness but I would make sure your chemical balance is right on before turning to the floc. Without knowing the numbers it's tough to give advice. When you know exactly what the CYA level is you can then adjust your chlorine level accordingly.

A good test kit really is worth it.