Postby Clark » Sat 07 Jul, 2012 11:37
I had this problem and found a cheap solution. We filled directly from the well and had coffee-colored water as a result. We have a 14' 42" Intex above-ground pool. The problem is the iron in the water is too small to be filtered out by the Intex filter system (I have a Type A filter). I had 16 inches visibility into the water when I starter, after I used the below following solution to the problem, I have clear blue water.
The solution ("benchmarked" i.e., stolen, from others around the net). Before spending lots of money on chemicals, try the following for under $15. Make a better filter with items around the house, and make the iron particles bigger.
Items you will need:
1) large 1-gallon plastic juice bottle
2) an old pillow with fiber-fill
3) some teflon tape ($1-4 depending on where you get it)
4) a $11 bottle of foculant from KMart/Walmart
Foculate the iron in the water:
Follow directions on the bottle for your pool size. Do this a few hours before running your new filter for best results.
Make the filter:
Drill some small holes in the juice bottle (I used a juice bottle rather than a 1-gal milk jug because the bottle neck is stiffer). Cut open the pillow and stuff the bottle with the fiber-fill from the pillow. Use a small rod or stick to really push it down inside so it isn't 'fluffy'; you want it packed in tight.
Connect filter to pool:
Find the hose returning water from the filter-pump to the pool. Remove the pool end (stopping the hole so water doesn't leak out). Connect the hose to your new filter with the existing clamp (using teflon tape around the mouth of the bottle if necessary to keep a tight fit). Instead of just draping the bottle over the side of the pool, set the it on the ladder so there isn't strain on the hose connection. Turn it on and let it run overnight.
The next morning, you should see a difference (I could see the pool bottom). Clean out your filter pump filter (not the bottle), add a new filter, keep going. Every few hours or so, change filters in the filter pump. You should be seeing some nice brown in the bottle filter, and some cleaner water in your pool. After 2 days (the water should be yellow-blue [green*] now), add another dose of foculant. Using this method, we had crystal clear water by day three. I hope you find this useful! I'd like to hear your results if you try this: cwlind (at) gmail dot com. I didn't take any pictures at the start, but can post some of the filter and clean pool somewhere if anyone is interested.
*it looked green because the yellowish iron against the blue pool liner... don't mistake this for algae.
No, I'm not a pool expert, just a new owner who decided to tackle a brown-water problem. Good luck!
) I'm telling you, the layers of tube socks zip tied over the end of the incoming tube from your filter is the answer! Wrap the sock layers with a towel and then spray it out every few hours when the towel is totally dark orange. I'm so happy to have our pool up and ready for chlorine now two days before the holiday weekend. Hurray!
