Zeolite life

[Jonzjob]

Has anyone any idea as to how long Zeolite lasts in the filter?

I have regenerated ours for the second time in about 6 years and it doesn't seem to be filtering as well as it should??

Also if it does need replacing, where can I get it these days??

[Théière]

Hi Jon, can you post some water figures as a loss of sparkle can be down to other things beside filtration. I am not saying it hasn't come to the end of it's life but worth looking at the water first. If you need more I suggest you get it where you went last time or alternatively buy some filtration media that doesn't wear out.

[Jonzjob]

Hi TP, thank you for your reply.

Figures.. That's a difficult one as over the last month or so the pool has been shocked 3 times, about 15Kg of bicarb has been added to get the TA up from a 'Lo' reading on my Scube+ to 103 and it has been backwashed to waste twice during that time the PH has been anywhere between 6.7 and 7.74 over the period of a few days and because of the shock the CF has been between 1.33 and off the scale. But there has been the same green deposit on the pool floor a couple of days after the backwash to waste. If I backwash through the filter the water becomes cloudy.

The readings I took yesterday are CF  =  3.28.  PH  =  7.37.  TA  =  'Lo'. We have not had more than a few mm of rain for an age now. Neighbouring pools, less than 100 yards away and one under pine trees, are clear, blue.

There is a pattern to the deposit and this has only started to appear reciently. The direction of the jets has not been changed, but it loks as if there is a water circulation problem all of a sudden.

3 years back the pump was uprated from 1hp to 1.5hp and there hasn't been any problems from that change.

This is part of that pattern. If you would like to see the rest of the pool I can get the photos for you.

[IMG]http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f180/Jonzjob/Johns/IMG_7101.jpg[/IMG]

There is little or no leaf fall or debris in the pool. A friend, who is a long time water quality engineer, has had a look and confirmed what I thought that it is some kind of algue deposit, but has no idea as to where it could have come from? I retrieved a sample from the bottom using a long aluminium tube for him to look at.

Earlier this year I fitted a Geobubble light blue summer cover to replace the old dark blue one, but the problem still happens when the pool is covered by the floating safety cover is on and we have had that for about 7 years. It also happens if there is no cover on the pool for several days too.

Any ideas please?

[Théière]

Hi Jon,

I think we first need to sort out the algae problem, we have had some strange storms of late and that can bring all sorts of dirt, debris and algae with it. The dirt may just form along the lines of flow from the returns.

Vacuum as much of the dirt to waste as you can as the chlorine won't be used up oxidising the dirt.

I can't remember how big your pool is and It would seem you have the Scuba without the stabiliser measurement (cyanuric acid) this is a key parameter as it has an overall effect on any treatment recommendations.  I have a stand alone cyanuric acid tester here so PM me if you want one.

Choc'ing is a process not a product, you need to raise the chlorine level using eau de javel 9.6% from a Brico at the rate of 5litres/50m3 of pool but you need to keep the pool held at that level by regular additions of chlorine as it will get used up pretty quickly at first killing algae.  Your Scuba can't measure that high so buy the liquid test set (OTO) which will allow you to measure higher without bleaching out.  That should turn the pool into a haze of blue, add more chlorine after 4 hours if required and maintain that regime until the algae is all dead and the chlorine level is not dropping.

It is annoying the way the Scuba only shows HI or LO when you go outside of it's pre programmed range. The Scuba doesn't know what type of pool you have so how does it know what's low or Hi. The Scuba was basically set up with parameters to suit concrete/tiled pools, with liner pools you can run more efficient chemistry and save a bob or two.

I remember your racks of Navitron tubes, is that why you upped the pump to 1.5hp? 

[Jonzjob]

Once again ta for the reply. I will vac the pool out this morning. The pool size is 53 cube m.

Sorry,

I forgot to add the cyn.  reading. It is about 40 at the moment. It

could be upped to the 50ppm if you think it is needed. I have some

'stabiliser' that I can use for that. Last week I also checked the Total Chlor and it was showing 0.5ppm above the CF reading and it has been fairly consistant at that difference.

At that time the CF   =  2.41.  CT  =  2.95ppm.

I get javel 12.5% from a

place that supplies it in bulk. They get a very good turnover so it's

almost certainly fresher than a brico bidon, cheaper too at 11.60€

Do you have a reader that will do better than the Scuba+? If so can you PM me the details please?

The

main reasons for upping the pump were because it had to be better part

of 20 years old and on Poolguys recomendation the pool needed it for the

circulation time too? The Navitron tubes have worked better this summer

than they have before perhapse with the help of the Geobubble cover and

have kept the temp at 26 at the moment even though we haven't had that much sun for a little while?

This year has been a bit different because I had to have a big operation, in may, on my right wrist, a partial fusion and scaphoid removed, and it stopped me doing anything for almost 3 months. So the pool didn't get looked at until July! I couldn't even get into my workshop and turning!!! A lot better now though and much less painful.

[Théière]

Ok John,

I wouldn't worry about increasing the CYA at this time of year as the sun isn't so strong and if a bacteria were to eat it over winter you'd have to put it back again in the spring [:)]

Good news with the Geo bubble, am am sure it helped as it's a bit thicker than most and the clear will allow more of the sun's rays to heat the pool, the downside is that the sun uses up a bit more chlorine but we can't have it always.

Will send you a PM.

Glad the wrist is on the mend, really annoying for us busy types to get laid up.