Fine muck on seam edge

[Steve]

I would appreciate some advice please.

We have an oval(well, straight sides and round ends) in ground pool which was commissioned on 23rd May 2008. On three seams starting at the shallow end on one side of the pool we get a fine muck collecting along about 1.5 metres of the seams from the wall inwards. The water is clear, PH read with a Hanna reader is 7.25. We shocked at 5 gms per M3 and because it was still there we shocked 2 days later at 10gms per m3 and ran the filtration for 48 hrs. When we robot the pool at say 20.00 when the filtration is off, solar cover the pool through the night & check at 08.00 in the morning when the cover comes off & the filtration has not come on, the water remains as per the previous night clear with no muck on the seams. By 11.00 with the filtration running the fine muck has settled on the seams again. The Robot is a Dolphin Diagnostic which filters to 50 microns as does my cartridge filter system. Our pump clears at 340 litres per minutes so turns the water round in just over 3 hours.

I'm guessing that after what we have done this is just fine dust/gunk which is below 50 microns so is passing through the Robot filter bag and when we use the manual vacumn we are just circulating the stuff back into the pool where it resettles.

Assuming it is just fine dust/residue etc how can we get rid of it? Being new to pools etc I have done some reading on flocculants & clarifiers as a posible solution but I have also read that they are not all suitable with a cartridge filter.

As this is a Waterair pool................. we are using Easypool2(waterair product) for this season until my knowledge improves. The composition of this is:

Liquid: Sequestrants, calcium, magnesium & algaecide metal

Solid: Trichloroisocyanuric acid/hydrated sodium dichloroisocynutate!!!

So any compatible product/approach recommended would be greatly welcomed.

Steve (17)

[chrish]

Hi

You could get rid of this by vac to waste, but you will find that the seams on the liner do always tend to trap some dust as the filter pushes the water around the pool. its removed each time you vac the pool.

I would have thought that your cartridges filter a lot finer than 50microns?? but Waterair market their own products.

most cartridges filter at 10-15mocrons this is why floc is not used with them, if yours are 50microns then thats not as good as a sand filter so quite a bit will pass through..

Do not keep putting in Chemicals just get your reading correct and vac the dust to waste.

hope this helps

chrish

 

[Suze01]

Use of a floculant would make the finer particles stick together to form larger particles that will get trapped in the filter which should clear the fine stuff.

[Steve]

Well I did say I was on a learning curve. My filter is a sherlock, albeit with the Waterair brand sticker on it under the Sherlock brand sticker  & the cartridge will take out down to 5 - 10 microns. Does that sound about right?

Steve

[auxadrets]

I also have a Waterair pool with a similar "problem". I think the dust is carried into the pool by wind, especially from leaves getting into the pool and /or rain. The water flow with the filtration running is concentrating the dust at the seams.

As Chris says you will not get rid of it with chemicals, rather vac to waste using the pool systems, or better, a syphon, or a separate small pump which will cope with some particles. I use a syphon You will probably have to do this once a week. It seems to help if you regularly brush the walls and the base of the pool.

Take care with the Easypool 2, and any other product containing stabiliser (cyanuric acid). The concentration of the stabiliser should be kept below 50ppm. I am also not sure about the liquid component of Easypool 2 since I could never find out whether or not it contains copper ( it is a nice blue colour) which I do not want to use. (Google "toxicity of copper").

Hope this helps. JB 

[Steve]

Thanks for the reply

When you say a separate small pump or syphon, do you mean  a submersible pump which you sort of use as a hoover & dump to garden?

We did the chemical shock as most pool owners seem to write about doing it every couple of weeks. We have a couple of Gites so maybe it wasn't a bad thing to do. It also got us through the nerveracking excercise of our first "shock" treatment.

I do keep an eye on the Cyanuric reading.

It helped

Steve

[chrish]

Ok if your filters are filtering finer then you have no need to use floc it will only gum up the cartridges.

You only need to shock the pool when you have a problem not every two weeks or two months!!!!

Just keep your reading correct and you will be ok

Good luck

chrish

[auxadrets]

I was thinking more of a small surface pump such that you do not have too strong a suction, which might damage the liner. My syphon is made from 15mm garden hose attached to a rigid tube and a corner nozzle from an old vacuum cleaner. The height difference is between 0.5 and 1M and this gives sufficient flow/ suction. I collect the water in dustbins, leave it for a few days, to reduce the chlorine, and then use it on the garden, trees and flowers not vegetables. 

Hope this helps. JB

 

[Steve]

Thanks for your help

It is appreciated.

Steve