Fliter Sand, HTS vs. Zeobrite??

[Digger]

I have successfully completed my Baqucil conversion. I am here to tell you I have not seen my pool look so good since we first put it in. Anyhow, it is time to change the sand. I priced all around, but hardware stores, for the filter sand. Can anyone tell me if they have had experience with the expensive Zeobrite ( may be spelling wrong?) about $45-$50 for 50 lbs, but equals 100 lb.? Also has anyone just gotten silica 20 sand at a hardware store? What are you pros recommending? Zeobrite is suppose to do a wonderful job, but that was salesperson online???? LOL OR should I just stick to going to the Pool Store, and pay $10-11 a bag? They may be going under beings we have not been in much at all this year!! LOL

[Watermom]

Janet (Aylad) switched to Zeobrite so I'll ask her to comment on it for you. I don't know what 20 silica sand is. Somebody will be along soon who will though and I'll ask Janet to take a look at this thread.

Congrats on a successful conversion and I'm glad the pool looks great. Aren't you glad now that you did it!!

[waterbear]

IMHO, zeobrite is not worth the money and the claims made are marketing hype.
Also, the ammonia scavaging claims are a bit over rated in a pool (and useless in a salt pool) and the process for regenerating the zeolite generates a very acidic brine mixture that is problematic to dispose of. I did a comparison on another forum a few years back but don't remember which one.
Stick with sand. I would not recommend hardware store stand because you want filter sand, not construction, sandblasting, or play sand. All sands are not created equal. Also, pool sand is often prewashed so it has less 'dust'.
If you want to improve the filtering action of your sand filter a bit of DE powder added as a filter aid does wonders!

[Digger]

Thanks so much for the feedback. That is kind of where I was headed. Do you know of any good deals with frees shipping and handling? I have one pool place that is in my area that I believe I will get it at tom. for 9.99, that seems to be an okay price around here for 50 lb. When do you put the DE in and how? Thanks so much! and YES I am so glad I changed, and REALLY wished I had done it a LONG time ago! I also read some of the posts on the CYA and the sock. I was told to put it in the skimmer by the pool place, but he said to do it slowly, that bothered me. I have learned to ignore and not ask them! I ended up doing the two socks and it was wonderful!! One at each water return, and by morning they were empty. I truly believe that is the way. At night you could see it dissolving slowly in the water. I am so much more comfortable with that way. But, hey what do I know? Thanks WaterMom! The first time doing I did the socks and put just a small amount in the skimmer, but will stick to the socks!

[Digger]

Call me a duh, but what is IMHO?

[Digger]

Actually the hardware store sand was recommended to me by the saleslady who was selling only Zeobrite. She said if you want sand go to a Hardware Store and get silica sand and ask for 20, I guess that is a grade? I know I was not 100% on that either, when you only supposedly change it every 5 years? Even every few years is better than it has been with the Baq., we were having to do every year the last few years. Man, I have to find the posts on Baq and share my 14 years of experiences!! What a crock of horse manure! LOL Isn't that Dutch talk? Maybe I should say, Pool Store manure, LOL!

[CarlD]

Call me a duh, but what is IMHO?

In My Humble Opinion.

$10/50# is a little steep for filter sand but even so, in a 200# sand filter it's only $40. Janet is happy with her Zeolite--I'm happy with sand.

We have numerous threads on adding DE to a sand filter. It's simple.
Backwash and record your pool pressure.
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of DE through the skimmer (take out the skimmer sock first) and wait 20 to 30 minutes. If the pressure hasn't increased by one lb, add a little more, until your pressure is about a lb higher than before. if you go too high, backwash and start again.

Every time you backwash you'll need to add the DE again.

[Watermom]

BTW (By the way) Digger --- you don't have to change your sand every 5 years. I have had the same sand now for 10 years and not a problem. Al has had his sand longer than that and I think Carl has had his same sand for quite awhile, too. There is no rule for needing to change the sand every 5 years. Likewise, don't let anybody sell you any "sand cleaner." No need for that either.

[CarlD]

Yup. This is my 8th year. Sand gets BETTER as it gets older and dirtier. It filters better. Only if you use some chemical that gums it up should you have to change it.

[waterbear]

Likewise, don't let anybody sell you any "sand cleaner." No need for that either.

True! Best way to clean your sand if it has channeled or is fouled is to open the top of the filter to expose the sand bed, stick a garden hose in the sand and turn it on. As the water loosens up the sand all kinds of junk will float to the top and flow out the filter. GENTLY break up any clumps with something like a broom handle (but be VERY CAREFUL not to damage the laterals!). Do this until the overflowing water is basically clean.
IMHO, this should be done every year here in FL where pools are open year 'round, Depending on the length of your pool season and your water conditons YMMV!

(YMMV= your mileage may vary) ;)

[Digger]

Thank you everyone for all the good information. I think I figured out what IMHO is, in my humble opioion? Is that right? I am not used to all the abbrev., but figuring them out, smile! I should ask our deaf daughter she texts all the time. Wow, I can't believe the sand last that long!! I know when we first got our pool the sand wasn't changed for 6-7 years, and when we spent oddles of money on chemicals, and water was still cloudy, they said it was the sand. Than it was clean the fliter sand. Of course that was with Baq. We were instructed to do a filter clean, filter aid, floc it, man!! Now you are saying don't clean the filter with any cleaners? Hmm! Interesting! Makes sense though if you have to clean it, flush it out, when you add chemicals it would tend to just gum it up.!

[Digger]

Does anyone know where you can get cheaper filter sand. $10 for 50 lb. is the cheapest in our area. I have a 300 lb tank too, which will be 60 plus tax.

[waterbear]

That's about the going price in my area for filter sand. If you figure that the sand is good for 10 years (and many will say it lasts longer than that) it's only $6 a year.

BTW (by the way) I work with Deaf kids and they don't necessarily use the same TLAs (three letter acronyms, which often have more than three letters!) when they text. The ones whose native language is ASL tend to use ones that are a bit different than the HOH (Hard of hearing) or those that had oral instruction in English.

[CarlD]

In my area it can fluctuate wildly. I've bought it for $12/$13 a bag then seen it the next season for $5 or $6 a bag--50# bags.

I shouldn't laugh because a number of members of my family have hearing loss (my brother wears dual hearing aids) and I have a deaf cousin, and my own hearing could be better (with a lot of ambient noise I can no distinguish words of someone speaking very well)--but when you mentioned HOH, all I could think of was Garrett Morris on the original SNL with "English for the Hard of Hearing"--and the "Loud Family" skits (after the PBS series--the first reality show) and I LOL'd!

[Poconos]

There is a sticky at the top of this forum about adding DE to a sand filter. Only thing Carl forgot to mention you should mix the DE in a couple gallons of water then pour the mix in the skimmer slowly. With a 300# filter you can probably start at 1/2 cup. Also, don't inhale the dust. On the sand, mine is almost 13 years old and the only thing I should do is add some. I'm low and I know it and probably can throw another bag or so in the filter which I'll do next spring. You do lose a little each time you backwash. Not much but after 13 years it adds up. Also, if you add DE and are vacuuming dust or crud from the bottom of the pool, watch the pressure. Tends to climb and the flow may drop fast.
Enjoy the pool.
Al

[CarlD]

My hypothesis is that sand in your filter is millions of years old and therefore should last millions of years more!:D

All you have to do is maintain your pool properly for the next million years (which I'm working on--8 down, 999,992 to go! :rolleyes: )

[aylad]

I realize I'm late getting in on this thread--didn't get off work til late last night and was too tired to even turn on the computer--but I did change to zeolite after I started having problems with my sand filter a couple of years ago. I like it--seems to me like it does a little better job of "polishing" the water than the sand did. It is more expensive per bag, but you only use half the amount of zeolite compared to the amount of sand. So--for what it's worth, I've been very pleased and don't plan to go back to sand.

Caveat: That's as long as you start the filter up in backwash mode after the original addition of the zeolite to wash all the dust off before filtering your pool with it--if you don't do that, it makes a HUGE mess!!

Janet

[Digger]

Interesting, that you work with deaf students. Wondering what area you are in? Our daughter is 33 now, raised signing exact English and ASL later. She was mostly in hearing world until later in life and immersed herself into the deaf world. Went to MSSD at Gallaudet for part of 8th grade in D.C. Lisa signs and talks. She has a Severe to Profound loss, but does amazing. Her son has a mild to moderate and being a teenager refuses to wear his aid any more. Just wondering how much contact you have with deaf students, I am always interested as deafness is a big part of my life and world, since Lisa being diagnosed at 22 months. I know late, even after me questioning since 6 months old!

[pbotz2000]

just my 3 cents
i switched over my hayward sand filter last year to100lbs of zeobrite, hoping for spectular results. Reading it was used in aquariums and so on i sprung for it hoping to take some of the pain out of my pool being dirty and taking too long to clear up.(before forums reopened, now ive learned much more).
I was also more interested in the claims of less backwashing since i was doing it 2 or 3 times a week, in the begining since my pool was full of algae at opening.

The results were far from spectular. It was the 2nd year of having my house with the pool so i dont really know too much on how the filter ran with regular sand. The zeobrite did not clear the water up or filter out the water any better than how i remenbered the sand. I also opened this year to a green pool and once again, no spectular clearing of the water, other than me pumping up the Fc and applying popp over several weeks.
I would not recommenend the zeobrite, and wish i had gone with filter sand.

I backwash approx every 2 weeks, currently its been 15 days since i backwashed, not sure if thats good/bad or avg for sand filters.
I also always try to run skimmer socks.

[Digger]

Thanks everyone for info. Janet, I will keep that in mind. I know the sales lady online yesterday was telling me about how Zeobrite worked, and it sounded convincing, but was not sure? I wanted to hear from others on here. I will take all of this into consideration. I was wondering on my tank it says to put I think half way full of water, than add sand. do you do that with the Zeo? Does it swell up beings you use half as much as sand, or doesn't that matter as far as cleaning. I am trying to grasp the concept and how it works?

Carl, I don't think I want to be around a million years! LOL, but that is good to know! Smile! Still am thrilled to death that we don't have to change the stinking stuff EVERY year, like we had to the last 2 years with Baq!!

So, I guess forget about being so cheap and pricing sand and just go and get it if that is what I am going to use, because it lasts really long once you put it in. The reason I am pricing is because this is the third year in a row to replace it. Oh well!:)

[CarlD]

I don't know if I want to live a million years with my pool and filter--but I sure would like the opportunity to choose! :D

Seriously, I have found that using DE in my sand filter, along with skimmer socks in my...skimmer, a solar cover when the pool is not in use, and, finally, the water-polishing effect of a robotic cleaner leaves my water absolutely sparkling. I don't know if Zeo would do any better. I've not seen a Zeo pool.

[waterbear]

Interesting, that you work with deaf students. Wondering what area you are in? Our daughter is 33 now, raised signing exact English and ASL later. She was mostly in hearing world until later in life and immersed herself into the deaf world. Went to MSSD at Gallaudet for part of 8th grade in D.C. Lisa signs and talks. She has a Severe to Profound loss, but does amazing. Her son has a mild to moderate and being a teenager refuses to wear his aid any more. Just wondering how much contact you have with deaf students, I am always interested as deafness is a big part of my life and world, since Lisa being diagnosed at 22 months. I know late, even after me questioning since 6 months old!

I work in the Independent Living Skills apartment program with Deaf (and also blind/VI) Seniors and continuing students at a Residential Deaf and Blind school. This past year I had two Deaf apartments for a total of 12 teenage boys, many of them special needs. Last year I worked with Blind/VI Seniors and continuing students so it does change for me from year to year. They do their own cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc so I work with them very closely on such skills as budgeting, food prep, cleaning, finding rec activities in the community, etc. We teach a curriculum on independent living with such diverse areas as marriage and raising children, personal safety, illness prevention, and vacation planning. I work with Deaf staff, hearing staff, and VI staff and I sign ASL (and also know grade 2 Literary Braille). Because of the work I do I am also part of the "Deaf Community".:) (and at this point in my life I am slightly HOH and wear a hearing aid (sometimes;) don't really need it at work!)...the results of playing guitar in a rock band when I was a teenager back in the 60s and 70s!:eek:)

[Digger]

Waterbear, I just was reading through my old posts and just now saw you replied to my question about working with the deaf. So sorry, I don't remember seeing it before. Your job sounds interesting! Cool! Just wondering what state you are in? I imagine your skills were aquired through college and on the job. Thanks for your response!