Experiment: Homemade Sump Pump Filter to get rid of brown water

[cans25]

New pool owner here. I posted a few days about our yucky brown water (well water in New Hampshire). Thanks to this forum I was directed to this post from last year: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?9706-New-Pool-Owner-With-High-Iron-Manually-Removing-Iron&

Well, we have our sump pump and batting and we are hooking it up tonight. I cannot WAIT to see if it works. We are about 10 days into this pool disaster and nothing so far has worked.

Wish me luck! I'll keep you posted!

Cheryl

[Watermom]

OK. Fingers and toes are crossed! I hope it works. I am so glad I don't have to fill from a well. That is nothing but a pain in the patootie! We see it all the time on the forum. Keep us posted ..........

[Bree1978]

it will work. i use tube socks filled with batting on the outlet of my kiddie/pop up pool. i wrote about somewhere on here. got the info [on a website with some good advice, but also with some REALLY bad advice - mod ]

BEST way to get rid of iron, PERIOD.

[cans25]

Ok - the filter has been running since about 6 last night. There is no visible different, but we did pull out a TON of brown sludge this morning so it is removing metals. Just not enough to be noticeable yet. I also ordered a sand filter to replace the lousy filter that came with the pool.

I know the previous person that tried this put bleach in the pool. Can anyone shed any light on this? But for the metal our water is balanced and our levels are good so I am hesitant to add any more chemicals that might upset that.

[Bree1978]

What are you using to sanitize the pool? The bleach is like chlorine, it just is in lower concentrations than what you buy at the pool store. When you 'shock' or over sanitize to zap all the nasties it makes the metals precipitate out of the water. I think it is because you are temporarily bringing the ph way up....but I don't know, wasn't all that good at chemistry ;)

[CarlD]

Lots of pool stores sell "Liquid Chlorine" that's 6%, same as Ultra bleach. In fact, exactly the same, except, perhaps for price. Then they sell the strong stuff. If it's in 5 gallon carboys it's also LC, but 12.5%. If it's in gallon jugs of 10% or 12.5%, it's usually badged as "Liquid Shock".

"Shock" is a HORRIBLE word to use as a noun for a pool chem.

Carl

[mbar]

Hi cans25,
I would hold off on raising the chlorine until you filter for a while. As long as you are getting the "sludge" out, you are removing the metals. If it is sludge, it is in a solid form so it can be removed. When the metals are in solution they cannot be removed, then you need a sequestering agent so that the metals don't "fall out" and stain the surface of the pool. Keep running the sump using the batting to filter until the water runs clear, or you remove as much of the metals as you can. Then you can balance the water.

[aylad]

Heyyyy Marie!! (waving)
Glad to see you back!!

Janet

[mbar]

Thanks, it's been crazy here, lots going on with family....The pool is now open, and today is sooo hot I am now going to go in it for the first time! I love that the forum is back to it's old self!!!

[CarlD]

And we love having you back! NOBODY gives better or more articulate directions on the step-by-step process to clear out metals!

Good to see you, Marie!

Carl

[cans25]

Ok, got it regarding the use of bleach! Same as Chlorine but more dilute and cheaper ;)

Our Chlorine levels from the initial shock I did were right where they should be as of last Saturday (have not tested since because I don't want to add anything until the water starts to clear up). Hoping the viz is a little better when I get home tonight!

So I should not be adding anything at this point, right? Just let it filter for a bit and then retest and see where we're at?

Gosh I hope this works. It's going to be 98 tomorrow. I know having it ready for tomorrow won't happen, but it sure is heating up FAST here so the sooner the better!

Thanks again!

[cans25]

38 hours into using our makeshift pump and I can actually see the bottom of the pool! It's still pretty brown but not nearly so opaque! I nearly squealed with delight this morning! Progress!

[CarlD]

Bravo! Keep it up!

Carl

[cans25]

Just a quick update in case anyone else out there is starring at their dark brown opaque pool ready to cry... there is hope.

Our filter has been running for three days (lost several hours yesterday due to Tstorms, however!) and this evening I am happy to say that we have gone from dark brown completely opaque water to light iced tea which is completely and 100% transparent. We can see clear to the bottom and across the pool.

Amazing. A homemade contraption, no chemicals, and my water WILL be free of metals!

Just to be clear - we have HORRIBLE water and a cheap crappy intex pump that came with the pool and other than some shock and some clarifier from Walmart have not treated the water. The clearing is 100% thanks to this homemade pump! No sequestrants, no iron out, nothing.

Next I need to start looking into getting rid of the brown staining. Hoping we will be swimming by Sunday.... This forum is awesome! I never would have gotten this from the pool store!

[CarlD]

All we did was give you an idea to try that worked for someone else.

You did all the rest! You are to be congratulated!

You may STILL have to use a sequestrant. But I'm not the one to advise you on how to use it.

"I love it when a plan comes together!"

Carl

[mbar]

I agree with Carl. When you get the water as clear as you can, start to add the sequestering agent. Add it according to what the bottle says. After you add the sequestering agent, check the ph. Add some conditioner (stabilizer) according to the directions on the bottle, you need this so that the pool will hold chlorine in the sun. When the ph is between 7.0 & 7.2 you can start to add the bleach. Just add a little at a time until you get the bleach where you want it according to the "best guess chart" for chlorine. If you see stains or the water still has some discoloration, you can add some more sequestering agent. If you get most of the metals out using the homemade filter (great job!), you shouldn't need a lot of sequestering agent. Remember that high ph along with high chlorine levels will make any metals in the water fall out of solution. When this happens lower the ph and add some sequestering agent. It will lift any new stains, and keep them in solution. Use your filter whenever adding water to the pool. If you have any questions, please let us know. Happy swimming! Just so you know, you can swim in a pool with stains as long as the water is balanced.

[Bree1978]

yea! i'm so happy for you!

[cans25]

I am happy to report that our pool is 100% clear and clean. The water has been clear a few days now, but hubby just got around to vacuuming today. The pump 100% worked to completely clear the water. There is a tiny bit of staining but it's really not all that noticeable unless you are looking for it so eventually I'll scrub at it but I am honestly not that worried about it. I wish I could post before and after photos you would not believe it! And I checked our CYA, chlorine and ph levels and it's ALL GOOD. Wow. Let's swim! ;)

And by the way the sand filter has only been up about a day so this was all from the sump pump and batting filter with the weak paper intex filter. Again. Amazing. Thanks for the help, ingenuity wins the day!

[Watermom]

Glad to hear this!

[mbar]

Congratulations! That is what is so great about this forum, the experiments, and the results! We can now put this in our bag of tricks as something that works to remove the metals before they go in. Thanks for keeping us updated.