too much flocculant or bad filter?

[jeffmarc]

Have SoftSwim pool. Had algae bloom first ever, added algacide and shock, brushed dead algae off pool all around, ran sand filter ( 1.5 seasons old) 24/7.

Pool blue again, but cloudy. Added flocculant. Now have had white film all over pool for 3 days.

Manually skimmed 90% off, seemed less. next day stirring up water , it came back , not as bad but still circles of white film.

Is this too much flocculant? why isn't my filter getting it out? have backwashed each day and getting some dirty backwahs , but clears and then rinse and filter again, 24/7.

THanks
Jeff

[Simmons99]

Where are you keeping your chlorine level? Please post a complete list of test results and all the chemicals you have added - what kind of "shock" did you add - what level did you get your chlorine to?

[aylad]

jeffmarc,

I'm sorry you're not getting much in the way of a response, but there are very, very, very few proponents of Softswim and the other forms of biguanide on this forum. There are many people here who have converted to chlorine because they had endless problems, some similar to what you describe, but basically all have complaints about continually cloudy and unswimmable water. You might take some time and read through the Baq forum and you'll understand why.

I'm not sure what's causing your problem, but I'll hazard a guess that the flocculant you added is at least part of the problem. In a pool with an algae bloom, once you kill the algae off it will take some time for the filter to eliminate the dead algae from the pool. Obviously the worse the algae problem, the longer it takes. Generally, if you start adding flocculant and other stuff to the pool, you end up creating more problems for yourself than if you'll just be patient and give it a few days to clear. Again, I'm speaking for chlorine pools.

My best advice to you right now is just to continue daily brushing and letting the filter run and do its job. If that doesn't help, then you might consider shutting the pump off overnight, letting the stuff settle to the bottom, and then vacuuming to waste.

Sorry I'm not much help.....

Janet

[matt4x4]

I'll take an educated guess here and say it's too much stuff to close together, From what I can tell, you added shock, algaecide and floculant.
A cloudy blue pool is fine, it means that at least the algae is DEAD, however, the pool usually becomes cloudy from the dead algae, since algae is very fine, floculant helps speed up the process of settling it and filtering it out.
Algaecide (although the name implies it) is not very effective as an algae killer, more effective as an algae preventer.
It is recommended that if you want to use it, add it in small doses regularly to a clean pool, not in the large dose recommended for killing algae (I think they put that on there so you go through more product) - it actually foams your pool and doesn't do much else at higher concentrations, this mixed with floculant is probably what caused the issue.
Floculant should be added when you see that the algae is dead, circulate for about 8 hours, then let the stuff settle with the pump off, you should see a fuzzy layer of filth on the bottom, vac this up MANUALLY - very slowly - an auto vac tends to break it up and blow it around, and you just have to let it settle again.

[gordyjamz]

when using floc it's IMPORTANT that you let the stuff settle, then vacuum to WASTE, and slowly, so to not stir it up into suspension. Do not vacuum to the filter. If you have a sand filter, and the dead stuff is too fine it'll just land up blowing it back out the return and give you a cloud. As far as the white buildup, im a chlorine user, so i'm not sure what thats all about, maybe some chemical reaction to your sanitizer. There may be a specialized floc for your type of sanitizer thats different than the one for chlorine pools. Hope this helps......