Anyone used "Zeosand" in place of regular sand?

I'm told that it takes half as much as regular sand in a filter and filters as well as diatomaceous earth filters. Any down sides?

I have it and it's OK.

It only uses half the amount as filter sand (by weight) because it's half as dense.

The theory is that an individual piece of zeolite has very, very small passages through it that the water passes through and that catch very, very small particles (just like DE). The problem with that theory is that the individual pieces of zeolite are relatively large (huge compared to DE)and much of the water goes between the pieces of zeolite rather than through those tiny passages. The smaller particles of course can go between the particles with the water.

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with it. I have the ease of use of a sand filter and I think that it filters better than sand. At the same time, I'm pretty sure it does not filter as well as DE.

Some folks here use a sand filter filled with sand or zeolite and add a small amount of DE in the hopes of getting the best of all worlds. I do that as well and do see a marginal improvement over the zeolite alone.

We began selling the stuff last summer. Everyone seemed to like it and I had a few comments from people with lights that the water looked much better at night. The most important thing if you do get it is to backwash upon startup. If not, the pool will go cloudy and become very difficult to clear up.

Brad

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Originally Posted by Waterworks

We began selling the stuff last summer. Everyone seemed to like it and I had a few comments from people with lights that the water looked much better at night. The most important thing if you do get it is to backwash upon startup. If not, the pool will go cloudy and become very difficult to clear up.

Brad

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Do you mean that one should backwash everytime they start up the pump / filter? Is that true only if one is using zeolite?

I'm not sure exactly what Brad was saying, but you definitely don't need to backwash a sand filter, whether filled with sand or zeo, each time you start the pump; just when filter pressure rises by 8 or 10 PSI from normal.

I'm sure Brad was talking about initial startup. As in, loading it for the first time. You need to backwash and rinse, wait, then do it again several times. When backwash and rinse water is clear, your good to go.
http://www.zeobrite.com/PDF/InstallationGuide.pdf

Cheers

Thanks BDavis, that's exactly what I meant. The very first time you start up the filter with the new zeolite sand you must backwash a number of times, otherwise you will have cloudy water problems.

Brad

When I first opened my pool this year, the water was a little cloudy. I maintained my chem levels & filtered 24/7 for almost a week to no avail. I then decided to change my sand & switch to zeolite. After the switch, my water was crystal clear in less than 2 days.

The only drawback I see to it is that I was told not to add anything through the skimmer so everything will have to be dumped straight into the pool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waterworks

Thanks BDavis, that's exactly what I meant. The very first time you start up the filter with the new zeolite sand you must backwash a number of times, otherwise you will have cloudy water problems.

Brad

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Brad, On re-reading that, what you wrote was perfectly clear. I must have been even slower than normal last night.

Any explanation why not to add stuff to the skimmer? I guess I can understand acid but things like borax, baking soda, and 6% bleach are pretty benign I would think.
Al