New Pool Owner with a Problem

To start off, I tried to make a post, but I am not sure if the forum ate it or if it is moderation limbo. Sorry if this ends up being a double post.

We just bought a house here in Florida (Fort Walton area) with an 18x36 in ground pool (3 foot shallow end, 8 foot deep end - 26,000 gallons or so). Apparently, this particular type of pool is called a Polynesian pool (what I was told - though not familiar enough to know for certain). It has rigid side panels (fiberglass I believe) and a flexible vinyl liner further down (about 3 feet from the upper lip).

Hardware that came with the pool includes a Hayward S244T sand filter, a 1 1/2 HP Hayward Super Pump (not sure what makes it super - but that is what it is called) and a Hayward 4.2 Chlorine Feeder. Visible Plumbing is all 1 1/2" PVC. The pool has three inlet nozzles on one long side and a skimmer about half way down the other long side. A single main drain is located in the middle of the deep end.

Since the house was unoccupied for awhile, my initial work involved clearing out leaves and various other organic material from the bottom of the pool. After that was done, I backwashed the filter per the instructions (let it run till it ran clear). So far so good.

Now, I got to the point where I started to use the pool vacuum to get up the fines from the bottom of the pool. There seems to be a very fine red clay silt which settled on the bottom of the deep end and settled in the seams of the liner. When I sucked it up through the vacuum it simply shot back out through the inlet nozzles.

Further searching in these forums had turned up this thread:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...peatedly/page4

That might be what I am dealing with, however it really is behaving more like dirt. Regarding that particular thread though, it was mentioned that you can add DE to your sand filters and I am curious where more information regarding this might be found.

Also, any pointers which can be given regarding starting a pool up without knowing what the condition of it might be (things to look closely at regarding the plumbing and what not).

Here is a link to using DE in a sand filter: Adding DE to a Sand Filter

You might also try putting some "skimmer socks" in your skimmer basket. They will help catch a lot of little debris. You can rinse them out and re-use them.

Hope one of these suggestions helps you.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

By the way -- your other post was in the moderation queue like you suspected. I deleted it. Once you make a post, don't worry, it will appear on the forum as soon as one of us mods it in. We try to get them as quickly as possible but when the forum is really busy as it has been lately, sometimes it is not as fast as we would like. This week, everyone is trying to get their pools open for Memorial Day and posts are coming in fast and furious!

No problem. I wasn't too sure if it made it through or if it got eaten. When I ran outside to get the info from the pump and filter the cookie timer expired so when I clicked submit on the post...it ended up requiring me to log in again before anything else.

I'll have to go ahead and see if I can find some skimmer socks as well. Three pine trees and three palm trees within wind fall of the pool will like drop a lot of pollen that has a lot of organics that algae likes to feed off from. If it doesn't help with this particular problem, it will likely help with that problem down the road.

If I might be so bold to make a suggestion regarding the moderation as well - you may want to change the permissions for trial users to allow us to browse the other forums and things like unregistered guests. As it is in order for me to follow that link (or look at any of the forums other than the "-- Getting Started at the Pool Forum --" forum) - I have to log out first. Says I don't have permission to view it otherwise. IIRC it is a simple enough change for the admin to make and it will make things much easier for newbies.

Feel free to delete this post, as it is mostly regarding the nuts and bolts of the forum and not relating to the pools.

When I log out to follow the link which Watermom posted above - it refers me back to the page I was viewing previously (this one). The problem though is that I am actually not allowed to view this particular forum unless I am logged in...and I can not follow the link unless I log out. An interesting catch 22 with the forum permissions. Like I mentioned above though, it should be easy enough to fix by setting the permissions for the "trial users" to view but not post in the other forums.

Getting to the point where you can follow the link is a pretty round about path which might confuse some less net savvy individuals.

We are aware that you have to log out first to be able to see other parts of the forum. Although a nuisance for brand-new members, it is that way on purpose. Until Ben has completed a new member's registration and has verified that they are who they say they are and not a spammer or hacker (which we have had problems with before), it prevents people from being able to make any posts on the forum anywhere except in the 'getting started' section. This is for the protection of all the members here on the forum. Hope you understand.

registration upgraded. pooldoc.