Vacuum to waste.
Printable View
Vacuum to waste.
I have a cartridge filter (Hayward SwimClear). How do I vacuum to waste?
I don't know anything about a cartridge filter but with my sand filter I have a multi-port valve that can divert the water from the pump to several different locations (filter, waste, backwash, rinse). When I get something in my pool that the filter won't "catch" I'll vacuum to waste and this gets rid of it.
Apparently you don't have this option available. I'm not sure what to tell you, maybe someone else will chime in and help out.
With a cartridge filter you can't. Carts can filter down to 20 microns which is pretty small. you can't filter out live algae....you need to kill it.Quote:
Originally Posted by itstoohot
Quick update -
I vacuumed this evening (all the big stuff lying on the floor) using a skimmer sock, then removed the cartridges and replaced with clean ones. Afterwards, the water was tested and I got:
TC - 3
Ph - 7.6/7.7
TA - 110
CYA - assumed to still be at 90 (tested yesterday)
Using a test strip for free chlorine, I got 3.
After a little hesitation (since we are using a Nature2 cartridge), I put in 10.5 gallons of bleach (6%) to get to 23ppm, which is the approx. shock level for CYA at 90 according to table posted in this forum.
Am now running the filter 24/7.
Hope to have more news (good or bad) in the morning. (I think I'm using parentheses too much?)
Sounds good! When things go bad, forget the N2. Then when things go good, you'll realize it costs you more in annual cartridges alone than you save...$105 buys a LOT of chlorine...
The N2 claims to cut your chlorine usage in HALF...that means you have to spending $210/year on chlorine wihout the N2 to break even...that's a heckuvalot of bleach...
Well, some of the stuff may have returned through the return jets as I have some laying on the pool floor this morning. It doesn't seem to be as much as it was last night, so that's good news :D . I will vacuum again this evening and change out the filters again.
The CL tested this morning at 20-25 (had to dilute the HTH drop test kit), which means that it held the CL I put in last night. Right now I can only test free chlorine with a test strip unless I take water to the pool store. It came out much darker than 10. I did order Ben's kit over the weekend, but it'll be a little while until that arrives.
Another update coming this evening.
Just heard from the wife who tested the water again. Apparently there is no change in the CL level. Have we not gone high enough (20-25ppm with CYA at around 90), or could all this stuff actually be something other than algae?
Well, each day seems to better than the last. At least the monsoon seems to have ended :D . Today, the water is clearer (I can see the deep end with a slight haze). Looks like the persistent vacuuming and changing out the filters is working. There is very, very little stuff on the pool floor today. The CL level is still over 20 (and I'm keeping it there until the water is clear).
Today's plan of action:
1. Vacuum thoroughly (past attempts have been abbreviated due to the deluge of rain)
2. Change out the filters (it's nice to have the second set)
3. Check CL and add more bleach, if necessary. It's sunny today, so I expect I will need some.
Now that it appears we are in the home stretch (can I say that without jinxing myself?), would adding clarifier help or hurt? I don't want to take a step backwards.
Thanks a million!
Well, it appears I successfully jinxed myself. This stuff is resilient. After having read the debate back and forth on polyquat 60, I let the CL drop a little and put in 2 quarts the other evening to see if that would clear up the remaining "stuff". I can safely say that the quat did squat. In fact, the following morning there seemed to be more "stuff" than in previous mornings.
So back to the tried and true (yes, I should've listened better) of bleach and more bleach. We put in enough this morning to get back to the 25ppm we'd been running. I ran a test this evening to see if I needed to add more and, just for the fun of it, did a CYA test also. It came out at 50 (you keep going until you can't see ANY of the black dot, right?). How is this possible???? It had been testing regularly in the 80-90 range. The PH seems to have dropped a bit also, but not much.
TC - approx 25
PH - 7.3-7.4
CYA - 65
TA - 120