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Thread: Silt on pool bottom from filter

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    California.
    Posts
    16

    Default Silt on pool bottom from filter

    Hi everyone

    Another year, another (ongoing) problem. Our sand filter is dumping silt in the bottom of the pool. The water is crystal clear and so is the bottom as long as we don't run the pump. This has been a problem in varying degrees since we installed the pool in 2006. This year it has gone crazy! We are vacuuming to waste all the time so we don't recycle the silt back into the pool, and it doesn't make a difference. We replaced the sand (with #20 silica) and checked the lats two years ago to see if that was the problem. Everything was fine and dandy inside. This year we had a guy come out with sonar because we had a leak somewhere in the vinyl...there were in fact eight! :O
    So now we know for sure there isn't any dirt leaching to the bottom from a hole. Last week we didn't use the pool because the weather turned, so we didn't run the pump for two days. The bottom was clean, until the third day when we turned the pump back on. We are back to running the pump 6-8 hours a day, every day, and back to vacuuming to waste every day to get the bottom clean. The water itself isn't getting mucked up, you can very clearly see the silt on the bottom of the pool. We know it's not sand because it doesn't sit and stay, if you get near it, it poofs into the water. If you touch it, it isn't slimey, just silty, and we know it's not algae. If we can't find a solution we'll have to buy a new system because we're losing too much money on chems and water vacuuming to waste all the time. The only causes I could find online were for the pump being too big for the filter, or too much sand in the filter but according to our owner's manual they are the correct sizes to work with each other, and we measured the sand very carefully when we replaced it. Any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

    FC 4.0
    CC 0
    Ph 7.4/7.5
    Alk 190 (it's our local water, but since we're vinyl, eh)
    Calc we don't test
    CYA 30

    Also, we tried using DE last summer to see if that helped...it didn't.
    Last edited by maryberrye; 07-03-2011 at 08:50 PM. Reason: addition
    Mary B.
    16x32 IG vinyl with deep end -- ~16k gallons
    21" Sta-Rite, 200# sand filter, 1 1/2 hp pump

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    California.
    Posts
    16

    Default Re: Silt on pool bottom from filter

    I think we figured it out. I googled pool silt and it actually led me to old posts on this forum about skimmer socks. Maybe those should be bumped up so people can find them if they search dirt, dust or silt in pool. Put one on this morning so we'll see how that does (when we get a new pump...different day, different post).
    Thanks
    Mary B.
    16x32 IG vinyl with deep end -- ~16k gallons
    21" Sta-Rite, 200# sand filter, 1 1/2 hp pump

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