Water does not appear to be filtered very well

[leena]

Last year we bought a used 24'x4' aboveground pool with a sand filter.(our 1st pool) I spent all summer reading this forum and we seemed to have everything going good. At the end of the season we let the chemicals get unbalanced and had some pretty bad algae. I added lots of bleach, some shock and then a bottle of that stuff that causes the dead algae to sink to the bottom. I vacuumed to waste and everthing seemed good. However, several hours after vacuming there appears to be some debris left in the middle. This has been going on all month. When I get close to it with the vacuum it appears to "puff" into thin air and disappear. Once again after the water is left undisturbed for several hrs, it reappears in the middle. Looking closely at the water it doesnt appear as clean and clear as last summer. I mean it looks like clear water but with tiny particles in it, as if its not filtering everything out. When I backwash the water in the clear bottle doesnt look very dirty.......Suggestions?

[CarlD]

I am wondering if a dose of Polyquat will help it clump enough to be able to vacuum.

[PoolDoc]

Yes.

Get a manual vac head, pole, and hose like these at Amazon;

Poolmaster 27514 Classic Full View Triangular Vinyl Liner Vacuum
Hydro Tools 8365 8- to 16-Foot Adjustable Fluted Premium Fluted Telescopic Pool Pole, White
Poolmaster 33430 Premium Vacuum Hose with Swivel Cuff, 30-Feet by 1-1/2-Inch

If you get them locally, be sure to get a pole that's long enough to reach to the middle of your pool and a hose that will reach to the ground, with 6' or 8' left over.

Once you have those, you can set up a siphon with the hose, to the ground. One trick: you'll need to put the draining end of the hose into a bucket or pail, so that it's submerged. Otherwise, with low flow -- like when the vacuum hits some sludge or the like -- you'll tend to lose the siphon.

You can use polyquat, or a floc to try to make it easier to settle and remove. However if those particles are ALREADY settling, it might not make any difference.

[leena]

ok I have the vacuum head and long pole with hose but I dont understand what you mean for me to do that is different from the way I currently vacuum to waste.? Im sorry, Im kinda "blonde".

What is polyquat? I have a bottle of something called cloudy water clarifier that says it combines small particles for easier filtering. Is that it?

======================================

you know what, I think I understand........."vacumming" the way you suggested would have a more gentle pull on the debris than it does with it hooked to the pump?. Therefore less disturbance to the debris, less a chance it will "puff into oblivion" before I suck it out?

[leena]

[PoolDoc]

If you have a "Waste" position on your filter, you can vacuum that way. But you'll blow out a lot of water fast. And if you try to vacuum on "Filter", you'll tend to push the fine particles THROUGH the filter and BACK INTO the pool.

[leena]

I got into the pool to feel of the debris that keeps settleing in the middle and I am now sure something is wrong with the filter........I could actually see bug body parts such as half of an ant,gnats, etc. Those things should be get filtered out, shouldnt they?

[PoolDoc]

What make you think they are going through the filter? Usually, they don't; they just settle to the bottom.

[leena]

this is getting worse. We left to go camping for three days, came back and pool had a slight green tint so I immediately added 1lb of shock n swim (calcium hypochlorite) and 3 gallons of 6% bleach. let the pump run all night. this morning it was almost no green but slightly cloudy, I tested using strips and it wouldnt even register any chlorine. So I added another lb of shock n swim and another 1.5 gallons of bleach. So now my pool is dirty AND cloudy. Running the filter and pump seems to be helping none. WE are going to take apart the sand filter and see if the gasket is going bad or if the sand has "tunneled" or if its low? I have no ideal about those things, its just something I read on here as possible problems for improper filtering? Also I intend to keep adding bleach keeping the chlorine level high for a few days?. Then scrub pool, vacuum to waste and if water still looks dirty, add DE powder to skimmer to see if it will help the sand filter catch smaller particles? Am I thinking on the right path?

oh and all last summer (our first) I used the tabs , was afraid of getting a cya(stabilizer?) build up so intended on using only bleach this year. When I tested on my strips this morning, the stabilizer was 0. I know I need that testing kit and I plan on ordering it from amazon this week.

ps its a 24'x52" above ground pool with a jacuzzi 1.5hp pump (no high or low speed) and a sand filter.

[leena]

oh and the bugs parts were on top of the water, the debris at the bottom was a little of everything. Last year I had to vacuum to waste very little. Last year the bugs went into the skimmer and never came back out so i assumed the sand filter was catching everything. The water stayed clean and clear all last year just with vacuuming thru the filter, this year its just coming back thru the filter when I vacuum so I have to keep vacuuming to waste which wastes alot of water........and I still have dirty water! .........scratching my head, something aint right..........