Am I choosing a good combination? pump & filter size

[CarlD]

ok, so you are saying the pump & filter I have picked out IS OKAY together or NOT OKAY together for my pool? 1hp, 2speed above ground pump and the 300lb in ground filter........both Hayward

There is only $10 difference in the 250lb or 300lb filter but I don't understand about the sizing so am just going by what everyone says about the bigger sand filters being better

It is perfectly reasonable to contact Hayward and ask if the pump, filter and your pool are compatible, but given the description of your pool, a round AG pool, I personally don't foresee any problem. But the final decision, as always, is yours.

[leena]

Thanks, I just ordered them. Went back & read my old posts & was surprised that I have battled the same problems with the too big pump/small filter for 3 yrs! And I found this EXACT PUMP recommended for my pool back in the beginning, so that helps my feelings that its the right one for me!
I did however learn a whole lot about balancing water during this time. I have seen water go from unbelievably filthy dark green to clear in a week or less many times & I was basically keeping the pool useable with SKIMMER SOCKS for the last 2 yrs!. It really is all about the water balance. Now when I hear people say they drained their pool & refilled cause it was "to far gone", Im thinking that that surely they didn't have to do that. And really the bleach, baking soda & borax has been so easy to use that I don't even look at pool chemicals anymore. Ive never had to have any other chemical other than those 3 to get the water clean. The only "pool store chemical" that I still use is the "sink" stuff that I would use atleast once a yr to settle the little particles that never got filtered out because of my poor filtering system. Then I would vaccum to waste with the bucket method. So Im so excited to finally be getting this smaller pump that has LOW SPEED too! Surely, surely this is gonna make taking care of my pool so much easier.........

Oh & I do use chlorine tabs some for ease. Since I have that leak & have to add water ea week, I quit worrying about my CYA levels getting too high..........

[CarlD]

Please understand that "BBB" is a mindset not a dogma. It was suggest that "ABC" for Acid(muriatic), Borax, and Chlorine would be better, but...everything is "ABC" and "BBB" is catchier!
When my CYA is low and my pH is high, I use Tri-Chlor tabs without a second thought. Because the regular testing tells me when to stop.

I actually almost never use Baking Soda because I ONLY use it when my T/A is low and my pH isn't stable. If T/A is as low as 50 or 60, but my pH is stable, I just don't worry about it. Now that only hold for a vinyl pool. For a hard-side pool, T/A and Calcium levels are more important to protect the mortar, grout, plaster, etc.

I use either Borax or Muriatic Acid a little more often and generally rely on liquid chlorine. I use LC because, where I get it, it's cheaper than bleach. 5 Gal of 12.5% LC at $19 is equivalent to less than $2/gallon of bleach. Otherwise, I'd use bleach.

[leena]

I too rarely use baking soda, even though I bought a big bag when I first got interested in the bbb method. It just doesnt seem to be frequently needed. And when I say "bleach" I assumed that meant liquid chlorine as well because I do use liquid chlorine sometimes if I can get it for a comparable price to the laundry bleach. I thought they were basically the same thing, just stronger more concentrated.

I already said I use the tabs for ease when Im not worried about my cya, so maybe Im not a true BBB. In my mind they are all Chlorines and thats what Im thinking of when Im needing to control my water. So maybe I should say that I use the Chlorine/baking soda/borax method since I use various forms of chlorine, lol!

I just feel that the BBB method made it possible for pool owners to better understand what they were doing, versus the endless expensive nightmare of buying pool chemicals that said "for cloudy water, for green water, for high this, for low that". I was amazed to discover that filtering and chlorine seem to be the 2 main things for beautiful water which suddenly seemed to make it simple! I didnt need a zillion bottle of this & that, which was such a relief. Im excited to finally have a good pump & filter system & hopefully its going to be even easier!

One of my friends is a die hard pool chemical person and she stated that after doing it for 25 yrs she knew exactly what she needed and it cost her roughly $500 in chemicals per summer to maintain her pool. (& her pool is smaller than mine)
I of course am an idiot using BBB but I dont spend near that in chlorine,borax
& baking soda

[leena]

ok, my sand filter has arrived and I am expecting the pump today or tomorrow so Im excited about getting them hooked up and running. One thing I was wondering.......I need to scrub the walls of my pool to remove the residue from when the pool water was green, earlier this spring. Its been 2 or 3 weeks since I killed the algae, but the water is still chilly so I haven't gotten in and scrubbed the walls yet. I did vacuum to waste the bottom of the pool after killing the algae, but you can tell there is a slightly green tint to the walls. My question is this: Would it hurt to scrub the walls and let the new filter remove the dead algae or would it be better to let it settle to bottom and vacuum to waste? Starting out with a new filter I don't want to "gunk" it up with something that will be hard to get rid of. That may not even be an issue, it may rinse out easily, but I've never had a good filtering system (mine always just blew the dead algae back into the pool) so Im not familiar with how dead algae particles affect a sand filter...........

[leena]

ok everything is here and we are installing the new filter and pump! I immediately wasn't sure about how to hook it up etc but I did tell my husband what sunny said about using pvc pipe. Since my husband is a plumber, he was fine with that but he told me to leave him alone and just let him hook everything up how he wanted, lol! So I guess we will adjust from that point if any problems arise. SO excited, cant wait to turn it on!

I did get in the water and scrub the leftover green residue from pool walls. Some of it settled to the bottom but a lot of it is still floating in the water. SInce no one responded to my question about the dead algae particles above, I plan to vacuum to waste what is on the floor of pool and let the rest filter thru sand filter. Hope this is ok, if not I can put some floc in there and let it all settle to bottom, then vacuum.............

[FormerBromineUser]

Vacuuming to waste sounds just fine. You refill your pool regularly anyway so must have decent fill water. I would not use floc. Once the big stuff is gone, to help remove the finer particles you can add DE to your filter. Works a treat. http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...to-sand-filter

[leena]

ok thanks! pool had to be filled up several inches (because of the leak and hardly no rain for 2 weeks) so we didn't get to turn on the pump last night. Hopefully husband going to do all that when he gets home in a couple hrs.....

[leena]

ok the pump has been running for a couple of hrs. BOy is it quiet compared to the old one! Going to leave it on low all night and see how the water looks in morn. I did vacuum to waste (it vacuumed on low!) but the water is hazy since I scrubbed all that green residue from walls. Oh I had another question. We put 300lbs of sand in the filter but my husband said it was between 1/2 and 3/4 full. Is that normal? our 2 old sand filters (200lb) were more than 3/4 of the way filled up......

[FormerBromineUser]

Outta my league to answer that one. My sand filter is about 3/4. However if it's working.....

Let's see if someone with equipment expertise chimes in.