What filter to choose...cartridge or DE

[waterbear]

That's what makes debate FUN!!!!

And how much longer does Poconos have to go before HIS sand gets too dirty and starts channelling??? Nine years and counting!

I'm only on year 4.

Bet a sixpack that if you clean the sand your water will be even clearer! Anyway, all that DE you both dump in has probably filled the channels!

[CarlD]

Bet a sixpack that if you clean the sand your water will be even clearer! Anyway, all that DE you both dump in has probably filled the channels!

LOL! Is THAT why the storm sewer I backwash to looks like it's limed????

That's a hard-to-decide bet...I use DE in the filter, a skimmer sock, and JUST got my Dolphin back which polishes the water on it's own...
Assuming the bozos actually fixed the thing... "we don't see nuthin' wrong...."

[bryjen]

I have D.E. The pool was finished in the middle of last summer so we only had it half a season. When closing pool for winter it was broke down and cleaned off> Didnt seem bad. Opened our pool at the end april and I just backwashed for the first last week, the pressure had only gone up from 20 (normal) to 22. I backwashed anyway adding the D.E is very easy. When my sam light is on at night the water is very clear.

[waterbear]

If anyone wants to know how good a cart can filter just look at my avitar! Or even better, the pics I posted in the New Pool gallery
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=234
Like they say "one picture is worth......"

[iardon]

Can you post bigger pics of your pool? Your avatar's kinda small. ;-)

Edit... noticed the link added.

If anyone wants to know how good a cart can filter just look at my avitar! Or even better, the pics I posted in the New Pool gallery
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=234
Like they say "one picture is worth......"

[bradjo]

One thing I didn't see mentioned but I could have missed it make sure as part of the comparison you check the cost of replacement cartridges, sand or zeolite and D.E. so you know that information as well.
hth,
Jo

[iardon]

I just bought a 25 lb bag of DE at American Sale for 10 bucks.

Is that a good/fair price? Just asking since that was my first DE purchase.

[waterbear]

One thing I didn't see mentioned but I could have missed it make sure as part of the comparison you check the cost of replacement cartridges, sand or zeolite and D.E. so you know that information as well.
hth,
Jo

Sand is not that expensive and some say it never needs replacing. In fact, most of the people in this forum do, including Ben! There are some that will debate this point, however.
DE is dirt cheap (no pun intended...well, maybe a little pun) but you need to replace it all the time so it is a continuous expense.
Cartridges are the most expensive but with proper care they last about 5 years before they need replacing so you need to figure the cost over the time period.
Zeolite, IMHO, is not really any more efficient than sand and is more expensive. It 's main advantage is it's ammonia scavaging ability and it is being pushed as the "new miracle" for your pool! Not quite snake oil but some of the claims made for it's filtering ability come close!
There are some other filter mediums such as perlite and cellulose but they are not that commen. They are DE replacements but some can also be used in conjunction with sand and cartridge filters to improve the filtering ability much like DE can.