Can find cause of all the dirt/sand in the pool

[matt4x4]

Denanbob, sounds like your DE filter is broken, grey can only mean DE getting back into pool, see how it goes over the next week, if it clears up then it just needed to set in the filter.

Nicole, for the first while, your sand is relatively loose since you reworked the equipment over the winter and it needs to pack down, so getting some sand while backwashing is normal, it may be too full, so that could explain 5 lbs loss on backwash...
When filtering, the sand should not get back into the pool, but since it's new sand, the really fine stuff (sand dust) is probably washing through and into the pool.
With a layer (1-2cups) of DE, it will eventually filter out, but will take a while, you could also direct your jet to create a whirlpool effect in the water and the sand should mostly collect in the middle in an area of about 10 sq ft - vacuum that heavily concentrated portion to waste, and continue to filter afterwards, after about 3 days of this, you'll have most of it gone without much water loss.

[nicole12]

I thought about that with the new sand possibly having small sand particles/dust in it that had to work it's way out. I had posted that and someone on the forum told me that wasn't the case because the sand had been prewashed/filtered. I know that I physically saw some fine sand/dust when putting the sand into the filter.

Hopefully some frequent vacuuming will get rid of it.

[matt4x4]

Yes, it's true that pool sand is prewashed, doesn't get shipped on a pillow though, it still get slammed onto skids, stacked 10 feet high, thrown around umpteen times until you get it, so I highly doubt it will consist of perfectly sized and shaped sand particles, i believe it will have fine dust in it again by the time it makes it into your filter.

Give it a couple of weeks tops, try to vac to waste (but only the big portions) and all should be well soon.

[poolrx]

Sounds like dust stirred up by lawnmowing, happens at our house all the time.
When you cut your lawn, old, dead cuttings pretty much pulverize into a fine dust, this dust will immediately cling to the surface and eventually sink to the bottom, currents in the pool will naturally fill in crevices with it.
The problem with the fine dust is that it will push trhough pretty much any sand filter unless you reduce the flow to almost nothing.
Try 1-1.5 cups DE right before vacuuming, vacuum VERY SLOWLY, too much speed and all you do is stir the stuff up, and mix it back into the surrounding water.
I don't know about where you are located, but where we are it has been EXTREMELY dry which certainly isn't helping the dust situation any.

Same problem here with the mowing. I did notice that if I mow the day after it rains I get significantly less dirt in the pool from the ground being wet and the dust not blowing around as much. We have had a lot of rain recently and it is amazing how much "stuff" ends up in the pool from just the rain and wind.

[poolrx]

We've noticed the same thing. We bought a used AGP and just got it all up and running yesterday. We put 4lbs. of DE into the skimmer slowly and about 2 hours later, DH vacuumed the pool and said he noticed the dust/silt/whatever and just thought it was DE. Later in the evening, our water looked super clear but if you stood beside the pool and looked down into it, you could see a ton of spots where there was a whitish/gray substance just settling where the wrinkles in the bottom were. I thought we had minimal wrinkles, but now I can clearly see there are alot!! I'll have him vacuum again tonight when he gets home hoping to get this stuff out of there! We have a 1hp pump and a Star DE-50 filter.

Denanbob. Are you using calcium hypoclorite to clorinate or shock by chance? I have a DE filter and thought the same as you. When I switched to bleach, no more grey "stuff" on the bottom of the pool!

[denanbob]

That is good to know EXCEPT I just bought a huge box of 36 packs of "shock" (which ARE cal hypo). And since I already used one, I'm sure I can't take the box back. Maybe some poor unsuspecting soul who doesn't know about the BBB method would buy them from me? LOL!!! Thanks for the info poolrx

[Tredge]

I used Calcium Hypo when I opened the pool....came in a large bucket from Farm fleet......the stuff showed up shortly after I used it....hasnt increased since I stopped....

Could it be a contaminate?

[poolrx]

That is good to know EXCEPT I just bought a huge box of 36 packs of "shock" (which ARE cal hypo). And since I already used one, I'm sure I can't take the box back. Maybe some poor unsuspecting soul who doesn't know about the BBB method would buy them from me? LOL!!! Thanks for the info poolrx

It's funny, my buddy uses ca hypo all the time with no ill effects. I guess it depends on the water. I still have 11 bags of shock myself

[geordie]

We get brown dust in our pool. It is very very fine, will suspend in the water if stirred up, even by vacuuming. It is worse in dry years, and this one sure is dry out here. We are out in farm country in a very small town surrounded by corn fields. The sand filter will catch some of it, depending on how patient I want to be about backwashing and vacuuming frequently. I've found that the best way to deal with it is to give it a basic vacuuming, turn the filter on high and have the kids jump in and swim and splash like crazy. Then I leave the filter running all night long. The next morning most of it is gone. If the rains don't come, it appears a little more each day.

By the way, it IS a bit slimey to the touch but it absolutely is not algae, it is just dust from the fields.

Jean

[matt4x4]

Field dust is high in clay content, clay is really really fine, and wet clay is slippery - being out in the country myself, this is what I have to live with as well.