Quote Originally Posted by Michael23
After struggling for a six weeks this summer with cloudy water again, I found this forum and started dumping bleach in the pool yesterday around noon. Its above ground/24 foot/13000+ gal. Started with more but currently dumping about a gallon every two hours then testing an hour later. My chlorine levels seem to be staying around 10 consistently. Did not want to go higher than 10 since I think I read on another thread this could fade the liner. Anyway, water looks whiter than yesterdays murky yellow so I think we are making progress. It is cloudy today so might get a break from lots of sun, (which is supposed to keep chlorine from breaking down so fast?)

A couple questions that I have...we use a cartridge filter (Aquatools) that has a fine plastic mesh cartridge that supposedly can used by itself. In the past, we also threw in a DE substitute called Fiber Clear Water polish, which is basically cellulose, I think. I have cleaned the filter a few times and it seems to been catch some yellowish gunk without the fiber clear. Will adding the fiber clear make it clear faster? I really dont want to be dumping a bag in the filter after I clean it if it not going to make a difference.

Other question is how soon should I start sweeping the bottom of the pool. I can't see bottom yet and there is also lots of junk on the sides but I doubt the filter will take it out at this point because it seems very fine. I have a nylon over the filter intake basket but it is not getting enough particulates on it to being close to clogging it so I doubt the particles are very large at this point. Will they eventually bind together and become easier to clean up?

Thanks in advance
Michael, welcome to the forum! For cartridge questions, I usually rely on Waterbear, he knows both chemistry and cart filters. Until he gets out of work, you can brush the pool immediatly, it'll expose the algae to the chlorine you have in the pool. It would be very helpful to get a complete set of numbers (fc, cc, tc, pH, tot alk (ch) and cya), these #s will help everyone here help you better. I'll keep my eye on this thread and if Waterbear misses it, I'll get his attention for you. Again, welcome to the forum - Waste