Skimmer socks and algae

[AnnaK]

AnnaK, your signature states: 'Used with abandon by three German Shepherd dogs'

I can see why you need to change your filter sock 2x/day! These guys have a lot of hair. I also see that you have a sand filter. Have your tried adding some DE to the filter to determine if that aides in filtration of particles, too?

Not yet. It's too late in the season for me to want to go there but it's a plan for next year.

A.

[Watermom]

Caustik,
CYA is slow dissolving stuff. It typically will take a week or so to dissolve. I have always just added my CYA through the skimmer. It just dissolves slowly in the filter. I make sure I wait a week before backwashing so I don't just throw it out. Just another option for adding CYA.

[caustik]

Caustik,
CYA is slow dissolving stuff. It typically will take a week or so to dissolve. I have always just added my CYA through the skimmer. It just dissolves slowly in the filter. I make sure I wait a week before backwashing so I don't just throw it out. Just another option for adding CYA.

I will give that a shot. I really am not liking the sweatsocks dangling from the ladder look. I will dump a bunch into the skimmer and see how it goes. Thanks for the input.

[waste]

Caustik, welcome to the forum! Saw this last night but got called away from the pc. As Watermom said, this stuff dissolves sslloowwllyy, so it takes many days to get an accurate reading(or to get out of the sock). PatL34 has a method he came up with for quickly dissolving the cya - he puts it in a fine meshed 'leafrake' on a skimmer pole and places it in front of one of the returns (w/ the pole weighted down to prevent movement). Since I can't leave a few lbs of chem dangled into the pools I work on, I use the kneehighs in the skimmers (I used to just dump it into the pool, but would end up loosing a lot of it when, unknowing, homeowners would vac it out then backwash their filters). There's nothing wrong with slowly! adding it via the skimmer and not backwashing for a week (*however, I had a customer a few years back that 'dumped' ~ 12 lbs in the skimmer all at once - the cya all collected at the first 'elbow' in the line and clogged it solid, nothing would dislodge the stuff, so we had to abandon that line and switch over to the 'reserve line' that we install on every skimmer)
I'm not trying to scare you out of adding through the skimmer, I've had to do it a few times when I ran out of kneehighs, just make sure the pump is running and that you add it slowly - I always go over to the pump and make sure that I see it comming in. Enough from me for now, I hope you have a great experience with your pool, if you ever need help, feel free to call on the great and knowledgeable folks here!! - Waste

[caustik]

Caustik, welcome to the forum! Saw this last night but got called away from the pc. As Watermom said, this stuff dissolves sslloowwllyy, so it takes many days to get an accurate reading(or to get out of the sock). PatL34 has a method he came up with for quickly dissolving the cya - he puts it in a fine meshed 'leafrake' on a skimmer pole and places it in front of one of the returns (w/ the pole weighted down to prevent movement). Since I can't leave a few lbs of chem dangled into the pools I work on, I use the kneehighs in the skimmers (I used to just dump it into the pool, but would end up loosing a lot of it when, unknowing, homeowners would vac it out then backwash their filters). There's nothing wrong with slowly! adding it via the skimmer and not backwashing for a week (*however, I had a customer a few years back that 'dumped' ~ 12 lbs in the skimmer all at once - the cya all collected at the first 'elbow' in the line and clogged it solid, nothing would dislodge the stuff, so we had to abandon that line and switch over to the 'reserve line' that we install on every skimmer)
I'm not trying to scare you out of adding through the skimmer, I've had to do it a few times when I ran out of kneehighs, just make sure the pump is running and that you add it slowly - I always go over to the pump and make sure that I see it comming in. Enough from me for now, I hope you have a great experience with your pool, if you ever need help, feel free to call on the great and knowledgeable folks here!! - Waste

Thanks for the reply Waste. And yeah I added a small bit into the skimmer without the pantyhose to see the effect, since when I tried to clean what was left in the sweatsocks was basically paste I was kind of leary on dumping it all in there. I now have a couple pantyhoses sitting in the skimmer and it is starting to dissolve just over a few hours I can see a difference. The wife didn't need that pair anyhow. Thanks for the info!

[Watermom]

Pantyhose in the skimmer is fine to do. But, when you pour the cya granules slowly into the skimmer, they go right into the filter. They don't turn to paste and as long as you are adding it slowly, there is no problem. I have always done it that way, year after year, and never had a problem. Go ahead and do the pantyhose thing. I mostly just added this additional post for informational purposes for other people who might be reading this thread. Didn't want them to be afraid to put it in the skimmer.

[caustik]

Pantyhose in the skimmer is fine to do. But, when you pour the cya granules slowly into the skimmer, they go right into the filter. They don't turn to paste and as long as you are adding it slowly, there is no problem. I have always done it that way, year after year, and never had a problem. Go ahead and do the pantyhose thing. I mostly just added this additional post for informational purposes for other people who might be reading this thread. Didn't want them to be afraid to put it in the skimmer.

Yes, I can see if they were not pre-soaked overnight and were fresh out of the plastic container that they would not cause a problem. Just in my situation that was already messed up by my lack of experience I had a thick gooey paste started inside the sweatsocks that I wanted to use rather then just throw out the stabilizer. Even if it was free, I hate to waste stuff.

I appreciate both options offered (Thanks Watermom!/Waste!).