Help! Big Time!

[PoolKid]

How come, My Filter dosent get dirty? It looks like it was just cleaned. normal?

[aylad]

It's looking good, just keep the filter running 24 hours/day for the next couple of days...the chlorine kills the algae, but the filter gets it out of the pool, which will clear it up. Just watch your pressure and make sure it doesn't go up too much.

Janet

[PoolKid]

What do you mean by pressure ?

[Ohm_Boy]

What do you mean by pressure ?

This refers to the water pressure at the inlet side of the filter. It's basically like holding your thumb over the end of a garden hose and building up pressure in the hose. As the filter becomes clogged, the supply side pressure goes up as the pump continues to pump into it and the flow through it is restricted by the clogging. Larger gartridge filters, most sand and DE filters have a gauge (or at least a place for a gauge) installed so that this can be monitored.
Smaller units, like the ones on the Easy-Set pools don't usually have gauges. You have to basically observe the flow at the return and notice when it seems diminished, and listen for the sound of the pump, and/or just pop the cartridge and check it.

As for why your filter isn't clogged yet, that's a good question. I would guess that either 1) you need to brush the pool to get the dead algae circulating towards the filter, or B) the algae particle size is too small to catch in the filter. I guess there is the possibility of 3) the filter isn't properly installed or seated, or is the wrong size, allowing a bypass around it, but that should have been immediately obvious when you pulled it out.

[ChuckD]

Kid,
Just to let you know I didn't drop out of this, was out of town where there wasn't any internet.

Looks like you're in good hands and making good progress.
But Cheeze Louise, get the Leslie's FAS-DPD! the best $22 you'll spend on this thing and make your life a whole lot easier!

C.

[PoolKid]

Hey, No worries Chuck :P

Question, Now when do i start using the floater for chlorine?

The pool in clear now, so am i good to stop using the bleach?

[ChuckD]

Hey, No worries Chuck :P

Question, Now when do i start using the floater for chlorine?

The pool in clear now, so am i good to stop using the bleach?

Big No to both.
The pucks you put in the floater contain CYA (stabilizer). If we're to believe the numbers you got from the pool store, you've got plenty of CYA (70) and shouldn't add any more. You can't easily reduce it if you get too much. No floater, and no pucks.

Chlorine (Clorox) is your friend for life. This goes back to the need for the FAS-DPD test. It's the only one that'll measure both components, Free Chlorine (FC) and Combined Chloromines (CC). You'll want to know your FC by testing regularly (daily, until you know your pool's needs better) and add Clorox to maintain a certain level.

You'll want to know CC because that tells whether the chlorine's actively fighting something, and whether you may need to shock it.

I haven't run the numbers but I'll ballpark that you're going to need one of those 1.48 gallon jugs of Clorox a week in the summer. But that's just a guess. You need to test to find out what you really need. I just want to give you some idea of the costs.

C.