DE (Diatomaceous Earth) Pool Filters

While many swimming pool filters use just sand as their primary filtration media, a good number of other pool filters use cloth-like filters covered in diatomaceous earth to filter pool water. The DE powder filters out particles far smaller than sand can remove and the cloth-like material over plastic framework stops large particles and debris from getting through.

Proper Use/Addition of Diatomaceous Earth

First and foremost, consult the manual that came with your filter system to make sure you actually HAVE a DE filter. Then, while you have the manual out, read the sections about starting a DE filter, backwashing a DE filter and cleaning a DE filter. Taking a few minutes right then and there to learn the correct way to care for YOUR filter system will save you innumerable headaches — and possibly a huge amount of money — down the road!

Now that you’ve read the manual you know that you should never operate a DE filter without adding the correct amount of DE through the skimmer, you need to replenish DE powder after backwashing and that once or twice a year you may need to put your filter elements (the ‘cloth’ covered things in your filter) through a process called acid washing (i.e. muriatic acid bath) to dislodge embedded microscopic particulates from their cloth covers…. right?!?

And for the record, you may NOT substitute cyanuric acid for muriatic acid, a chemical you will have to get from your local pool store or hardware store. Careful, though, if using product from a hardware store as it may have a much stronger concentration than its counterparts from the pool supply store!

Oh, and before we forget, many pool supply stores offer acid washing services with 48 hour turnaround times… in case you don’t feel like messing around with caustic chemicals in your backyard.

The questions quickly becomes, “Does opening a pool later in the Summer mean adding different pool chemicals?”

In most cases, no, with the exception of chlorine or your primary sanitizer. Warmer water temperatures may have ‘driven off’ winterizing chemicals and allowed the water to turn some shade of nasty. You may find that you need an extra amount of your sanitizing system’s shock treatment to get your water back to a pristine, clean and clear state.

If you normally require pH, alkalinity and calcium hardness balancing chemicals when you open earlier, you will most likely still need them now. Proper use of algaecides and metal removing chemicals goes with out saying… right?!?

Didn’t see what you needed? Take a look at the pool chemicals section of the Pool Center Web Site for additional pool opening and pool maintenance chemicals.

What happened?

Simply put, the metals ‘hooked up’ with chlorine molecules to form insoluble precipitates (solids) that dropped out of solution, landed on surfaces and took up permanent residency.

On an unrelated note, we never thought we’d get to use the term ‘hooked up’ to describe a chemical reaction, but alas, we most certainly just did. One point for us!

Getting rid of pool stains?

Definitely NOT a fun task! Often times getting rid of stains will require multiple applications of pool stain removal chemicals and a LOT of elbow grease. Therefore we suggest NOT getting pool stains in the first place and pool owners have several ways to prevent pool stains at their disposal.

Preventing pool stains caused by metals?

Step number one involves testing source water for dissolved metals with a product such as Water Metals Check. One COULD use a more sophisticated method such as a ‘wet kit’ from Taylor, but those kits require a bit more skill and certainly cost more money.

Don’t get us wrong, though. Taylor Test Kits have a definite place in the world of metals testing. If the Water Metals Check test strips indicate the presence of dissolved metals, some of the Taylor Test Kits will help determine which metal your source water contains.

Step number two involves adding a ‘sequestering compound‘ to your pool water BEFORE adding the initial dose of chlorine shock. The sequestering agent will, in the proper dosage, bind with all dissolved metals in the water and render them incapable of forming precipitates (insoluble solids) with chlorine molecules.

Oh no! I’ve already got stains! Now what?

You, my friend, FIRST need to figure out what insidious metal has invaded your precious pool water using a kit such as the Jack’s Magic Pool Stain ID Kit. Otherwise you may find yourself doing a whole lot more scrubbing than needed and buying far more Pool Stain Treatment Products than needed.

Once you’ve pinpointed the offending metal, select the correct treatment option. Jack’s Magic, an industry leader in the field of preventing and eliminating pool stains makes specialized products designed to remove stains in pools caused by pretty much any metal commonly found in water used to fill swimming pools.

And after the stains are gone?

After you’ve wiped out ugly pool stain caused by the intrusion of dissolved metals, you have NOT finished the job! Now you must figure out how metals got in your pool and eliminate those sources. Next, we suggest the use of something like Jack’s Magic Blue Stuff to help prevent future staining.

Despite our knowing a bit more than the average person about chemistry and wanting to share that knowledge, we usually refrained from going into a lecture about polymers and such… for fear for of scaring the poor customer half to death and causing them to have horrible nightmares that night about their experiences in high school chemistry class.

Instead we told people to imagine that the bottle of pool water clarifier in their hand contained millions of little greedy squid and octopuses that had a craving for small particles in pool water. Simply pour the little buggers into the pool and in a short period of time each of them would fill up their arms (tentacles) with as many particles as possible until full and get so big that the pool filter would catch them or they would fall to the pool floor waiting to get vacuumed out.

Sounds silly, and almost stupid, but we sold a LOT of pool clarifier using that little story. Something about the imagery of small animals doing all the work for people seemed appealing… but that’s just our best guess.

Moral of the story?

Adding live sea creatures to pool water will have BAD consequences… but adding some sort of pool water clarifier to your pool water will put advanced chemistry (in the form of greedy squid and octopuses) to work for you, help clear up cloudy pool water, and/or help keep clear pool water sparkling clear.

Standard Pool Clarifier

Super Floc Out

Natural Pool Clarifier

]]> http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/17/how-does-a-pool-water-clarifier-work/feed/ 0 http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/16/replacement-reagents-for-2-way-pool-test-kit/ http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/16/replacement-reagents-for-2-way-pool-test-kit/#comments Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:03:03 +0000 admin http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/?p=704 Yep. The phantom reagent thief struck again. Happens every year to 10′s of thousands of people worldwide. Lucky for you we know where a place that will deliver a whole new kit right to your doorstep.

Total Chlorine & pH 2-Way Test Kit for Pools and Spas

What’s that? you say you don’t need a whole new kit? Sad to say, but in most cases a whole new kit will cost about a buck or two more than purchasing just the reagents. Don’t blame us, though. We just have the gun task of delivering the news.

As a general rule bromine offers more disinfecting power than chlorine because even its combined/used form (bromamine) still has the power to help keep water safe and clean. Additionally, by shocking once a week w/ an extra dose of bromine pool and spa owners effectively ‘free’ bromine molecules up to return to their assigned task of oxidizing biological contaminants.

Do bromine pools require stabilizer?

Despite bromine’s superior stability in water compared to chlorine, pool experts suggest maintaining a cyanuric acid level between 30 and 60 part per million. Note: As with chlorine, excessively high stabilizer levels can restrict bromine’s ability to do its job effectively.

What form does bromine come in?

Bromine usually comes packaged in tablet or granular form. Most people use tablets in a floater or feeder of some sort for everyday purposes and granular bromine for weekly shock treatments. One may also use granular bromine as a means of establishing a bromine level in fresh water so that it will begin to draw off of bromine tablets in a feeder or floater.

Who sells bromine?

Pretty much EVERY pool and spa store carries bromine in one form or the other, thought usually most will not carry bromine powder in large containers.

As far as online retailers go, we know that In the Swim carries different sizes of bromine tablet pails ranging from 3.5 pounds all the way up to 500 pounds.

In the Swim’s “Americas Strongest Bromine”…

• 3.5 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 10 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 25 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 50 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 100 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 200 lbs. of bromine tablets
• 500 lbs. of bromine tablets

A question you may have at this point: “How do I test for bromine?”

As usual the easiest method involves the use of test strips manufactured by companies like Aquachek or Pool Check. Test strips offer fast, reliable test results without the need for complicated testing procedures or messy powders and liquids.

Pool Check Chlorine/Bromine Test Strips

Aquachek Chlorine/Bromine Test Strips

]]> http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/15/quick-information-about-bromine/feed/ 0 http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/13/best-3-inch-tablets-for-chlorine-feeders/ http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/2011/06/13/best-3-inch-tablets-for-chlorine-feeders/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:56:37 +0000 admin http://pool-water-testing.com/pool-testing-blog/?p=686 We recently got asked for information about the best ‘brand’ of 3-inch chlorine tablets for use in floating chlorinators and chlorine feeder systems and quite honestly we do NOT have an opinion — except that we suggest avoiding using chlorine tablets purchased from large retail chains such as T#rg#t, W#lm#rt, To#s’#'us, K#a#t, etc. if possible.

Will chlorine from those (and other large retail) stores work? Yes, but you will go through more of it faster because it typically has a lower available chlorine content than 3-inch chlorine tablets purchased from pool stores. Why? Last we heard it has something do with the chemical licenses held by large retailers which take into account the ways (and places) in which they store/display chlorine products.

Another thing to consider: Chlorine Stabilizer (cyanuric acid). Most floating chlorinators and chlorine feeder systems do not work properly if you attempt to use non-stabilized chlorine tablets in them. Plus, non-stabilized forms of chlorine tend to volatilize out of the water quickly making it harder to maintain free chlorine residuals in the water.

Also, do NOT use fast/rapid dissolving tablets in chlorine feeder systems. Dangerous situations involving the rapid (no pun intended) formation of dangerous pressure levels in your pool’s plumbing may result!

So… Where can you purchase stabilized 3-inch chlorine tablets that will provide the higher level of available free chlorine? In the Swim carries a quality product that comes in a variety of sizes:

• 10 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 25 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 50 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 100 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 200 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

• 500 lbs of Stabilized 3-Inch Chlorine Tablets

“My husnband and I both work 2 jobs and take turns shuffling the kids around to all their school, soccer, band and scout stuff. We don’t have time to run back and forth to the pool store every week for more pool chemicals. Do you know a chemical kit that will last us most if not all summer long?”

We certainly empathize with your situation, Mary, since we have kids, too, and have to create time to do ANYthing other than work, housework and drive them hither and yon.

We typically stock up on chemicals from our local pool supply store early in the season and don’t have to make a trip back until at least 3/4 of the way through the season, though sometimes a bit sooner if we get a lot of rain or have 2 or 20 more social gatherings at the homestead.

Since it sounds like you clearly don’t have a lot of time on your hands, Mary, for going to the pool store even ONCE, we suggest that you look into a pool chemical package like the Chemical Season Supply Kit (Large) from Amerimerc.Com, a leading online retailer of pool chemicals, pool test kits, pool supplies, and, of course, pool toys.

What does the kit contain? So glad you asked!

• 50 lb.3in Tablets — Great for day-to-day chlorinating
• 1 qt. Poly 60 Algaecide — A necessary tool for fending off unwanted algae
• 1 qt. Conquest Super Rust & Scale — Keep pesky metal stains out of your water
• 24 x 1 lb. bag Dura Shock — Excellent for shocking & superchlorinating
• 4 lb. pH Increaser — Effective way to elevate the pH of your pool water
• 6 lb. pH Reducer — Effective way to decrease the pH of your pool water
• Aqua Chek Chlorine 3-Way Test Strips — Fastest way to test your pool for vital parameters

Looking for other chemicals and supplies for your swimming pool and want them delivered right to your door? Check out the latest offerings on Amerimerc.Com!

In either case, we get this question a lot. Below you will find links to four areas of interest for pool owners in the Spring:

Pool Opening Kits	Pool Chlorine
Solar & Winter Covers	Equipment & Accessories

And, of course, an area that too many pool owners neglect: Pool Water Test Kits.

Can’t I just dump a bunch of chlorine in and call it a day?

Sure… but then you will more than likely waste money correcting the problems you’ve created or didn’t solve by simply adding chlorine.

Testing your pool water for at LEAST the basics (metals, pH, alkalinity, free chlorine, total chlorine, calcium hardness and cyanuric acid) will give the knowledge you need to purchase the correct pool chemicals and add the correct amounts so you can get your pool started properly and avoid annoyances such as staining caused by the addition of chlorine to water containing high levels of metals, algae caused by poorly balanced water in which chlorine cannot do its job, etc.

Consider This : 99% of the time it costs MORE money to fix a pool water chemistry issue than it does to test in the first place and add the correct chemicals the first time!

Did you open your pool this season and discover that an overly harsh Winter put holes in your Winter cover and/or turned it into a useless tarp that resembles swiss cheese? If so, then trust us when we say that happens ALL the time.

Too much water on the cover, ice shifting over the Winter, squirrels, cats, dogs, kids and the occasional stray water buffalo can all cause irreparable damage to a Winter cover.

Now that the weather has warmed, the ice has all melted and the water buffalo has left your yard, you may find yourself in need of an affordable winter cover that will… cover your pool and keep bugs, leaves, dirt and debris out of the water. Take a look at the Cantar line of above ground winter pool covers. They offer excellent pool protection at a good price — and more.

• Constructed with durable, tough polyethylene material fashioned from DOW Resin.

• Designed not to split, crack, tear or dry rot in cold weather.
• Sturdy in nature, yet still lightweight and easy to maneuver.
• Features lap-welded, reinforced seams to help prevent ripping and fraying.
• Manufactured with double thick, double stitched outer edges to guard against rips on the ends and corners.
• Included brass grommets, heavy rope and the Quick-Ty winch make securing the cover a fast and easy process.
• ‘Classic’ covers come with a 7-year warranty.
• ‘Estate’ covers come with a 10-year warranty.

Get more information about pricing and availability of Cantar Above Ground Pool Covers on the PoolCenter.Com Web Site.