WaterNet Online

I have a 38 X 16 fiberglass, around 16 to 18 thousand gallon.  Nails were accidentally dropped in the pool and large rust stains developed.  I put oxalic acid in a sock and set it on the stains.  This is when I realized how stained the rest of my pool was.  The clean white circles began to appear around each sock so i decided to clean the pool by taking the sock and wiping down the walls and setting them in different locations throughout the pool.  I began to think this could be a dumb idea since I was in the pool with the acid.  I then decided to just throw some acid in the pool and let it do the work.  The pool has been cloudy ever since (3 days) so after reading a few posts I went ahead and put about a cup and a half of DE in my sand filter (yesterday).  The pool looked very clear this morning so I decided to vacuum.  I pulled up the Polaris which was covered with a fine white silt that is almost silky to the touch.  After stirring up the pool with the vac it is once again cloudy.  My question is this.  Is it DE that is making it cloudy?  Are the DE particles so fine that they get through the sand?  Sorry about the long story but I just wanted to open myself up to get blasted.  Thanks in advance, ~mike

I'm hoping you get a reply on this--I've been considering putting some DE in mine also. Hard to say from your story whether the silt was the DE or whatever was already in the pool that made it cloudy in the first place.

Hopefully by now you have cured your problem. If not, you need to vacuum to waste after the stuff settles (or use floc and vacuum to waste).

Andy

I am not a pool pro.... but also per posts on this forum I have used DE in my sand filter. Both with sand and with zeolite in the filter. I have not had problems with DE getting in the pool. If it is DE getting in the pool I would suspect a problem with the filter (broken lateral?). I have had silt from precipitated iron and dead algae that both required me to vacuum to waste as the other respondent suggests. However that was before I knew the DE trick and also why I discovered the DE trick.

I have many times used DE in sand filter to clear cloudiness and have had no  problems with the DE getting back to the pool. I suppose it is possible but more than likely the "cloud" stirred up when vacuum is moved is the reaction of the oxailic acid on the plaster removing the stains.  As I understand, the oxailic acid attracts the metals in the plaster and binds to them for removal through the filter system or vacuuming. This is usually seen as a white "cloud" on the bottom of the pool and a sand filter is unable to contain this fine material so it returns to the water and clouds the water. Best solution is to vacuum to waste to  remove the residue.