Water does not appear to be filtered very well

[PoolDoc]

Yes.

Get a manual vac head, pole, and hose like these at Amazon;

Poolmaster 27514 Classic Full View Triangular Vinyl Liner Vacuum
Hydro Tools 8365 8- to 16-Foot Adjustable Fluted Premium Fluted Telescopic Pool Pole, White
Poolmaster 33430 Premium Vacuum Hose with Swivel Cuff, 30-Feet by 1-1/2-Inch

If you get them locally, be sure to get a pole that's long enough to reach to the middle of your pool and a hose that will reach to the ground, with 6' or 8' left over.

Once you have those, you can set up a siphon with the hose, to the ground. One trick: you'll need to put the draining end of the hose into a bucket or pail, so that it's submerged. Otherwise, with low flow -- like when the vacuum hits some sludge or the like -- you'll tend to lose the siphon.

You can use polyquat, or a floc to try to make it easier to settle and remove. However if those particles are ALREADY settling, it might not make any difference.

[leena]

ok I have the vacuum head and long pole with hose but I dont understand what you mean for me to do that is different from the way I currently vacuum to waste.? Im sorry, Im kinda "blonde".

What is polyquat? I have a bottle of something called cloudy water clarifier that says it combines small particles for easier filtering. Is that it?

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you know what, I think I understand........."vacumming" the way you suggested would have a more gentle pull on the debris than it does with it hooked to the pump?. Therefore less disturbance to the debris, less a chance it will "puff into oblivion" before I suck it out?

[leena]

[PoolDoc]

If you have a "Waste" position on your filter, you can vacuum that way. But you'll blow out a lot of water fast. And if you try to vacuum on "Filter", you'll tend to push the fine particles THROUGH the filter and BACK INTO the pool.

[leena]

I got into the pool to feel of the debris that keeps settleing in the middle and I am now sure something is wrong with the filter........I could actually see bug body parts such as half of an ant,gnats, etc. Those things should be get filtered out, shouldnt they?

[PoolDoc]

What make you think they are going through the filter? Usually, they don't; they just settle to the bottom.

[leena]

this is getting worse. We left to go camping for three days, came back and pool had a slight green tint so I immediately added 1lb of shock n swim (calcium hypochlorite) and 3 gallons of 6% bleach. let the pump run all night. this morning it was almost no green but slightly cloudy, I tested using strips and it wouldnt even register any chlorine. So I added another lb of shock n swim and another 1.5 gallons of bleach. So now my pool is dirty AND cloudy. Running the filter and pump seems to be helping none. WE are going to take apart the sand filter and see if the gasket is going bad or if the sand has "tunneled" or if its low? I have no ideal about those things, its just something I read on here as possible problems for improper filtering? Also I intend to keep adding bleach keeping the chlorine level high for a few days?. Then scrub pool, vacuum to waste and if water still looks dirty, add DE powder to skimmer to see if it will help the sand filter catch smaller particles? Am I thinking on the right path?

oh and all last summer (our first) I used the tabs , was afraid of getting a cya(stabilizer?) build up so intended on using only bleach this year. When I tested on my strips this morning, the stabilizer was 0. I know I need that testing kit and I plan on ordering it from amazon this week.

ps its a 24'x52" above ground pool with a jacuzzi 1.5hp pump (no high or low speed) and a sand filter.

[leena]

oh and the bugs parts were on top of the water, the debris at the bottom was a little of everything. Last year I had to vacuum to waste very little. Last year the bugs went into the skimmer and never came back out so i assumed the sand filter was catching everything. The water stayed clean and clear all last year just with vacuuming thru the filter, this year its just coming back thru the filter when I vacuum so I have to keep vacuuming to waste which wastes alot of water........and I still have dirty water! .........scratching my head, something aint right..........

[PoolDoc]

Bug populations vary a lot from year to year.

I've run into this with commercial pool customers, where they will experience some sort of bug population explosion that covers the pool -- I can remember a couple of cases with some sort of midge like flyers -- and the pool person on the community board will be all, "Well this hasn't happened before; something must be wrong!" I've had to bring up on the pool deck, during the evening when these particular bugs were swarming, and let them stand there, swatting bugs, and eventually going, "What the @#$ are these things; I've never seen them before! Go ahead and show me what you have to show me, so we can get out of here!!". And, then I grin, and go, "I just did!".

I don't know that this is your case. But I do know the weather this winter has played havoc with bug populations. My wife and I walk in the Chickamauga Battlefield most evenings - have done for the past 10 years - and the ticks are totally out of control this year. We've removed as many as 50 from ourselves and our dog, during one walk!

It sounds like you may have THREE separate problems:

1. Your filter is not working properly.
2. You've got algae.
3. You've got bugs.

=> You need to fix your filter -- add sand, or repair?
=> You need to kill the algae -- more chlorine! Do NOT let the levels drop!
=> You'll have to put up with the bugs, till they get through doing their thing.

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