Should I use floc?

[bigoledude]

My son let his pool get away from him prior to me taking over the "pool duties". He had it well on it's way to clean before I got involved.

We are dealing with the last remnants of the dead algae. I asked him to pick up some floc today and, the lady at the pool shop told him not to use floc in a system with a cartridge filter. I have been impressed with the performance of this filter thus far. It has done a great job and done it quickly.

My only prior experience has been with a sand filter, so... Am I not supposed to use floc in a cartridge filter?

[PoolDoc]

Honestly, I can't answer that.

There are 5 or 6 different chemicals used in flocs - and the end use products don't tell you what's in the bottle. Alum (aluminum sulfate) or PAC (polyaluminum chloride) shouldn't be a problem with a cartridge filter . . . UNLESS it's too small for the pump: you do NOT want to force the floc through the cartridge.

But the other products? I don't even know what they are!

At a minimum, I'd take her advice on the floc SHE is selling, whatever it is; she may have some horror stories where she sold it to local customers with cartridge filters.