All too often, chemicals are blamed for poor water quality when in fact the root cause is, more often than not, insufficient filtration. If a domestic pool owner only
runs their pool pump for a few hours a day, they are relying far too much on the disinfectant (e.g. chlorine) in the water to keep the pool safe, clean and crystal clear. Moving water is safe water! This also applies to public swimming pools. The more filtration and circulation of the water the better the quality will be and the easier it will be to maintain. It is important to ensure that the water passes through the filter media at the right speed. Too fast and any captured debris is pushed through the media and back to the pool. The slower the water passes through, the better and more efficient the media will be. In fact, if you simply half the speed at which the water passes, you will quadruple filter efficiency. Beware, if you reduce the speed of the pump, you will ultimately slow down the circulation of the water in the pool tank. This can result in dead spots with bacteria and algae taking hold. Unless a filter with a larger surface area can be installed, you may need to compromise with variable speeds to achieve a slower filtration speed for part of the day and increase the speed for the rest of the day to maintain good circulation.
What goes in, must come out. The purpose of the filter is to capture any physical debris from the water. This debris builds up over time to the extent that it will reduce the performance of the media and begin to block up.