What's the right filter for your pool, a sand, filter or a cartridge filter? Well, it depends on the size of your pool, how much money you want to spend and how much cleaning and maintenance you're willing to do so. Here's the pros and cons of a sand filter versus a cartridge filter check it out before we dive in if you're looking for help keeping your pool clean and clear check out our free pool care cheat sheet at cheat swimuniversity.com, it's a totally free, easy to use Guide to help you keep track of taking care of your pool. Okay, first up is sand filters. Sand filters are just that large filtration tanks, full of sand as your pool pump, sucks water in from the skimmers it pushes through the sand, filter, media filter sand and any of its alternatives are relatively inexpensive and the filter itself tends to run cheaper than other filters.

Too, each grain of sand is textured. If you look at it under a microscope, it has a lot of little rough edges. This helps to grab contaminants and debris as they pass through. Filter sand can grab any particles that measure 20 microns or larger.

Well. How big is a micron? A single strand of human hair is about 50 microns or about .05 millimeters in diameter. Some bacteria can be as small as two microns and that just means filter sand doesn't capture everything as more water flows through the filter over time. The sand's rough edges are slowly worn down by erosion and those smooth surfaces aren't able to grab as many contaminants.

Luckily, you only have to change the sand in your filter every five to seven years. In the meantime, you can clean your sand filter by backwashing. Your filter's pressure gauge will tell you when the internal pressure rate is too high, and this means it's time to backwash. Backwashing reverses the flow of water in your filter to flush out contaminants through your waistline.

It's a simple process, but you do lose some pool water and some chemicals along with it. A sand filter is optimal for large pools because it won't clog as easily as other filters. However, sand filters have the smallest filtration area at only two to six square feet and, like we said, a sand filter doesn't capture smaller particles like some bacteria. That means you really need to stay on top of your pool water chemistry.

If there's not enough sanitizer in your pool to kill those tiny bacteria, your sand filter isn't going to do much to catch them either. So, to recap here are the upsides to a sand. Filter, it costs less money, it's easier to maintain the sand lasts for five to seven years before you need to change it and sand. Filters are great for filtering large pools.

The downsides it's the least, effective filter, only picking up larger particles and covering a smaller filtration area when you backwash, it wastes water, and you lose some chemicals and your filter works less efficiently when pressure builds up. Next up is cartridge filters inside the cartridge filter tank is a plastic cylinder, surrounded by pleated, polyester, filter media water flows into the tank and through the pleats, the filter captures particles as small as 10 microns. This means cartridge filters are more effective than sand filters. Cartridge filters also have the largest filtration area, ranging from about 200 to 600 square feet.

However, they don't work as well in very large pools. Cartridge filters can perform well at low speeds, like with a variable speed, pump and running your pump at a lower speed can help prolong its life. Cartridge filters are typically more expensive than sand filters, and cleaning them is a bit more hands-on. As the filter collects, contaminants you'll want to remove the cartridge from the tank and spray it down with a hose to remove any dirt and debris once or twice a year.

Your filter will need a deeper clean you'll want to spray it down with a filter, cleaner and soak it in a diluted, muriatic, acid or a chemical filter cleaning solution. Finally, you need to replace your cartridge every few years. So, to sum it up here are the pros of a cartridge filter. It can filter contaminants as small as 10 microns, there's no back washing, which means you waste less water and pool chemicals.

It performs well at low pump speeds and it has the largest filtration area. The downsides: well, it's more expensive. Your cartridges only last up to two to three years: you'll need to do a deep cleaning of your filters, one to two times per year and they're, not the best filter for larger pools. Now, before you buy a pool, filter you'll want to make sure you have the right size pool pump.

Your filter won't work properly. If your pump isn't the correct size for your pool, filters are rated by gallons per minute or gpm per square foot. The filter flow rate must be the same gpm as your pump or higher with pool filters. It's best to go for the larger size, so it can handle the power of your pump if you need help figuring out the right size, pump or filter for your pool.

Be sure to check out our filter guide at swimuniversity.com, alright, so we've weighed the pros and cons so when it comes to buying a filter which one is better sand filters or cartridge filters. Well for the clearest pool water and the best filtering go with a cartridge filter. They capture, smaller particles, cover a larger filtration area, operate at low pump speeds and are easy to maintain. But if you have a very large pool where you tend to have a lot of algae problems, go with a sand filter a sand filters back, washing mode makes them really easy to clean and they won't clog as easily as other filters.

If you have any more questions about pool maintenance, go check out our free pool care cheat sheet at swimuniversity.com cheat sheet, and if you found this video helpful leave a comment hit the like button and subscribe for more pool maintenance tutorials throughout the season. That's it thanks again and happy swimming.