I often have customers asking me which is the best filter for their swimming pool, a cartridge or sand or glass media filter.
The answer depends on a number of factors, such as:
How much room is there for a filter?
Do you have room to backwash around 250-500 litres of water each time you backwash?
Whether you want to collect the finest particles in the filter, and other issues.
While I try to assess these for you when you contact me, I thought I would outline some major differences between cartridge filters and media filters to assist you in making the best decision for your pool.
Advantages of Cartridge Filters
- Takes up less physical room
- Don’t require somewhere to backwash
- Filters to finer micron (filters finer particle size) so better water clarity
- Having a spare cartridge makes the cleaning easier
- Saves water
Advantages of Media Filters
- Less ongoing costs, no replacement filters to buy every 2 years
- Less maintenance, backwashing is often monthly and takes less work than hosing cartridge elements
- Glass media filters can be used with mineral magnesium pools (Cartridge not recommended)