Pool service professionals are accustomed to discovering what lies beneath a filter lid. Sometimes, however, even an experienced technician is surprised by what is waiting inside.
That was the idea behind OnCore Filtration’s inaugural Dirty Filter Face-Off Contest, which invited pool professionals nationwide to submit photos and videos of exceptionally neglected filters encountered on the job. The eight-week campaign generated more than 100 entries and over 400 public votes.
After the votes were counted, Natalia Mobley of Absolute Pool & Spa Care in Cumming, Ga., earned the 2026 Dirtiest Filter Award with close to 100 votes. Berto of Lazer Pools in Brooksville, Fla., finished second with nearly 70 votes.
The OnCore Filtration team also selected Ashley Tobias of Virginia Beach, Va., to receive the 2026 Grimiest Video Award for the contest’s most creative and entertaining video entry.
When the Filter Tells a Different Story
Natalia Mobley entered the pool and spa industry with no previous experience. She joined Absolute Pool & Spa Care nearly three years ago after hearing how much her boyfriend, who had already worked for the company for several years, enjoyed the field.
She quickly found the same appreciation for the work.
“I love being outside all day,” Mobley says. “I love the different types of people you get to meet. But I also love that there are so many different components to it. There’s plumbing, electrical, chemistry and hydraulics. You can’t ever get bored with it, and you’re always learning something new.”
Today, Mobley serves as the company’s maintenance supervisor, overseeing commercial accounts, supporting technicians and handling customer concerns.
Her winning filter, however, came from a residential pool that Absolute Pool & Spa Care had recently taken over.
From the surface, nothing appeared particularly alarming.
“The pool was blue. It was clear,” she says. “Looking at the pool itself, you would not have thought the filter was that dirty.”
When Mobley opened the filter for the company’s first cleaning at the property, she found cartridges that had become severely clogged and folded inward. She does not know exactly how long they had gone without attention, but the homeowners had lived at the property for two or three years.
The damage was too extensive for a simple cleaning. The customer needed an entirely new set of filters, along with replacement manifolds. Absolute Pool & Spa Care had the system operating again within a few days and continues to maintain the account.
The experience demonstrated just how effectively a filter can conceal an underlying maintenance problem — at least temporarily. “The filters were really doing their job because the pool did not look how I would have thought it would with the filters in that condition,” Mobley says.
Mobley first learned about the Dirty Filter Face-Off Contest through AQUA’s twice-weekly e-newsletter, AQUA Today. She immediately thought of the filter photo she had saved and occasionally showed to others in the industry.
“I was like, ‘Hey, I have to show it off here. We’ll see where it goes,’” she says.
A strong network rallied around Mobley’s entry throughout the public voting period.
“I was so excited. It was great,” she says. “I had customers voting for me. I had my family voting for me, my friends. I had a lot of people behind me trying to help me win.”
Her colleagues supported her, too. Mobley says they knew how competitive she could be and “kind of figured” she might pull off the win.
Still, the other submissions gave her plenty of competition.
“I looked at all of them,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh, man. Some of these are bad.’”
When an incoming call appeared on her phone identifying OnCore Filtration, Mobley suspected what it meant.
“I just died,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I was so happy.”
Seeing the support behind her entry was also meaningful.
“It felt very good,” she says. “I felt very loved in the community.”
Mobley received $1,000 in product and a $500 gift card for her first-place finish.
The Green Pool That Earned Silver
Runner-up Berto has worked in the pool industry since 2011. He started in an entry-level position before learning store operations, equipment service, pool cleaning and other technical aspects of the trade.
After leaving for other jobs, former customers continued contacting him because they wanted him to resume caring for their pools.
“They were like, ‘Can you just do it for me, and we’ll pay you?’” he says. “I thought, ‘What if I just start my own business?’”
He launched Lazer Pools in 2023 and currently operates the company on his own.
The filter featured in his contest entry came from a residential property in Westchase, Fla. The homeowners were preparing to sell the house but had been unable to clear the severely green pool, despite having several pool professionals look at it.
When Berto removed the lid from the D.E. filter, he found the grids buried beneath layers of caked-on powder and green debris.
“My first instinct was, ‘This is absolutely disgusting,’” he says. “And the smell…awful.”
The buildup had hardened around the assembly. Berto used a flathead screwdriver to carefully loosen the material from the grids before he could remove and clean the unit.
The customer told him the filter had not been cleaned in years. Berto estimated it may have gone at least five years without a complete cleaning or even proper backwashing.
“I was actually surprised the filter didn’t crack or blow up,” he says.
Cleaning it thoroughly took approximately two hours. Restoring the swamp-green pool took another couple of weeks, but the existing filter remained usable once the buildup was removed.
The filter had been neglected long before Berto arrived, but on the pools he services regularly, he emphasizes the importance of not overlooking the filter and of learning how each system behaves rather than placing complete trust in the pressure gauge.
“I often tell my customers that pools are like pets: You have to learn their behavior in order to care for them properly,” he says. “Don’t go by the pressure gauge. It can be faulty or lie to you. Make it a habit to clean the filter every two weeks and really get to know that pool.”
Berto discovered the Dirty Filter Face-Off Contest while browsing Facebook through his company’s business page. He immediately thought of a photo of the aforementioned filter, which he believed could compete.
“I never win anything in my life,” he says. “I thought, ‘What if I win? I have the perfect photo.’”
Friends and family shared his entry and helped gather nearly 70 public votes. The contest also introduced him to other people in the pool and spa industry and generated attention for his young business. He connected with three potential customers through friends of friends, including one prospective account he planned to visit shortly after this interview.
“It was a fun little project,” he says. “It helped me find out more about AQUA, OnCore Filtration, and mingle and socialize with other people who have the same interest.”
Berto received a $250 gift card for his runner-up finish.
The Grimiest Video
In addition to the two awards decided by public voting, the OnCore Filtration team recognized Ashley Tobias with the Grimiest Video Award.
Her winning video showed thick, sludge-like material being removed from a heavily contaminated filter. The entry was selected by the judging panel for being the contest’s most creative and entertaining video submission.
Tobias received a $250 gift card.
Together, the three winning entries offered a dramatic look at what can accumulate inside neglected filtration equipment. They also gave pool professionals a place to share the discoveries that may be difficult to fully appreciate outside the trade.
As Mobley puts it, “You can’t just show off a dirty filter like that to a random friend who doesn’t understand the pool industry. It was cool to be able to share it among people who understand.”
