Scott W

Thanks for the advice. I will probably do just that.

Greetings from Sunny Chicago! I think I am almost to the end of a 2 year old problem with cloudy water and debris in my pool. I have a 21' round 54"d above ground pool. I was running a Meteor 18"diameter sand filter prior to this week. My pool has been cloudy and a breeding ground for algae for the past two years since I switched from a cartridge filter. After taking my filter apart, I discovered cracks in the laterals. I also noted that the level of the sand was extremely low. I scooped up some of the debris from the bottom of the pool and found it was mostly sand. It all started to make sense. I added sand, and the filter just blew it through into the pool. No real filtration was taking place, so none of the particles were being removed. So I ran off to my local pool supply, and purchased a new filter. This one is a bit larger - not sure the diameter but it is closer to 28-30" and takes 250# of sand instead of 75#. I got it all hooked up and followed the startup directions closely - backwashed and rinsed until clear, then fired it up. So NOW . . . I FINALLY have a working filter again. NOW FOR MY REAL QUESTION. I probably have 50# of filter sand on the bottom of my pool. Do I need to vac to waste to remove it, or can I just vac it into the filter and let the sand in the filter catch the sand from the pool? Keep in mind, this is new sand from this spring. I would appreciate any advice any of you can give me. I am close to being able to use my pool again after 2 years of disaster. Thanks Scott W.