sand type

Hello. I have a 24 ft above ground pool. I cleaned up REALLY nasty water (think algae, tadpoles, leaves, and stinky) last year and I am working on my second opening with the same problem except for twice as much algae because of the warm winter but no tadpoles. I am seeing progress but it is so slow (almost a week now using the BBB method). I got the pool in 2010 and have never replaced the sand and I was wondering if I could speed things up by changing out my sand. It has been used for its second disgusting opening and two summers of normal filtration.

I was also wondering if I do replace is it ok to used silica sand used for water treatment? I know there are different grades but I have looked and looked and I can't really find a lot of information. This sand is leftover and would be free for me.

I also have the noisy pump problem......it is horrible. I want to replace. It works fine....water circulation is good....it just is impossible to talk over or around. I am going to get some info to post. Thanks for your help.

1. Get a Taylor K-2006 (testkit info page linked in my sig) or an HTH 6-way kit, made by Taylor and sold by some Walmarts. If you can't get the HTH kit, get a cheap OTO kit for now.

2. Buy a bag of filter sand, and then compare the sand you have with the sand from the bag. If the particles are the same size AND the sand you have is clean, you can use it.

3. Post your pump / filter make/model if you want help on the pump noise.

Best wishes!