I realize I'm late getting in on this thread--didn't get off work til late last night and was too tired to even turn on the computer--but I did change to zeolite after I started having problems with my sand filter a couple of years ago. I like it--seems to me like it does a little better job of "polishing" the water than the sand did. It is more expensive per bag, but you only use half the amount of zeolite compared to the amount of sand. So--for what it's worth, I've been very pleased and don't plan to go back to sand.

Caveat: That's as long as you start the filter up in backwash mode after the original addition of the zeolite to wash all the dust off before filtering your pool with it--if you don't do that, it makes a HUGE mess!!

Janet