too small to get grabbed by filter while vacuuming?

[resp215]

the pool gods are having a joke at my expense for sure. i had what looked like sand on the bottom of my pool but when i actually would touch it it was very soft, almost like...babypowder in water. it smooshes up and turns into a puff of cloudiness if agitated under water. so i say no problem, ill vacuum it up. prime the hose, set it all up nice, man its running primo. so i lay into it nice and slow, and ...wait..its shooting back out through the return? this cant be right, i just changed the sand in my filter, it should be running great.

let me back track one month from now. my pool was in terrible shape. i do everything on this forum to try to remedy it. everyone is so helpful. but it just doesnt clear up. so i unhappily drain the pool, wet vac the gunk off the bottom and refill. ooook, yessss, time to get the levels right. and i do. i follow suggestions on here and its great.

but then the pool begins to cloud. what am i doing wrong?! well turns out the pool guy had the valves mixed up and it was set up backwards. he had it backwashing for a week right back into the pool intstead of filtering. {hes a buddy , i know i know, never use a friend who isnt a pro. thats the lesson i learned}. so of course it would cloud. it wasnt filtering. i think to myself, good god why me. i shut it all down, and decide its time to check the sand. we bought this house as a foreclosure so who knows what shape the filter is in. open it up...and its only 1/3 full. oook. take out the inner component, cracks all over it. oh man that cant be good. so for a week the pump and filter were running but it wasnt filtering. so i go to the local pool place and get the piece. forty bux not too bad. its an astoria or something. it has 8 fingers that came off the middle tube and some weird thin straw piece that i have no idea what that does. it runs right up next to the main tube.

put the piece in, add water, add the sand, close it up. everything is running great!!!! great return power unlike before.

the pool is 24 ft round above ground, 1.5hp pump, and 150pd filter. im not even sure if this is the correct setup, it was what was here.

so i decide, ok, ill just vacuum on waste, and i do. i get about 80% of the stuff off the floor. some of it gets kicked up and im sure it will settle again.

i guess im making this thread because its been a month of issue after issue and i just want to swim with my family before the summer is over. im hoping one of the vets, or anyone, has seen this before and knows what the stuff is and maybe what my issue is. im not going to lie. im quite frustrated but i have high hopes that it can be remedied.

so please, pool friends, any and all advice would be helpful. {i am currently adding new water to replace what was lost via vacuuming to waste}

thanks in advance
dave