Quote Originally Posted by Lawrosa View Post
These pics survived and I can tell you that it is one season old. The original filter lasted 6 yrs. Inside there is a spoked wheel in the center to prevent collapsing.
A 1 year old cartridge isn't new. The fact that you kept the old one for 6 years is NOT evidence that it lasted 6 years. You can continue to use cartridges after they are no longer effective: they still fit in the filter chamber; they just don't filter well.


#5 the DE for test purposes will not clog the cart?
Not if you use DE powder. If you use one of the DE alternatives, it WILL clog the filter.


Quote Originally Posted by Lawrosa View Post
FC 15
CC 0
psi hair shy of 6 psi so not rising after 24 hours.
Are you still losing 3 ppm overnight?


I don't think its a filter issue. Its either slow to kill or too small to filter
Gray blue is dead; the last pictures show no evidence of live algae. "Too small to filter" *is* a filter issue. The only way I know of for you to get unfilterable particles is to add some specific chemicals in excess. But, you haven't mentioned using those.


I don't think its the CYA thing with the ammonia.
It almost certainly WAS the ammonia thing; it doesn't sound like it still IS the ammonia thing. There is not another common cause of the chlorine demand + high CC levels you experienced.


There needs to be a different cause for my cloudy pool every year.
No, you can have the same problem year after year.


Possible because I have 0 hardness to the water and I need some calcium?
Adding calcium NEVER clears up water.


Quote Originally Posted by Lawrosa View Post
FC 15
CC 0
6 psi filter pressure
Since nothing is changing I think I may raise the Cl level to 20.
Don't know any reason for you to do that, unless you are still losing chlorine overnight.

From the information you supplied, it appears you had

1. A slimy, algae infested pool, with
2. Zero stabilizer plus ammonia and/or urea as metabolic byproducts of the bacterial degradation of stabilizer;
3. and a poorly functioning filter that is unable to filter the dead algae.

The algae is gone; if you no longer have overnight chlorine loss, the ammonia is gone; but you STILL have a poorly functioning filter with lots of fine dead algae particles.

If you're enjoying messing around with a cloudy pool, that's up to you. But if not, either
+ get a new Unicel or Filbur cartridge and try those on LOW SPEED
OR
+ test your existing filter with DE powder.

I'm not sure you're grasping the fact that a single cartridge run with substantial over-pressure can damage the cartridge. You may have damaged your year-old cartridge the first week you had it. I may be wrong about the filter, but it is by far the most likely remaining culprit . . . and you need to test and see if it IS the problem.