If I looked at the sand in the filter, what should I see?

[matt4x4]

Rangeball, I have a couple ways of adding bleach to the pool, the preferred method is to walk around the pool gently pouring the bleach in about 2' from the wall (as far as you can reach over).
The second is to pour it into the skimmer and let the pump blow it out and circulate it, this is only used when my wife is standing by the car wondering why we haven't left yet, tapping her foot on the ground.
I don't really worry about that second method too much since my plumbing is non corrosive and bleach really does nothing to your filter WRT clumping/channeling etc.

Oh BTW, waterbear, nice sand filter cleaning instructions, IMO, dirt will eventually get all through all your sand since there's no way it could ever just lay on top, since some people dump everything in through the skimmer, that dirt and sand wille eventually bond through all the floculant and other chems introduced through the system. Obviously, your method helped clear up an issue quite well. Mine's on year 3, and still working well, but how will it work after 5 or 7 years.......I'll keep your instructions in mind for future reference.