My sand filter sucks, new filter options?

[KurtV]

That does seem high; you may still have some lingering algae that's consuming your chlorine.

[waste]

(I'm begining to think that I'm Matt4X4's PR man)
There is apparently a type of algae out there that develops this time of year and is a persistent bugger. Matt posted today on it, and how he treats it, successfully. Here's the link, http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5612.
(I've put this link on 3 threads now - which should help explain the intro)
I think that we all owe Matt some kudos for identifying this problem as algae, I looked at the picture linked to above and said "filter blow-by ".

[duraleigh]

Reading this thread from top to bottom is another example of what seems 90% of water quality issues posted on this forum over the years.....LACK OF CHLORINE.

Over and over, whether it gets identified correctly or not, the answer is "chlorine"................90-95% of the time.

So, when your water goes South, take a deep breath and search back to see if you have been keeping chlorine at adequate levels.....the answer is almost always "no".

P.S. Unabomber, KurtV has got a good point....5ppm daily is too much consumption. You still have organics in your water and you know the solution !

[Unabomber007]

In 24 hours the chlorine level went from 7 down to 3. I think that maybe another shocking is due. I did go swimming yesterday though and the water is 100% perfect. After many agonizing weeks, my pool is finally "right" and I'm starting to actually like the damned thing again. Overseeding put lots of grass seed into the pool yesterday so I sent Billy (AKA my Aquabot Viva) to clean it all up. Though Billy was pricey....it was nice to hit one button and have him take care of it all for me.