Thanks for all the replies guys.

As for why I change my sand every year. I have 2 dogs that swim all summer. Fur is always making an appearance in the filter/basket. So I change it every year.

As for the other question I am going to hold off on answering until I replace a part and see if it fixes the issue. I took my pump apart last night to make sure it was clear. After putting all of this back together with the same results, I noticed something. The cap on my pump is the clear plastic type. It has cracks in it! This is caused from the sun and I think most were replaced with an abs cap. So when I look at the water coming in through the cap, I see air in there which is not providing adequate suction. I noticed debris sits in the basket, swirls a bit and sometimes gets spit back out into the pool. So I will replace it tonight and see what happens.

Thanks for the replies and I will keep you posted.