I have a cartridge filter and it works for me. It wasn't always this way - it was a pain with bacquacil - constantly cleaning it. I was going to switch to a sand filter, but I switched to bleach first. I don't have many problems anymore. My water is always clear.

I rotated two old cartridge filters when I opened this year to get all of the crap out of my pool - I'm under several oaks, and apparently my cover has some small holes in it - and I switched to a new filter when the pool was ready to go. I cleaned it yesterday, after about 3 to 4 weeks of running. I bought several filters a year with bacquacil - one a year with bleach.

I always use a skimmer sock to catch a lot of stuff; to reduce what goes to the filter. This helps save cleaning the filter.