We opened our 27' AG pool about a week ago and several problems plague me.
We had cloudy water last year almost all season. One day it would be clear and we thought we were doing okay only to have it cloud up again. That's last year, but now I am starting to wonder if we are going down the same road.

First my numbers:
PH - 7.2
CC - >20
FC - 10
Alk - 120
CYA - 80

The PH and Alk were low, very low prior to yesterday and I am afraid that I may have overshot the Alk by not being patient. In any case the pool water is a light green and cloudy. The pump has been running 24/7 for a week and little improvement has occurred. The water was coffee colored when we opened it and it had leaves and acorns at the bottom.

In our defense we were in the middle of building an addition on our home and we were a bit hasty covering it at the end of the season.

We have had the pool 10 years and I have changed the sand once.
I am starting to wonder if the filter is working right and adding to the problem. The filter has great flow, but after a few hours the flow dramatically slows. I backwash and then rinse and it's good for a while longer.

What I wind up doing when problems like this occur is to most likely start to chase my tail so I am asking for some troubleshooting steps or an angle of attack to find out if it's the chemistry, mechanical or a combination of the two.

Why would me flow reduce like this? I haven't opened the filter yet to see what kind of crap I will find.

Any help would be appreciated.