I am seeing improvements. I can almost see the brush when scrubbing the bottom. I can see about 3/4 of the way down. Before I could only see about a 1/4 of the way. If that much. It's still cloudy. I do have a kit. To make sure I was getting the readings I thought I was. I took a sample to my local pool store. He was surprise that I was getting better readings. Especially since I have not bought anything from him in the last month. According to him I only needed 1.8 lbs of PH. He tried to sell me on the Flocculant again but of course I didn't buy into it this time neither on the PH up. The Borax has helped a great deal. I didn't tell him what I was doing. I am buying the chlorine from them as I think it's a better buy. They claim that their chlorine is 10% sodium hypochlorite. I get 2.5 gallons for $5.98, the regular generic bleach at the grocery store is only 6% sodium hypochlorite and it cost $2.98 for 1.5 gallons.

Do the pool store really sell a 10% sodium hypochlorite?

At this point I think I am going to need another filter. The new filter is already looking pretty bad. It cleans off ok. But it's a little grayish/greenish when I remove it to clean it. I have been hosing it down and I even bought a cartridge bath for it. I let it soak in bleach for a few hours. When I hose it down, I get a better pressure on my return. Which brings me to my next question. Can I put another return on the pool for better circulation even though it's an above ground pool?

My previous pool was an in-ground pool, it had several of returns. We lived in south Florida, we had tons of pool service companies in South Florida. When we moved to Northern Florida we bought a house on 3/4 of an acre, the house is high up. We have a large deck out back so we thought an above ground pool would be ideal as we can connect the pool to the wooden deck. I never thought it would be such a challenge to get a pool service for it. I feel so discriminated against by the pool service companies. When I say I have an above ground pool. I get this silence on the phone or a look when I inquire in person. Then I get the "NO, SORRY". I don't see a difference a pool, is a pool and money, is money....That's another subject. Thank God for poolsutions.com and for your pool forum.

Yes, we are on a well. I don't know the readings/metals, etc. We have a whole house filter and salt water conditioner system. The whole house runs of it.