I got my FC to hold at 15 overnight this weekend for two nights in a row, then changed my sand and cleaned out my filter, added CYA and my CC's have been less than .05 everytime I've tested since.

My ph was down to 7.0 last night so I added some Borax, this morning it was up to 7.2 so I added a bit more.

But my water is not clear, it's blue, I can see the bottom step and can make out the bottom but it's not the beautiful clear sparkle that everyone else seems to have.

Any advice? My numbers as of this am are:

FC 15
CC 0
pH 7.2
TA 80

How long have you been shocking? It can take several days, even weeks, to get completely clear with a sand filter. From start to finish it took about 3 weeks for mine to be completely clear. Since you are passing your FC test, you can add some DE to your sand filter, just enough to bring it up 1 psi, this will aid in clarification. Just pour it in the skimmer. It takes about 2 cups to bring mine up 1 psi, I'd say start with somewhere under half that on yours.

Been shocking for about 12 days now. I assume I need to keep on shocking.

I'll try the DE.

Thanks

How has the filter pressure been behaving?

Well that is kind of a funny story. We've had the pool for about 12 years, same filter. We always changed the sand every year becuase we didn't know better. Pool store told me last year to not change every year, to wait 2 or 3 seasons, that the small particles of sand could be causing my "haze". The pressure coming out of the return had gone down and down progressively to the point last year and start of this season that I'd have to backwash constantly to get it back up. We chaulked it up to our pump slowly dying because we did have to make a few repairs to it start of last season. Got a fairly new pump from a friend for free (can't beat that!) and thought we'd be ok this season, but alas same old story.

So when we changed our sand after passing the overnight test we discovered that those legs at the bottom of the filter came off, and boy were they nasty and clogged. Cleaned them up and the water coming out of the return is unbeliveable!! A squirrel could probably surf on it. And it stays pretty strong. Our PSI is now about 15 (was around 20 before that). We always washed it out good but didn't realize those legs came off. And we now have two pumps and this is probably the cause of my aqua bug not working well.

In other words our pressure is stable and strong.

I wouldn't bother changing your sand for YEARS, if ever.

Would it be possible for you to shut off your pump, have someone hold a sock over a return, then fire up the pump? That way we can see if you have sand coming out of your filter.

I would try the DE idea. It may take a day or two or three repeating that process but it does help.