I'm neither a pro nor a pool enthusiast. I have a backyard pool that we enjoy. I have a very old Pentair TR100 sand filter. I bought the house with the pool already installed so I have no idea how many gallons it is. I'm not happy with the performance of the sand filter. It used to work very well, but now the water isn't as clear as it once was, and I get lots of algae when the water is warm. The guy who maintains the pool for me insists that I replace the sand filter with a cartridge filter. I don't want to go through that expense unless I have to. He says the pool water chemistry is correct, the algae issue is because the sand in the filter is worn out and would need to be replaced, so the pool isn't being properly filtered. The sand is about 7 years old, and the filter hasn't been opened since the sand was replaced. The sand has never been cleaned as I now read here is necessary. I'd like to make this filter work properly, as it used to work very well and I was pleased with the results.
The question comes to this. I have searched both on here and on Google, and it seems to be a 50/50 split in opinion - one half says the sand wears out and needs to be replaced. The other half says to deep clean the sand and it'll be fine, sand replacement is not necessary. Can someone please lead me down the right path here? If I need to replace the sand, I believe the TR100 takes 600 lb? So many varied positions on what sand to use, I'm very confused. That's if I even need to replace the sand rather than clean it. Does my pool guy sound correct that a sand filter with 7 year old sand that was never cleaned since it was put in would be so bad at filtering that even with correct chemistry the algae can still be an issue?
The question comes to this. I have searched both on here and on Google, and it seems to be a 50/50 split in opinion - one half says the sand wears out and needs to be replaced. The other half says to deep clean the sand and it'll be fine, sand replacement is not necessary. Can someone please lead me down the right path here? If I need to replace the sand, I believe the TR100 takes 600 lb? So many varied positions on what sand to use, I'm very confused. That's if I even need to replace the sand rather than clean it. Does my pool guy sound correct that a sand filter with 7 year old sand that was never cleaned since it was put in would be so bad at filtering that even with correct chemistry the algae can still be an issue?