Thanks for the response. I mentioned that it was plumbed correctly because when I did my research before posting, the number one cause of cracks was reversed plumbing. The very first thing I did was check to make sure it was plumbed correctly.
More background:
My pool installer erected the AGP and set the filter and pump in place. My electrician did the grounding and bonding, ran power and hard wired the pump. I ran all of the plumbing, made all connections and hooked up everything.
I can tell you that it was always plumbed in the correct direction. I did call the supplier and was able to get a replacement cartridge at no cost.
Pretty sure the cartridge is correct, I don't think it would be packaged with the wrong one. I hope it's not labeled incorrectly, but I can tell you that the inside of the filter was clean and I don't think that was the cause.
I can't say if this was either a defective filter or was ripped when installed. I just cant be sure. I never opened the box that the filter came in nor saw the pool installer set it in place for me.
Pressure: See attached photo. This was the water pressure gauge on top of the filter when set to run at 2500 RPM. The top speed of the pump is 3000 RPM, so pressure would have been higher at that speed. (which I did run)
I do not want a repeat of this come spring time when I setup the pool again, so if I made some mistake I would like to not repeat that next year.