Thanks for the info Janet. Draining and refilling is a possibility I only have a 3200 gallon pool. I will have to drain and refill yearly anyway. It gets cold enough here that keeping it year round would probably not be a good idea. My only question with the prefilter is if would remove clear iron. I've read that a filter can only remove iron once its oxidized. Its possible for the filter to do that, but I'll just have to investigate a little more.
It sounds as if it would be less hassle if I can remove as much as possible beforehand and probably less expensive as well in buying and maintaining the pool with the right chemicals. In the end I could run it through our house water which is conditioned, it just takes forever. I did'nt realize using the raw water would be so problematic.
Is the Taylor K-2006 that much more accurate of a test kit than the similar one I got from Walmart? They seem to test the same things (its a 6 way kit probably hth).
If I decide to use the sequestrant on my water as is, should I use a conditioner/stabilizer to help maintain chlorine? I know you said the sequestrant would probably affect chlorine, I didn't know if stabilizer would help.
What about floccing? I've heard some do this to remove stuff from the water. It sounds good (the idea of removing iron or whatever), but are there drawbacks or reasons its not recommended here.

Thanks again for the information. At least this problem is becoming something that seems a little more manageable as opposed to something that bordered on impossible.

Kris