What level should your pump and filter be set at on a inground pool?

I use the bagged, blue roller-ring vacuum that uses a hose into the skimmer drain with a reverse suction--and at least with my system and pump/filter, I set the filter to WASTE--it bypasses the DE filters. There's lots of lost waste water, moreso than even backwashing, so I do it sparingly.

Leave your filter on the setting "Filter",when you go to vacuum your pool, you need to shut the your pump off,via the timer, there will be a handle where either next to the pump or next to the filter where you will see on the PVC pipes marked "skimmer" and "main drain" or "pool drain" turn the handle towards the main drain or pool drain and this will shut off your drain at the bottom of the pool, thus creating more suction in your skimmer which makes it easier to vacuum your pool out!

** First ans. not a very good explaination by an inexperienced homeowner...

Second ans. hum..... how are you going to vac the pool with the pump off? You did not tell us to trun on the pump again once you "hooked" things up. Both are a waste of water. Not all pools are set up explaining or identifying pipes or valve and what they control.

Leave the back wash valve or sometimes called the rotor valve in the "filter" position because what you are going to vac is minor stuff not debris. You want the filter to filter out the dirt before returning it to the pool. Once you have vaced the pool then determine if you need to back wash the filter and do so if needed or wait until the gage on the filter tells you that the filter is getting dirty with higher readings on the gage.