Cryptosporidium is a 5-μm chlorine-resistant protozoan parasite that infects humans. Cryptosporidium in treated (chlorinated) recreational water has been the direct source of at least 208 outbreaks in the United States between 2015 and 2019. Sand filtration is the primary treatment method in the United States for treated recreational water and is generally ineffective at removing Cryptosporidium. In this study, a Cryptosporidium-sized surrogate (5-μm diameter polystyrene microspheres) was used to determine the removal of four different filters. The 12-inch sand filter had an initial removal of 22.6% with no coagulant added, but the addition of 0.05 mg/L as Al of PACl increased the removal to 99.8% at 2 turnovers and 99.9% at 48 turnovers. However, these experiments had no added total organic carbon (TOC) in the water. The addition of 2 ppm of TOC in the 12-inch sand filter at the same coagulant dose decreased removal to 74.9% after 2 turnovers. A 36-inch sand filter using coagulant produced average removals ranging from 86.5% to 90.6% at 1 turnover and seems well-suited for recreational water treatment. A Vortisand filter showed an initial microsphere removal of 62.6% without coagulant addition. A filter with 22-inches of ceramic media had an initial removal of 99.6% without any coagulant addition, but after 8 weeks of treating water with an organic bather load the average removal decreased to 49.8%. Regeneration of the ceramic media was performed at the lab-scale and showed potential benefits with a maximum of 93.286.0 % removal, and future research on regeneration of ceramic media is recommended to minimize the effect of TOC on this media.