Thanks for the reply watermom... good info. Signed off to read more of the forums. Will consider membership to beat these restrictions... gotta hate spammers. Creative solution you have going to beat those rascals.

RE: Sand. Pool guys push cartridges as lower maintenance & ~4yr replacements. Sounds like sand is cheaper and still a good way to go. Arguments they made against sand was excessive water/chem loss during backwash. Sounds like that's part of the sales pitch & savings are to be had via BBB method.

RE: BBB method. Assuming chlorine system, just start with BBB method anytime? Guess I need to read that page again... seems like there might be more detail about "jumping in" or am I just making this too hard?

Thanks again for your feedback.

Scarfie