Ok... I my wife learned about the BBB thing and bought all that stuff you were talking about. I will try to keep more of an eye on what she is doing like for example she was puttin g bleach in the morning after testing. I just told her to do it at night so the effects will last longer and probably take less bleach. I remember last summer we were putting in 2 bottles of bleach a day and then a bunch at times to shock it (almost always during the day). We have a sock hanging onto the slide over the pump jets into the pool that I think stays filled with stabalizer too and that stuff isn't cheap. I know we use borax when needed to adjust ph but not all the time and I buy allot of ph+ or - from walmart too when I am told too . I will post back as I watch more about it. $250 sounds reasonable to me. - back to the pool and thanks for giving your minutes to respond. ~daryl