Quote Originally Posted by bluebayou View Post
Yesterday I did as you suggested plus added 24oz of HTH Algae Guard.
I suggested algae guard???? Where did I do that? Algae guard is cheap (well, maybe not, but it should be) foamy algaecide that's not really effective against anything. If I suggested that -- and I'm not seeing it in my posts -- I was having a 'senior moment'!

The purpose of adding DE is first of all, to see if your filter is working properly. If you add DE, and it blows out into the pool, that is pretty much proof that you do, indeed, 'have to crack the filter open' -- an unfortunately painful task on top valve filters.