Hi, I am new to the forum. Thankyou for letting me join. I have an AG 15x30 with a dish bowl 6' deep end. Approximately 12,000 gals. I think. A 1 1/2 HP pump with a 17" diameter filter. It holds 150 lbs. sand. I know it's to small for my pump or vice versa. I can only put 1 1/2 oz. DE in my filter. More than that the pressure raises more than 1lb. I've read where others put in a cup or two. Does mine do that cause the filter is so small? Can I put in more without it hurting my pump or filter? Also I didn't want to wait to try the socks in the skimmer so I cut some cloth from a T shirt and put it in the skimmer with a thick rubber band. It works very good. That didn't effect the pressure at all. I tried the DE before I put the cloth in the skimmer. I was a little worried bout putting the DE in the filter so decided to put it in the skimmer with the cloth. That works good to. But it doesn't take much and if I put to much in the skimmer my pressure drops. Will that hurt the pump? Is it O.K. to let the pressure drop a pound or two? I don't know how many people have experience with putting DE in a sand filter but I'm sure there's alot out there that know more about pumps and filters than I do. I know zilch. This is such an awesome site with lots of good tips and tricks. Thankyou.