FYI I dumped about 5 lbs into my skimmer, to see how fast it dissolved. It didn't dissolve all that fast (about 5 minutes) and I did not want to sit out there for a hour watching salt dissolve. I said "screw it" and filled the *entire* skimmer with salt, it probably held about 20 lbs. It was so full that salt was coming out of the skimmer :-) I was sure I would starve the pump but it just took more water from the main drain. anyway that meant I could dump in half a bag, go inside, and 10-20 mins later come back out and do it again. Much less work.