I tried almost everything for our wedding cake steps. Bags of quicrete, dek blocks. I love the idea of the PVC. Makes me want to put my steps back in.

Large steps have conflicting issues IMHO. To prevent them from floating, they need to be weighted down and fastened to the deck. Great. Except when it comes time to move the steps to either prevent or clean up an algae explosion(happened to me). This will require unfastening from the deck and moving. Pain!!

Water flow is HUGE issue. I bored 2" holes all over to increase from the 4 that came with it. Not sure if it did any good.

We just put in a simple ladder this year. Maybe I'll try the PVC and put the steps back.