Update on my Leak

[Poconos]

I'm a little confused about the type of pool. You mention a shallow end but imply the sides would be pulled in by weight of water on the cover. Doesn't matter for what I'm going to say though. Forget the food coloring, it could empty your wallet. A couple things I recommended in the past have been to get a dye marker at a dive shop and make your own dye. Another is to get some raw beets, dice them up and boil the heck out of them. makes a real concentrated, safe, red dye. Can eat the beets afterwards. I've developed a technique for finding small leaks using a small garden sprayer, a long piece of small diameter (1/2" or so) PVC pipe, and thin auto vacuum hose. Hose is taped to the pipe and jury rigged to the sprayer. Hose extends beyond the bottom of the pipe for 6" or so. Idea is to 'very slowly' position the hose with the pipe and squirt just a little dye in an area. Must have real still water and be within a few inches of the leak to see anything. I homed in on this technique searching for a leak at the deep end of my IG pool a few years ago. Also developed a method of laying a good patch without getting in the pool. If this stuff is helpful I can find the thread(s) where I posted in much more detail. Let me know.
Al
Edit: Saw in your other thread it's an AG pool so forget my question.