Well for starters I am very happy I found this site. I'm hoping to get cheaper and better info here than from my local pool store who's trying to sell me the world. I recently purchased a house and it has a pool. I've never had a pool so I don't have a clue. What I do know is that it is a nice mix between green and brown and full of pine needles and leaves. The previous owner didn't open it up last year. It's a 24x17 above ground Kayak half & half meaning 1 side is a deep end. It has a sta-rite cartridge style filter and is currently somewhat covered. My ?'s are how do I start by getting the water clean and also should I stay with a cartridge style filter or switch to DE ? I plugged in the filter and the motor/pump sounds a little rough so at the very least I'm thinking I will need a cartridge and motor pump Assy. With having to put $ out to fix this system I want to make sure it's not a better idea to just buy a new DE system. As far as the water I've had a few people tell me just to dump a bunch of bleach in it. That doesn't seem right to me but like I said I don't know anything about pools but hoping to learn quick. Any help is greatly appreciated. Seems funny to be asking about pools when I have snow on my front lawn but that's New England for you. Next week it will be 80