I stopped using skimmer socks from the pool store; my pool is surrounded by several trees and it does get messy when the wind blows...however, they are the source of algae issues; I just stopped about a week ago, but I was changing them twice a week....really dirty and messy, and unless they go in the wash machine, or wash by hand in the garage utility sink, which is really a dirty task....they are not clean enough to put back in; I've also had algae blooms and green algae yucky stuff in the leaf basket, which I have since removed from the vac hose and taken out of the pool completely. So now, I check and clean the skimmer basket daily, and the pump basket weekly, and I think that's a better way to go since we have 100-115 degree heat out here in the Phoenix area. We have also found green algae in our pool vacuum hose, which sits in the water 24/7; I simply open the Jandy valve when I need to do a quick or routine cleaning. But when its real hot out, and that hose is full of water, that has not been circulated for hours, then I have to be careful so that I don't get an algae bloom inside the hoses....and that is really messy to clean up.