Hi there. I've had Algae problems for several years now, and after reading this forum and the articles in the Pool School I feel more confident then ever about going into this pool season! You guys are exactly what I've been looking for! About the only question that I have which has not been answered yet is about vacuuming Algae. I've read a few different opinions over the years so I want to hear what your thoughts are. I have a 30' round above ground pool with a cartridge filter. I have installed a "vacuume to waste" valve between the pump and filter. I've been told that vacuuming to the filter will just stir things up and make it take longer to clear up the algae because the algae is smaller than what the filter will handle. I installed the waste valve so I could clear up my algae problem quicker, but then I was told that vacuuming to waste stirs stuff up also, and not to waste my time. It seems like my pool knows when we are planning on having friends over, and decides that's the best time to have an algae outbreak, so it makes sense to me that if I can get a lot of the green stuff off the bottom of my pool by vacuuming to waste that the chlorine will work quicker. What are your thoughts on this? I figure if I know the right answer then I most likely won't have an opportunity to test it out.