Also, our steps are not a flat piece that sits on the floor of the pool. It is actually like stairs, so it zig zags down to the pool and only the bottom step sits on the pool floor. It has a big plastic piece for sand that fits into two slots (one at top, one at bottom on the underside of the stairs).

So far my search only found 1 other post on this topic and mentions stones. Could we fill that thing with stones without affecting the water chemistry?

Cheryl