Thanks, I read through the Great Tetraborate Experiment a while ago when I was still lurking around here. Lately I've noticed that Waterbear regularly recommends borates and recall that PoolDoc recommended borates for someone battling metal problems / staining. The positives are very attractive to me and relatively easy to try in our small pool. I remember some of the China Shop conversation regarding the safety of ingesting borated(?) pool water. Is there a consensus regarding safety for dogs and people? I'm not sure I can keep the young'ns from drinking some of the pool.