Probie, don't sweat 7.6 so much as focusing on getting CC to 0 like you said. I run my pool at 7.8 because my source water and natural tendency is there and I would rather adapt to it's inclination than fight it if the fight isn't worth starting. bring up the Cl. You must have read it here somewhere, "shock" is a verb. So get to action. stop playing "touch and go" and kill the stuff living in your pool. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.