1. using a hth 6 way test kit from Walmart. I also have the hth test strips
2. I am working on ordering one.
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5. I have used metal out, significantly. I filled with well water in beginning of July. As soon as I added chlorine, it turned brown. Got to light green with metal out and constant filtering. Initially, as I said my alkalinity was high, so I added muriatic acid. Then I tried to add ph plus to increase the ph, but with that came the alkalinity. So I saw on here about the borax. Used about a box of that and brought the ph up to about 7.8, but the water got cloudy. The alkalinity was still at 220 or so, so I added 1/2 gallon of muriatic acid again. cleared it right up. we swam in it that day and things were great. I tested the pool the next afternoon and the ph showed at 6.8 and alkalinity was at about 100. I tried slowly increasing the ph to get it to about 7.5 by added 1 cup at a time of borax again, since the alkalinity was about right. I did that night before last, the following morning, then again, yesterday afternoon. The yesterday afternoon batch was the rest of the box and was slightly over 1 cup. When I put that in (on water surface)...boom cloudy. Ran filter all day and all night, still cloudy. little bit less than yesterday.