I understand that the water is ready for stain treatments, but if you have to kill the bacteria by using very high levels of chlorine, the stains will return even if there are traces of metal in the water. You will then have to do the whole stain treatment again, which is costly and hard to return the water to balance. Therefore I still suggest killing the bacteria first. Pink algae is hard to kill, because it gets in the lines, and I had a friend who had it behind the light of her pool. She finally got rid of it by using high chlorine for at least a week. My experience with staining is to make sure the water is free of any algae, then either use something that removes chlorine, or in my case I just waited a little and when the chlorine was around 1 or 2, put the stain treatment in. It will take the chlorine away - it will use a little more of the treatment, but that's all. Once you put in the treatment, put the metal free in right away. It will not take long for the metal to come off the pool, but it will take a while for the metal to get out of the water. After a day I would put a chlorine puck in the basket so that the stain will come off in the filter. I would keep the filter running 24/7. I always dose with a second dose of the metal free, then I start to bring up the chlorine - using the puck in the basket, and using regular bleach too (not in the basket). It can take a while for the chlorine to stabalize, because the chlorine will get used up while it is getting rid of the metal in the water. It is also hard to keep the ph where it needs to be, because the stain treatment is very acidic. It is important while doing the stain treatment to keep the ph as close as you can to 7.2, not higher or lower, you will find it hard to get the water balanced right after a stain treatment for a while. When you see the water holding the chlorine, and holding the ph, then you have the metal out of the water. That is why I say to get rid of the bacteria first - because if you don't have the bacteria out, and then have to use high levels of chlorine and you get stains back, you will have to do the whole thing over again. I had this happen to me, so that is why I gave this advice. You know your pool better, and all pools are different - If you don't have much staining, then your way may be better for you.
Northeast PA
16'x32' kidney 16K gal IG fiberglass pool; Bleach; Hayward 200lb sand filter; Hayward pump; 24hrs; Pf200; well; summer: none; winter: mesh; ; PF:7.5
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