Am I doing the right thing?

[grangerhj]

I always seem to make things more difficult!!
Thank you- I will shock tonight. I will add muratic acid tomorrow if my ph continues to stay at 7.6

[CarlD]

. I will add muratic acid tomorrow if my ph continues to stay at 7.6

WHY????? 7.6 is FINE pH. You ARE making things more difficult. If it ain't broke..... In fact you listed Total Alkalinity as 13--that is WAY too low. If it's really 130, you are fine.

I don't see why you want to lower a pH of 7.6. LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!

[grangerhj]

Sorry TA is 130 not 13. The reason I was going to lower ph was because I read on this site that if you have metal in your water that it stays in suspension better if you maintain a 7.2 ph. If you do not think it is necessary to lower a 7.6 ph believe me I wont lower it. Don't want to add anything that I do not need.

[CarlD]

Well, have you got metal in your water that you need to keep in suspension? (besides calcium--calcium's a metal)

[grangerhj]

I did get metal readings this spring when I took my well water to be tested by pool store. Since use well water to fill my pool, I have been adding metal magic every time I add water. The large brown stains on the side and bottom were clear when Vit C was applied so I have assumed that this meant that the stain was caused by metal and not algae. This is why I thought I should keep my ph at 7.2 Am I correct? ..... Or have I overthought something

[CarlD]

Maybe one of our metal-experts can help you--I'd only be guessing.

[mbar]

You only need to keep your ph at 7.2 if you are trying to lift the stain off, or are going to shock. If you have enough sequestering agent in the water, then it you won't get stain if your ph is 7.6. It is with a high ph and a high chlorine level that the metals fall out of suspension if there isn't some sequestering agent there to bind with the metals. As a precaution I always keep my ph no higher than 7.4, and if I have to shock I take it back to 7.0 - 7.2. So you are right - if you are going to shock, I would bring the ph back down to 7 or 7.2. If you have a sand or DE filter you can put a chlorine puck in the skimmer basket - even though you are battling high cya, it will still be a good idea if you are prone to stains. Just be sure if you add the tablet to your skimmer, you don't put the bleach in the skimmer too. Add it to the return jet stream. DO NOT put a puck in the skimmer if you have a cartridge filter. Hope this helps - ask any other questions you may have.