Yes, you are on the right track. You can try lowering your ph down to 7.0 - 7.2, and see if that lifts the stain off. Sometime new stains will lift off when the ph is low. If not, you haven't hurt anything, because you have to have the pink stuff in when you do the ascorbic acid treatment anyway. If you don't have bad staining, try using as little as possible of the ascorbic acid - this way you'll be able to balance the water faster. I also think that I will change the ascorbic acid sticky to start raising the chlorine the next day after the treatment instead of 48 hours. I have tried it in my pool and it works - this way it is less time the pool is without chlorine giving it a better chance of staying algae free. Just start to add the chlorine slowly, and if stains start to form, add more sequestering agent. Doing this with keeping the ph on the low side (7.2) should keep the pool from getting too far out of whack. Keep me informed on how you are doing

The weather here was beautiful today - nice in the shade, hot in the sun