Hi Marie - thanks again for sharing your experience/knowledge with me!

I took another sample to the pool store this am because my drop-kit is less than stellar (I ordered the Taylor kit this am).

He said all my chemicals were in check - pH was at 7.6, so I'll still get that down. My TA was 130 and my CL was 4 (he said that was a tiny-bit high and I forgot to ask for FC and CC). He advised no more CL (I remain confused about everything I read about shock levels to 15 and keeping it there...)

When you say staining are you referring to the water or to the liner. I have no liner/filter/ladder staining - just the water is brownish/yellow with maybe a teeny hint of green. It is clear - though there seems to be some 'interference' with the clarity, not sure if it's sediment or just the color - if any of that makes sense.

Pool-Store-Guy told me not to add more sequestrant, saying once metal reacted with the CL, the best way to get the color out is filtering using Sparkle Up - so I purchased a 10# bag of D.E. and put 1.5# through the skimmer and I'll monitor the pressure and backwash as needed.

Please advise if I should be doing something different.