I'm not the metals expert around here, but I can tell you that high pH and high Chlorine are going to cause the metals to start staining. You do need to keep the pH fairly low, but if it's a vinyl pool you don't want it to be below 7.0, because that's TOO low and can cause damage to the liner. If you need to shock the pool, watch it as the chlorine rises, and if you start seeing discoloration, add the metal out then.

I'm sorry I don't know how much to add or the answer to your other questions, but Marie (Mbar-- the resident metals expert other than Pooldoc) should be by soon and can help you further. IN the meantime, I encourage you to read through the other posts in the metals forum, and particularly the stickies, because you'll probably find some of the information you need to understand metals in there.

Welcome back to the forum!!

Janet