hi Watermom, its been a while but the reason i've not poste anything is i've been wating for my CYA to get to 40-50ppm. i had to add doses two different times gradually increasing it. my latest readings are: FC-4-6ppm, CYA-45ppm(it's in between 40 and 50ppm), TA-100ppm and PH-8.0(Real Red and this is as high as my Taylor kit will Read). i thought the PH should be brought down so i added about 32-40 oz. of muratic acid. the water looked fine yesterday but today when i got home there was some debris on the pool floor. it was sort of brown like dirt but was lighter or fluffier. i vacuumed it today and backwashed my sand filter which btw it really needed since the return pressure had decreased in force considerably over the past few weeks and i notice my guage was reading less pressure about 10psi all the time that's when i concluded the gauge is faulty. i need a new gauge not sure where to get one yet. any way i vacuumed the debris and 45 minutes later i was finished and i checked the return pressure with my hand and it was little to non existent. i back flushed twice until water coming out was clear. i then switched back to filter and turned my pump on and what do you know my pressure was back to normal somewhat since im using a calibrated hand right now until i can get another gauge. is it normal to see debris on the pool floor after adding muriatic acid? oh btw we had 7-8 people in the pool saturday and most of them were kids from boy scouts and their siblings. not sure if the people count had anything to do with it but the kids got in and out several times tracking grass into the pool. the good new is that i've been checking FC levels before and after the pool party and the next day. never got below 4ppm and before the kids got in the pool i added some extra cl to the pool to compensate for usage guessing about 6-8 ppm. i have one more question for you before i go to bed. when should any member start a new thread?