Just joining the pool world. Starting with 16ft 48" above ground Intex before we go bigger. Having a tough time bringing the alkalinity down without lowering pH too much - I read somewhere that if pH gets too low the alkalinity won't come down. I feel like I spent weeks trying to educate myself and finally felt confident that I knew what I was doing, but now that I'm trying to execute what I thought I learned - I'm really struggling. Any tips for this newbie would be appreciated... filter on? filter off? how long to wait before retesting? how long to wait before adding more chemicals? do I really need to keep pH above 7 for alkalinity to be affected? can the kids swim before it's all in check? I'll take any advice at this point!!!!