I have having my pool closed for me this year. I'm going to watch to learn how.

They told me to drop the pH to 7.0 before they get there. I see other places 7.2-7.6. Mine is currently 7.5.

What's the appropriate target?

If your pool is a relatively new plaster pool then you would want the lower pH. If the pool is well established (2 or 3 years) and the pH has been steady, then you would want to keep it between 7.4 -7.6.

Ask them if they will let you video or take pictures of the process. Then it will be much easier to remember what to do next year.

Oh - this is a vinyl pool that's been around 10 years.

If your pH has been stable during the swim season then as long as it is 7.4-7.6 when you close you should be fine.

I have a similar question, so I'm adding it to this thread. I've been out of town for a few weeks and left my son in charge of the pool . Of course, that was a mistake because he failed to add any bleach, so I shocked 6 days ago and have kept the FC high to get rid of the algae. Everything is clear now, but the PH and TA is really high. I'm getting ready to close the pool this weekend so I wanted to get my numbers straight. Here are my readings.

TA 160
PH 8.2
FC 8.5
CC 8.5
CYA 60

So should I add muritic acid to lower the PH? I've never done that before, so was a little cautious. In the past my PH and TA have always been on the low side except this year the numbers have been high. I used the pool calculator to find out how much muritic acid to add, but need to go to the store to get some. If I do add the acid tomorrow, will that allow enough time for everything to settle down before Saturday to close the pool? (have to plan when to get my kids here to help with the cover)