new home/pool owner need help

I have a new home that has a pool that was recently refinished and it is diamond brite midnight blue. What is the best method to get chlorine in the pool without harming or bleaching the plaster? I keep testing the water and the chlorine is low. Currently it has a floater in the pool and a feeder attached to the pump. I don't want to put turbo shock in there for fear of it bleaching out the plaster color. Any ideas on what is the best method? I live in Tx as well so the water is really hard which I've been told is prone to getting calcium? not sure how much validity is in that. I asked a guy at the local store and he made it sound like it wouldn't get a calcium buildup from the hardness.

I appreciate any help! I'm terrified I will destroy the plaster but I think much worse things happen by not having adequate chlorine readings.

The single most important thing you need is a good testkit. We recommend the Taylor K-2006 (or K-2006C - bigger bottles, better value). It's not available in stores, if you order it through the links on this page:http://pool9.net/tk/ PoolForum gets some coin to keep the lights on.

To protect your new finish, you need to know pH, Total Alkalinity(TA), and Calcium Hardness(CH) and adjust them as necessary. The K-2006 includes these tests.
To keep the pool clean and sanitary, you need to know Free Chlorine(FC), Combined Chlorine(CC), and CYanuric Acid(CYA). The K-2006 includes these tests as well.

Test strips are nearly useless for many of these tests and we seldom trust pool store testing as it is often innacurate and tends to sell unnecesary chemicals.

Most of use use plain generic laundry bleach for chlorinating our pools (nothing with scent added). Bleach will not bleach your pool any more than any other form of chlorine although it's common for pool store sales people to say so. You can supplement your chlorine by adding bleach. Do not pour bleach onto the tabs.

The tabs you are using in the feeder and floater are trichlor and add chlorine and CYA to the water, they also push pH down. CYA is necessary in new water as it protects the chlorine from sunlight, sunlight's UV destroys chlorine. The CYA is not lost with the chlorine. If trichlor is used for too long, the CYA builds up and makes the chlorine ineffective. This is why you need to know the CYA level; it determines the required chlorine level.

Order the kit, get us the numbers and the volume of your pool and we'll be happy to help you lear to take care of your pool. In the meantime, use bleach to supplement the tabs, and start reading all you can here and at our sister site PoolSolutions.com. As a trial user, you'll have to log out to see the rest of the forum. Copy the testkit URL and paste it into your browser after you log out.

AFAIK, there is very little chance of bleaching your finish. Hard sided pools (as compared to vinyl) are extremely resistant to damage from chlorine.