Need help with chlorine. I'm a newby

[Watermom]

What are the ingredients in HTH pool shock? In your pool, each cup will add about 0.75ppm of chlorine. I'd add about a half a gallon (2 quarts) of plain, household 6% bleach. That should take you up to about 6ppm. Then, this evening, test it and add however much bleach you need to get back up to about 6ppm.

Did you add any stabilizer yet? Trichlor pucks have stabilizer in them, but it will take a little time for the stabilizer level to come up. In the meantime, I'd suggest testing morning and evening and each time, add a little bleach. Until you have a stabilizer reading, your chlorine will be lost pretty quickly to the sun.

[stormbean]

Watermom... A big thanks. Added some bleach this morning and will do so again this evening. I am going to take a risk at sounding REALLY stupid but here is goes... How do I get a stabalizer reading? I have a test kit that tests for Bromine, Chlorine, Ph & alkalidity. What else (other than Trichlor can I use to add stabilizer)

[CarlD]

It's not a stupid question. It's a good question. OTO test kits test for chlorine/bromine (you have no bromine, that's for people who use bromine instead of chlorine) and pH.
There are basically 3 ways to test for Stabilizer, AKA, "CYA" for Cyanuric Acid"
1) Take a sample to a pool store.
2) Some of the more expensive strips by Hach and LaMotte have a CYA test pad, but aren't very accurate.
3) Get a CYA test. Most pool stores don't sell them but some do. Better still, go to Watermom's Sig and click on the link to test kits. Order the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006c test kit from Amato (it helps support PF a little). That has the CYA test. The classic CYA test is the "Black Dot" test: You pour treated pool water into a vial with a black dot at the bottom. The chem makes the pool water cloudy. When the black dot cannot be seen from the top of the vial, it will show a CYA level on the side of the vial.

Carl

[aylad]

What else (other than Trichlor can I use to add stabilizer)

You can also add stabilizer via dichlor (granulated chlorine is usually either cal-hypo or dichlor, and is usually what people refer to as "shock"--if you use the dichlor, be very aware of your pH because it is very acidic like trichlor it) or you can just add stabilizer by itself--it's usually labeled conditioner, balancer, or stabilizer--but if you'll look at the label, the active ingredient should be cyanuric or isocyanuric acid.