First, ditch the pucks/sticks/pool store goo. If you follow the guidelines in the web sites (this forum and the sister site poolsolutions.com - it's a lot of information, but it's worth it) chances are you will need VERY LITTLE from the pool store.

Also, download the bleach calc http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe one of our forum members wrote the program and it's invaluable in calculating chemicals.

Get a good drop based testing kit that can test for Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Combined Chlorine, pH, Alkalinity, CYA (cyanuric acid/stabilizer/conditioner), Calcium Hardness.

Post back here with your numbers when you get them and we can give you better info!