New pool owner

[PoolDoc]

Alk 400
Hardness 370

Ouch! Keep your pH low!, as in 7.2 or lower. You'll need to read the muriatic acid page linked in my signature, and then get some. Your pH is going to constantly tend to drift up.

You also may want to do a metals bucket test
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?16946
to see if you hit a home-run (high TA, high TH, AND metals).

+ Do NOT use any calcium hypochlorite based chlorine.
+ Do NOT add pH Up (soda ash, washing soda), or Alkalinity Up (baking soda)
+ Do NOT let your pH get above 7.4
+ Do use dichlor, to chlorinate (info below)
+ Do NOT add large dose of chlorine all at once.
+ If you are not on a tight budget, do get some polyquat (info below) and use it to allow you to run lower chlorine, till we work out a plan.

Your pool water is very 'twitchy', and will turn to 'milk' if you don't follow the guidelines above. If you don't also have metals, we can just lower your TA, and then you can go about things pretty much as usual. If you DO have metals (iron!) in the water, then you've got some work to do.

Ben
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+ If you need stabilizer, and have access to a Sams Club, buy their 24 pack of 1# bags of dichlor shock. Each bag will add about 7 ppm of chlorine, and about 6 ppm of stabilizer, per 10K gallons of water. Otherwise, order dichlor from Amazon:

Kem-Tek Dichlor 22 lbs

We do NOT recommend buying dichlor locally, otherwise, at least until you are an EXPERT reader of chemical labels. The chlorinating pool chemicals sold at Walmart, Kmart, Costco, and most other local stores are diluted blends, sometimes with copper and other products with bad side-effects

+ Chlorine is the strongest algaecide you can buy . . . but occasionally, you may need a different one. Almost the only alternative algaecide we recommend is polyquat -- poly [oxyethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene dichloride] . This product is a GOOD clarifier and a moderately good algaecide, with almost no bad side effects. We often recommend it for use when you are going on vacation, or when you need to lower your chlorine, to prevent remove stains. It has become quite difficult to purchase locally at the normal full strength 60% concentration. If you find it locally, at a 60% concentration, that's fine. But be SURE to check the chemical name. If you need to buy it online, here's an Amazon link:

Kem-Tek 311-6 Pool and Spa 60-Percent Concentrated Algaecide, 1 Quart