new construction

[BigDave]

I don't think anyone's mentioned POP yet. It's critical to successful pool care. You can't buy it anywhere. Insufficient POP causes skyrocketing pool chemical demand and swimmer discomfort. POP is Pool Owner Patience - or Pool Owner Patience and Persistence or perseverance ...
I mention this only because of your comment:

Its hard for me having an arsenal of chemicals at my disposal and not using them!

I think you're off to a great start and it sounds like you've "got your mind right".

The TA is high and will cause pH to rise. Some swimmers skin may be sensitive to TA this high. Anyone who gets a skin reaction from the pool should avoid it until you bring the TA down.

The procedure for reducing TA Charlie_R linked above will get you there and let you practice your POP - it can take a while. Also read and understand Using Muriatic Acid to Safely Lower Your Pool's pH. Good news is the trichlor tabs you are using are acidic and will aid the process.

Speaking of Trichlor tabs, it's fine to use them as a CYA and chlorine source but you'll need to stop when the CYA level reaches your target (I'm guessing 40-50 in Mo). We don't know how much dichlor the installer put in the pool so it'll be hard to dead-reckon the CYA but: I estimate your pool to be about 19000 gallons, so a total of 9lbs of trichlor should add 32ppm CYA. Test CYA after you've used about half that (to be sure we're not way off). Keep a close eye on FC while waiting for CYA to come up (twice a day + before / after swim sessions + during swim parties). Use bleach to supplement FC as required. Remember, your FC targets are going to be increasing as the CYA level builds - be sure to keep it above the minimum on Ben's Best Guess Chart.

I don't recall if you mentioned completing the CH test on the fill water - it should be a close indication of the pool's CH even if the pool water is interfering with the test. Not that CH means a lot in a vinyl liner pool.

Again, Congrats and good luck!
Dave

[Charlie_R]

Thank you, BigDave, for clarifying a few of my points. Yes POP is important, as I learned last year! As a new pool owner/maintainer that IS one of the more important aspects of pool care that needs to be learned/practiced.

Charlie

[kenny6269]

I want to thank you all for the help, it's been quite helpful. I added about a guess of 1 quart of muratic acid on Saturday. Here are my numbers as off today:
Free chlorine: 14ppm
Total ALK: 330 ppm
PH: 7.6

I added the rest of the gallon of muratic acid after running the test. We finally got in the pool over the weekend for the first time, it was a little cool but it smile on the wife and kid's face!

[kenny6269]

Just tested again:
Alk: 270 ppm
Ph: 7.4
FC: 10 ppm
No combined chlorine

I think I need to add a couple more gallons of muratic acid over the next few days. I also think I should add some stabilizer. Any thoughts?

[BigDave]

Woah! there. A gallon took your pool from 7.6 to 7.4 pH. Two gallons may move it farther than you want. Add a second gallon, let it mix, retest and see where you want to go from there. Maybe all of the third gallon, maybe part of it. I definitely wouldn't take the pH lower than somewhere between 6.8 and 7.0. Then it's time to aerate and wait for the pH to rise.