Welcome to the Pool Forum!

Sounds like you have already found our Super Simple Start up Recipe! If not, it is in my signature below. I would also suggest going ahead and ordering yourself a good test kit -- Taylor K2006 or 2006C (better buy). It won't be available locally -- test kit link in my signature.

In the meantime while you wait for your kit, you can get by with a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops). We do not trust test strips or 'guess strips' as we call them! Your pH looks good at 7.5. A freshly filled pool without CYA loses chlorine fast. You may find that you need to add some bleach a couple times per day for the first few days so that you keep some chlorine in there. It doesn't take long for a pool with no chlorine to turn green! Once you start using some dichlor (which has chlorine and CYA in it) it will start to get easier to maintain a chlorine reading through the day.

Hope this helps. Let us know any other questions you may have about starting up your pool.