The beginning

[duraleigh]

Sully's advice is solid. Keep your pool sanitized first....with chlorine. You're gonna' need even more bleach because that first 3 gal will probably quickly be consumed by organics already in your pool. I would put in five to start and you'll probably need two or three more very soon....possibly the next day.

Once you get your chlorine stable (between 8-15ppm), you can address your Alk. Read Ben's sticky at the top of the Alk forum on how to lower it. You'll need more patience and technique than acid but you'll need a little acid, too.

[keithw]

You'll probably never "keep" 8PPM chlorine. Under normal circumstances, it gets used up daily by UV exposure and general pool maintenance. The thing to learn is how much you lose per day under normal conditions. Once you've kept it steady for a few days, you'll start to see how much you have to add each day to keep it within your targeted range. Once you have that, pool maintenance is super simple. Add your X qts, X cups, whaterever, every night (do it at night!), and it'll be crystal clear.