Please help with chlorination method

[waterbear]

Your low pH is caused by the trichlor tabs in your feeder. They have a pH of around 2.
Best way for you to start this year is to invest in a GOOD drop based test kit that will measure :
Free Chlorine
Total Chlorine
pH
Alkalinity
Calcium Hardness (not that important with a vinyl pool unless you have very hard or soft fill water or a heater)
and CYA (stabilizer)
The general concensus on this forum is:
the BEST way to both chlorinate and shock is with sodium hypochlorite (Liquid chlorine, bleach--same thing except for the strength and price!)

Best way to add alkalinity is with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate--EXACTLY the same thing as alkalinty booster!)

Best way to adjust pH is with muriatic acid and borax (that's the 20 mule team stuff in the green box!)

the thing is you can't do ANY of these things without a good test kit. They are available from several companies such as LaMotte and Taylor and the best ones will use the FAS-DPD titration tests for free and total chlorine.

Not to sound like a commercial but, IMHO, the best "bang for your buck" as far as test kits go is the one sold on the website www.poolsolutions.com which is the sister website to this forum!

Take some time, read through the posts on the forum, read through the poolsolutions website, get a test kit, post your numbers, and you will get all the help you need in running your pool and saving money and work in the process!
Happy swimming!
P.S. if it 's the pool store guys that are telling you to buy the non chlorine shock you have to realize that it is more expen$ive and they are all about profit$! Monopersulfate is what non chlorine shock is....it is also used as non chlorine laundry bleach and denture cleaner (this info is from the DuPont website and they manufacture it under the trade name Oxone!) The website also states that it is NOT a sanitizer and must be used in conjunction with either chlorine or bromine.

Chlorine is chlorine once it is in the water, if you put your chemicals in correctly you should not damage your liner.