Hi Ben, thanks for the quick responce. Yes, frequent regenerations of the Iron removal filter is on the list while filling. You will have to excuse my ignorance with some of the following questions and the kindergarten logic, but I'm coming over from the 'dark' side and still building my understanding of Chlorine pool terminology. And I agree that getting this correct is really important.

So, if I follow your process as described above it would look like this;

Beginning Week One
  • Fill pool with water that has passed through Iron removal filter.
  • Maintain the pH low (7.0 - 7.2)
  • Do NOT shock when filling.
  • Keep Chlorine low (less than 2.5ppm) (I'm assuming this is free Chlorine?)
  • Add the required amount of Polyquat (I wasn't sure what this was, searching the Web brought me to your PoolSolutions site. Use the 60% product. Not sure where to purchase, but it looks like something Walmart would carry.)
  • Add a SINGLE dose of a liquid stain/scale product. (Not sure what you mean by SINGLE. Is this to mean add the correct amount for a 26K gal pool? Also, do you have any product recommendations? Possibly a product available at Walmart?)
  • Run the sand filter 24/7 for the first week.

Beginning Week Two
  • Begin to GRADUALLY raise the pH to around 7.8 during week two.
  • Then, GRADUALLY raise the Chlorine level to 10 ppm using bleach or Cal Hypo through the skimmer while the pump is running. (Do I wait until the pH is around 7.8 before adding the Cal Hypo or can it be added concurrently as the pH is being increased? Is the 10 ppm a free Chlorine measurement or total Chlorine? Where can I purchase Cal Hypo and it appears that Cal Hypo is a brand name?)
  • There is no sort of in-line feeder.
  • Ok, now I'm at the part that has me really puzzled. You mention that Trichlor is not compatible with bleach or Cal Hypo. Was that added in one of the previous steps?
  • Clean my filter as needed, but not more than that. (Being a sand filter I would backwash it when the pressure increase by 10 psi. )

After the second week, I can begin gradually lowering the pH and Chlorine levels down to the normal operating levels? Once at the normal operating levels I would add the required amount of stabilizer? Have I got ths correct? Thanks again for our help.

Scott