Spring startup advice

[NBWS6]

I suppose I'm posting this in the right section.
My pool was sitting all winter, no pump, not winterized. Usually its open year round (though too cold to swim) but I had pump motor issues and an installation on a SWG/2sp motor that wasnt the best. Anyway that is taken care of now (thanks PoolSean).
I started reading here alot, seeing where to start to get this olive green mucky water crystal clear again. I took lots of notes, read thru the Swamp Guide and Pool Doc TA lowering.
I have 20k gallon IG with SWG, and DE filter. After I finished the wiring yesterday I cleaned the salt cell, strainer and inspected the tri-sensor. I started things up for the first time in 6 months and immediately set the SWG to 0% output.
I did some water testing with what I had, and this was with 54 degree water
FC 0
PH more than 8.4 too high to read
TA 90
Salt 1500
I started adding Muratic Acid to get that PH lowered.

I remember reading about some of these tests showing more accurate results with room temp water so I pulled some out to sit and put a lid on it. It sat over night and I repeated
PH was still very dark pink, above color chart
TA 70
Salt ended up at 2400, not sure if my reagents are bad or its the room temp water.
I needed to go to pool store to get some reagents to test CH and CYA so I figured I'd bring a water sample. This is freshly scooped 54 degree water. Their results
FC 0
PH 8.4
TA 90
CH 275
CYA 20
TDS she wrote Salt
I asked about the TDS level and she said its nothing to worry about because it would read high because of my swg salt.
Salt level 1800
I didnt see how she tested any of this cus I was busy picking out my reagents. They were out of FAS-DPD reagents. I didnt need them today anyway until I have things ready to shock.
I got home and tested CH it was 300, CYA didnt show anything.
I added M Acid and tested PH all day, boy did I get excited to see 7.8! backwashed DE filter 4 times, scrubbed pool bottom and sides to get some of the "organic" matter stirred up to skim and skimmed bottom, that was like a treasure hunt, what will I find this time when the skimmer comes up, hey I had to make some kind of fun for myself. I got excited when it was a fuller load
Anyway, I finally got tired and turned my pump to low speed for the night so I dont have to worry about the pressure and I did a final PH and TA reading.
PH 7.2 !
TA 50
I have 2 pounds of stabilizer in socks ready to drop in the skimmer, bag says for every 10k gal add 2.5 pounds of shock to get 30ppm. So I figure it'll get me to 20ppm for the big battle (shock). I dont want to get it up to SWG standards until I win the battle.
I plan to shock to 12ppm. Testing every half hour at first to make sure FC stays up, then taper off to hourly readings when it starts to hold longer and several hours between readings after that.
I wanted to get the PH to 7.2 because I read that is the best for chlorine to do its job. I also read to leave the TA alone until pool is clear?
I am going to Sam's club in the morning to buy 4-5 bags of pool salt, I was thinking 5 3-packs of Clorox 182oz (according to pool calculator with 20ppm CYA I should use 498oz or almost 4 gallons of bleach to get to 12ppm FC) and if they have DE I'll pick that up too. I think I'll get more than 5 boxes of Clorox, I tested for ammonia yesterday with my pond kit and it read .25mg/l I never figured it farther than the test told me, I just know its there from all the crud I have and that will eat up the bleach too.
And I will stop at a different pool store to get the FAS-DPD reagents to measure the high chlorine level I'll have to be at.

My questions are, does the Salt level drip test work best with warmer water since my reading was better or just a coincidence? Is salt test strip more reliable? When can I add salt? Does high salt interfere with chlorine's fighting power? I wont add salt until I hear some advice from you all. My drops are from last year, my other drops from last year are testing accurate.
Is is ok to toss my socks (of CYA) in the skimmer tonight? I know the more CYA the higher the shock level has to be but Swamp Guide says to get 20ppm in there (if it will dissolve that fast).
Does the TA stay at 50 to work best with shocking? I dont remember reading anything about TA levels for that. Leave it at 50, raise it?
Should I buy TDS test strips when I stop at the pool store tomorrow? Isnt that something to watch? Or having salt will make the reading inaccurate like the pool girl said?
Thanks for reading and tia for the advice
Dawn
Watauga TX

[CarlD]

Actually, Dawn, I think you are on the right track, just maybe worrying too much.

Personally, I'd be adding the chlorine ASAP--the sooner you kill the algae the better.

However, if your water is below 60 deg you shouldn't have any real NEW growth--just kill the old stuff. I find if you try to calculate how much CYA you need, you should use 1/3 of what you figure, wait about a week, and measure again. It's not hard to raise CYA, but it's a pain in the patoot to lower it.
I think for now any TA between 50 and 90 is fine, and the "acid" test is if your pH stays stable--that's what TA's main function is--keeping pH stable.

Remember KISS--you want to get your pH and chlorine levels correct and stable and then worry about the other stuff. The SWG can really help so chlorine doesn't drop but I think you want to get the pool stable using chlorine and Muriatic acid and borax to do the "heavy lifting", then let the SWG take over.

BTW, the girl at the pool store is a rare flower--she saw you have salt and immediately said "TDS doesn't matter". That's heresy for a pool store clerk, but exactly correct. With salt TDS doesn't matter. Actually, 99.9% of the time it STILL doesn't matter, but TDS and Phosphates are the things pool stores push to scare you to sell other chems--and both are almost never relevant UNLESS all the conventional stuff doesn't work--which is maybe once in al the years I've been a part of PoolForum.

[NBWS6]

I was following Swamp Guide to get the pool ready to use the chlorine the best it can. I'm definately using bleach until everything is gone. Saving my cell for the everyday! After my trip to the store in the morning, the bleach war starts! I'm glad you brought that up about new algae not being in the water since its cold, it could make this alot easier for me.
I put 2 lbs of stabilizer in the skimmer (in socks) this evening, pump is on low so I dont know if it will do any good by tomorrow. At least its not too hot out so maybe the sun wont suck my chlorine. I'm keeping it low until pool is clean.
I haven't heard of KISS, cept the rock band lml
kill in septic sesspool? keep it simply salt?
I wondered about that TDS, isnt that a factor in that Si caustic equation?

[CarlD]

KISS? Keep It Simple, S.......!

It's our underlying motto of pool maintenance.

[NBWS6]

Ahhh I shoulda guessed that.