I am having the same problem; actually had 14000 gallons added today. So far I have not added any chemicals at all at all other than shock. Water so far is clean, but it has been cold the last couple of days. I have a 24000 gallon in-ground gunite pool with a cartridge filter system and a Comfort-Chlor AquaComfort Chlorine Generator.

This is my plan:

1. Have the water tested, but do the following based on the results.
2. Add Muriatic Acid as this is a new gunite pool (build last year) and my ph tended to be high all of last year.
3. Add chlorine stabilizer.
4. Add Bleach to increase Chlorine.
5. Add salt go get salinity for my pool to the 3000-4000 ppm range to use the chlorine generator. Last year the pool company added about 500 lb.
6. Once balanced, turn on the Chlorine generator. Last year it provided enough free chlorine at a very low setting. Even had to turn it off here and there for the chlorine to burn off.

I do have a few questions:
- Did I forget anything?
- Is the order correct?
- How long do I have to wait between adding different chemicals?

Last year I had a problem with balancing ph and Alkalinity. I needed about .5 to 1 gallon of Muriatic Acid every other day to keep the ph down, but that also kept lowering the Alkalinity. So then I bough Alkalinity up at the pool store, but the pool guy there told me that will also raise ph. What's the secret of balancing them??

Thanks.