Katgirl: If the budget allows, I'd suggest the following:
1. Order a Test Kit from TFTest Kits (link from duraleigh's signature). Order one that has FAS-DPD and CYA testing abilities. If you don't already have a little kit that tests pH, get that in whatever test kit you choose from TFTest Kits. On a daily basis, you want to be able to test Free Chlorine (FC), Combined Chlorine (CC), and pH. Every 4 to 6 weeks you might want to test CYA if you have a lot of rowdies splashing out a lot of water making you top off with fresh water, or if you get a lot of rain.
2. When you re-fill (I'm assuming city water not well or pond or lake), add 3 cups of regular chlorox bleach (you want original, unscented - and not easy-pour as that is thicker and has some additive). Assuming 5300 gallons (filing pool to 6" from top), that will raise your FC from 0 to 3.
3. Go to Walmart or Ace Hardware or local place with a pool aisle and buy one jar of Cyanuric Acid. It is also called stabilizer and it will be a powder. If you are somewhere with HTH products, it will have a purple lid (but other chems by them look identical, so be sure it is stabilizer). Think of this CYA as sunscreen for your bleach - the chlorine that cleanses your pool is eaten by organics (algae, leaves, etc) and by sunlight. The CYA protects it from sun a little, so your chlorine will last longer with CYA than without CYA. In Florida, you'll definitely want CYA (although if it is completely not do-able financially, duraleigh is correct you can do it without CYA - you just have less wiggle room for poor timing on adding more chlorine). Put 21 oz by weight or 22 oz by volume of this powder in a cotton sock and tie the top of the sock. Hang it (I use dental floss) from the rail so the sock is in the water near the return jet. After it has saturated, squeeze it periodically such that the powder dissolves into the pool. Once that is done, you can assume the CYA is being put to use in your water even thought it won't show up on a CYA test for a week or so. Once you have dissolved the CYA, you will have a CYA of about 30. This means you need to keep your FC level at no less than 2 ppm AT ALL TIMES, and you should target an FC of 4 ppm so that by the end of a sunny day of swimming the level has not eroded to below 2.
4. You can play with the timing that works for your schedule, but a good plan is to test the FC, CC and pH each evening and add bleach to reach your target FC (in your case 4 ppm). If needed, add whatever you need to bring pH into line - post if you have a pH reading outside the range of 7.2 to 7.8. Keep the pump going after adding bleach for about an hour.
5. It is important to read Pool School, especially the parts duraleigh pointed out. Also, get to know the pool calculator you can link to through Pool School, and the FC/CYA chart.
6. Post back with questions. There is a lot of info to learn but if we can focus on the parts important to your type and use of pool, we can help you more quickly -- especially if you do your homework and read and re-read Pool School. A lot of what seems confusing the first time through starts to sink in by the second or third reading. And, once you start testing with a proper test kit, it really starts to fall in to place and you can focus on the info important to your situation and not get bogged down in the details not pertinent to your type of pool (alk, for example).
As for my set up, I could not be happier with our decision to pave a large chunk of our yard. The kids (7 year old twins) ride on it all nine months the pool is down - scooters, EZ-Rollers (best toy ever for flat area), play basketball, do sidewalk chalk, etc. Then we put the pool up and is quick and clean to put it up and we are on our way to a fun summer of swimming.
but I just want to clarify. Just focus on chlorine and pH. I don't need to worry about alk or hardness or anything else? This is my first time doing this and it's confusing to me.
bleach in and stabilizer is doing its thing. Would you recommend an algaecide?