Okay, well I think I have my answer.
First off, my testing kit only does 4 tests- Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, pH and total Alkalinity. After I write this, I'm probably going to go order a 5-in-one kit. Silly me to think that the local pool store's best test kit wouldn't be 5-in-one.
Here are my test results at the end of the day before adding any bleach.
FC - 0 (This would be my answer. Dang that chlorine broke down QUICKLY)
Total chlorine - 0 as well
pH 7.8 (I added some pH down, haven't retested yet)
Total alkalinity - 70ppm I think? The tester is reliant on being able to count how many drops you put in and the vial that you use for TA is messed up and won't do drops, so I'm estimating how many drops were in the stream it put out
In any event, I see that I need to add CYA. I have the granular stuff; I see here that one should put it in a sock and in front of the water jet. I THINK I remember it saying here that one should not run the filter for 24hr after adding CYA; I take that to mean I should set my pump to recirculate since turning it off completely would remove the water jet.