I guess I thought it was going to be easier than this
It will be, promise!
Here's the deal with the methods here at TFP, and why they're not compatible with pool store approach.
Years ago, research showed, and then was confirmed by members of TFP, including a theoretical chemist in the industry, that if you keep your CYA and your chlorine at a simple ratio (7.5% but you don't even need to know that because there's a chart..,see link) it would keep algae away and sanitize your pool. Period.
But the pool industry couldn't sell pucks with chlorinating systems that didn't have cya because they had to be able to mfg a slow release of chlorine, which requires cya. So adding tabs makes your cya a moving target all the time, and there's no way to pin down the right FC level and cya is almost impossible to test with a strip.
The industry will say that consumers demand for automatic convenience drives this. It also drives profits...because if the cya is too high from constantly using pucks, then you need algaecide, shock, etc. etc. etc.
So you go into a pool store and they print out what to buy each time they read your water, which makes it "look" easy, but in essence is just giving you a shopping list - they're not teaching you how to fish.
Then, when there's a problem, which there usually will be, however well-meaning they may be, the only "solutions" they know of or offer are those taught by the very industry that has turned a blind eye in the name of profit to real research and which blames the consumer for its demand of convenience
By comparison, with TFP, you determine your cya level (usually by adding the cya separately to a target) and then just dose with liquid chlorine or bleach which does not have cya in it to that level every day. Once you've tested a few times with an accurate kit, you're looking at a daily time investment of literally maybe 5 minutes a day.
Generally, you avoid adding anything other than pure, known entities (bleach, baking soda, washing soda) to avoid interactions, inexplicable behavior and unintended consequences
By having a true testing kit, you're also in the drivers seat if like right now you have a problem to fix...because that same research is the basis of the SLAM (shock level and maintain.) Basically, you need to be able to accurately read shock level FC without running to the pool store, and to read the changes, which tell you what's going on
Then you are applying precisely what's needed, and avoiding the frustration of doing things that aren't working and make no sense.
This learning curve is a one-time thing...and the rewards are typically never having to shock or slam again ...which is why this forum is called Trouble Free Pool
Hope you'll join us. Read though the earlier links to get a sense, bu there are lots of people who will answer your questions and help confirm your steps if you choose this path