All I added were the 10 bags of salt...I tested with a 6-way strip thing and it says everything is low. I'm using an app for the clorox brand pool chemicals...it tells me I need several different chemicals to add to my pool. I'm hoping to avoid this! I seriously have no idea what I'm doing! This pool and all the maintenance is very intimidating but I'm determined to get the hang of it!!
I see a couple problems. First is test strips. Even if they work perfectly when brand new, moisture messes them up. They also have vague ranges... 50-100 isn't very accurate. And instinct is to set the wet strip on the color sample card. Except that then causes the test water to wick around and bleed into the neighbor. So... lack of a proper test kit is the first problem.
Second, no CYA. It acts as a sunscreen so sunlight doesn't destroy all the chlorine the saltwater generator just made. It's a one-time thing. Add it and it stays there. You don't lose the convenience of the SWG by daily additions of it.
Start here:
Pool School - Test Kits Compared
Once you've chosen a test kit and ordered it, get some CYA in that water. If your pool is 26' round and is filled to 4 feet deep. it's about 16000 gallons. You need 10 lbs of Cyanuric Acid aka Stabilizer to get to 75. You can buy it in the pool section of a big box hardware store or pay a premium and get it at the pool store. How to add it is described in
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals I'd get that taken care of quick, before the days get even longer and the sun gets more intense. And in the future, we'll expect you to calculate doses using your test kit and poolmath.
We'll be happy to doublecheck, but we're not ones to tell you add this and this and this. Any pool store can do that.
Start reading pool school articles until you're like this
I'd suggest you confine yourself to Getting Started, ABCs and the Chemistry page, especially how to use poolmath.
