Gosh no! I spent about $50-75 last season. My pool is open April-September, I keep a solar cover on which reduces FC loss due to sunlight, and our swimmer load is probably "light". So YMMV somewhat but I'd guess you can have a normal season for around $200 a year or so?
Cleaning up a swamp will cost you more than a pool that starts clear tho...so factor that in but nowhere near $700...
The HTH kit PH/TA tests are accurate enough, so is the CYA test. Let's work with those for now, no need to go to the pool store yet. Hang on to the Bicarb - your TA is great where it is.
Ideally you need one of the recommended test kits, because they can do multiple CYA tests (which you'll need to be able to monitor as you increase that level) and the FAS-DPD chlorine test which an test chlorine up to 50 ppm. What's nice about this test is it's similar to the TA test - you count drops looking for a color change instead of "comparing shades of colors" like the ph test. It's very precise and easy to use. I'm on my third year for my kit, I've had to purchase extra CYA solution and FAS-DPD testing solution but that's it, so it lasts a long time, worth the investment. If you do decide to go with a kit I highly recommend the TF100 XL because it has those extra solutions I mentioned and it's important when cleaning up a swamp.
When I started with TFP I had the HTH kit and I managed to get by that summer. But once I had the "good" kit the following year I could see what I was missing. With your OTO chlorine test you can only test Total Chlorine up to 5. You can use a "dilution method" to test up to 20 but it does lose some accuracy. But you still can't really differentiate between TC and CCs (CCs are bad) and many people have a hard time determining the shades of yellow (like me.)
So if you can't swing the good kit we can try to make do with your kit and the pool store (but you have to promise not to buy anything from them LOL- except the specific things we tell you
)
From Walmart, stock up about 10 large jugs of the Great Value 6% bleach - the regular unscented variety. This will be a starting point - you will eventually need more.
In the pool department aisle, pick up
two jugs of HTH Stabilizer - it looks like this:
http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.co....html?osCsid=f574c7697750470e9a192413f56585d5
I'll tell you how to add it later....
You will also need some Muratic Acid, perhaps a quart of the 31% strength. This is usually found in paint departments or some pool stores. You may have to ask for it. Some "Lowes" types places keep it by their pool sections too. There are varying strengths so verify the ingredient label contents.
Ok so after you have these three things, post back and we'll help you figure out the next steps.
You sound prepared!