Hello everyone. New guy here. I stumbled upon this site and find it very informative. Just a little info. I have had a SWG for the last 5 years. After 3 cells and now a fried circuit board the SWG is history. Basically at the end of the season last year I just shut down the pool. I poured in a quart of algacide and let it run from 11pm til 8 am throughout the winter. I left it uncovered and all. We had a unusually cold winter here and I noticed the pool stayed clear all winter long. I cleaned the pool and had some 3 in chlorine tablets I found so I tossed them in the skimmer and let it run for 5 days. Went to the pool store today and had water tested. Here are the results. Temp 75. Saturation Idx -0.2, CYA 0, TC 1.6, FC 1.6, pH 7.4, Tot Alkalanity 104, Adj Total Alk 104, Tot Hardness 178. He told me to put 7lbs of Balance Pak 100 which I did and 2lbs of stabilizer to the skimmer. That being said, I purchased a tub of 3 in Chlorine tablets at Lowes over the weekend. Would it be best to return them, $70, and go with this method or use them until I get a good test kit. I have the AquaChek 5 strips that measure TC, FC,TA,pH and Total Hardness.