High combined chlorine, what now?

[HoodieG]

I just opened my pool 3 days ago, and I have been adding a mix of liquid chlorine and cal-hypo shock every night since. I've also added a bit of sodium bicarbonate to get the PH in range. The water is now clear so I got it tested. The combined chlorine came back at 5.6 with free chlorine at 0.6. What do I do now?

Also what did I do wrong to get to this point, and how can I avoid it in the future?

 

[PoolGate]

Get a test kit and test it yourself.

SLAM Process
Test Kits Compared

 

[JamesW]

Post a full set of readings done with your own good test kit.

 

[HoodieG]

FC: 0.6
TC: 6.2
PH: 7.4
AK: 110
CYA: 35

18k gallon vinyl liner regular chlorine pool

 

[PoolStored]

Where did you get these test results? Do you have your own test kit? Which one?
We can't give advice on strips or pool store results. They are notorisly wrong. We can do more harm that good, even damage based on bad testing.

Here are the kits we recommend. Link-->Test Kits Compared

 

[JamesW]

Did you ever use sulfamic acid like in Jack's #2 Copper and Scale Stuff?