OK! Good to know, only used Walmrt stuff for two weeks now............. it was cheap compared to last years expenses in the $$$ ($39 for 21lbs of 3" tabs.... to good to be true? the chlorine stink doesnt even affect me, thats what I first noticed!)..... it wont hurt to toss it, but I'll check out the ingredients as you stated.

Being that I pretty much only have 4 GOOD weeks of pool use out here, I'll buy the pool water tester you recommend next season being that everything pool related seems to have a short life span........................ or do you disagree? bad water this season = bad water next season???? Newb here!!!

Regarding bleach as shock, home dpot and trget both selling 1.5 gallon or so for 2.99 at 6%, seems the best I can find here in LI locally. I figured since its lower than shock regarding sodium hydrochlorite (which i estimate should be 10-12% for shock) I used the whole 1.5 gallon to shock 24K tonight............. is this OK? Too little? Just right? I figured sufficient.

I'm already planning for the pool closing which I will do myself for the first time in late Sept, early oct. I'll be posting how I expect to close it regarding my system, I'll be looking forward to feed back. Also a looploc.............. searched here regarding this......... pros/cons....... the tarp has worked well for the past 5 years (two tarps so far... keep tearing), but the hassle of water on top of it each year kills me as I seem to drain half the pool to get this tarp off, regardless, these should be other topics.

Thanks All,
-Rob