New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

[mitchryan912]

Check chlorine and pH daily. CH doesn't need to be checked as long as your CH is low and you aren't using any products that add calcium. CYA only needs checked if you are adding CYA directly or using dichlor or trichlor. Otherwise once a month is fine. TA once every couple of weeks unless your pH starts bouncing around.

I ran another batch of tests today, just to get some practice doing them and to see how accurate my first readings were a few days ago. I also added a few hundred gallons of water (had a leak I fixed) and 12.5% liquid chlorine last night (2 quarts) plus some liquid acid this AM (2 quarts), and got this at noon:

7.2 pH
5 ppm FC (0 CC)
100 ppm TA
45 ppm CYA

I think this sounds about right, considering the previous test.

You don't have to use your K2006 daily. For those quick chlorine and pH checks, you can just use an OTO kit and then use the big kit maybe once a week.

What do you recommend for OTO kits for chlorine accurate to around 5 ppm? The one I have only shows up to 3 ppm FC. What about phenol red that's accurate with up to 6 ppm FC? Would a K1000 work, or would it be just as good to use the K-2006 since the phenol red in that kit won't last over the winter anyway? Since we're in Wisconsin, we probably only have 2 months tops of swim time left, so a new .75 oz phenol red indicator vial should last until early October, right?