We soaked last night (night of the full moon), I used some pH down and then MPS before we used it....this morning I tested, found the TA still off the chart and the chlorine VERY low, so I added some more acid, gave it a few hours, and the TA is JUST coming down off the highest mark on the strips....the pH is now hovering about 7.5, so I'm going to leave that alone for awhile and see how things settle out. I also added 2 tsp of dichlor, and now have a chlorine reading of about 3ppm.
So basically, my water is adjusting pretty well thusfar..I bought a "normal" filter, and rinsed all the Tri-X filters (they were HORRIBLE from that incident with the rust in the pipes), so now I've got a "spare" tri-x to rotate the rest with....I'm going to buy extra filters to keep on hand for the water changes to make things go quicker, and all I have to do is swap out the clogged/dirty ones for the clean/dry ones.
Any other thoughts on how I might streamline this, or is this pretty 'normal' for the first time ever fill and balance?