Welcome to our forum.
... what is the correct thing to do first, please?
p.s. I seldom disagree with WSD, but I wouldn't wait two weeks to balance water, unless it is already close. If you do that 3-4 times/yr, that could add up to a couple of months of unbalanced water which could be enough time to do some damage if pH is low, or potential for scaling is high.
The key ingredient to my suggestion was "And unless your water out of the tap is WAY out of balance...Water out of the tap for me measures around 7.4 pH, 100 TA, 230 Ca...pretty doggone good. After agitation and aeration, pH goes up to around 8.... "Out of the ballpark" for me would be anything 8.1 pH or above or 7.0 pH or below. TA and CA don't concern me in this exercise as much as pH...What do you think? Am I off base with this recommendation?
Before putting any of the chemicals mentioned above, I'd put water in it.
So I soaked this morning with virgin water, then put in 1 tsp of dichlor. My water is now reading Ph = 7.2 and Alk = 30. What would you do/add now?
Taylor test kit. I just put in one TBS of baking soda....just did only one because I'm not sure what to do.....