Ask 'Dr. Spa' Q & A Message Board

Your shock dose may be too low. You can't know for sure, unless you measure your combined chlorine, but the shock dose needs to be 10X the amount of CC. An approximation for that is 7X your daily dose. If you have been experiencing any "chlorine smell" or irritation, an inadequate shock is a likely source. If you don't use enough chlorine to reach "break point", you actually add to combined chlorine.

IMO 2 ppm, 10 minutes after dosing is a minimum value. 3-5 ppm is a safer number. Regardless, if you are going to try to get by with the minimum chlorine, be sure to keep your pH in the 7.1-7.4 range so that more of it is effective. It sounds as though you are doing good research. If you haven't checked out the drop-down menus at the top of this page, or the Vermonter and Northman posts in the FAQ, they are good resources.