Spring Opening

[rmboom]

My name is Rob. I bought a home last year with a 26,000 gallon in ground pool. It has a sand filter, and a Hayward pump. The previous homeowners used Pool Forum and the BBB method. I made the expensive mistake of using 'normal' chemicals last year. This year I'm ready to commit to the BBB method. I just uncovered the pool and it has quite thick, dark algae. I assumed that it would be best to vacuum as much of the algae out as I could. I have already backwashed my filter 2x and have not yet finished vacuuming the entire pool (after about 2 hours). Once this was complete I was going to add bleach. Is there something I should add to assist in ridding the algae? Pool shock? Any other tips?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Rob