Algae in a salt water pool

Hello pool experts! I stumbled upon your site while trying to find help for my ailing salt water pool....my pool builder seems to be too busy to respond to my 6 phone calls that I put out to him!! We seem to have this flaky blackish-greenish stuff floating around in the pool and endless dirt at the bottom! Green slimy walls continue to haunt us day after day and even though we have done chlorine boosts the level is still registering 0 with a general test kit!! What the heck?? We can not seem to figure this thing out! My hubby is bout ready to fill the darn thing back in with dirt :( I was looking for some solutions in the search bar, but the site said I am restricted from seeing what others have to say on the topic?

Hi Tray;

Basically, you need to turn your SWCG off, and forget about it till your pool is cleaned up. Most SWCG makers do not explain that
a) you'll sometimes need to add chlorine directly, and
b) unless massively over-sized, SWCGs are NOT adequate for pool clean up.

You can look through other algae posts here -- but the basic recipe is
#1 - For starters, add 2 gallons of plain 6% household bleach each evening per 10,000 gallons of pool water (~10 ppm).
#2 - Test your pH, and make sure it's between 7 & 8.
#3 - Do NOT use goop -- algaecides, Green, Yellow or Purple treatments, enzymes, phosphates or phosphate removers, etc.
#4 - Find out what your CYA level is ASAP (see testkit below)
#5 - Get a Taylor K2006 or other FAS-DPD complete kit so you can manage chlorine levels.
#6 - Once you know your CYA level, set your chlorine dose by the Best Guess chart.
#7 - Run your pump & filter 24/7; clean as needed.
#8 - Once you have adequate chlorine in the pool per CYA level, begin brushing and vacuuming.
#9 - Repost once you have done all above OR have a question.