Newbie Pool Question

Hello,

I have a 24 ft abg pool. Last week it was dark green to almsot black and you couldnt see in the bottom. Over the last week I have been treating it. First I added a full bottle of flock, I added 1/2 a bottle at first but after 24 hours nothing was clumping, so I added the full bottle, and waited another 1 1/2 days. Still nothing sunk to the bottom, just tiny pieces floating all in the water. Then I added 1 full bottle of algacide, and about 4 chlorine 3" pucks. the pool is clean, but now the water is cloudy. I can see all the way to the bottom of the pool, but the water is cloudy. I tested the water today and the PH says add soda ash, and the chlorine is none. The water is clear after adding the yellow drops. What did I do wrong? How can I fix it?

24' round -- 48"pool? 12,500 gallons. PF:10

+ Start adding 2 gallons of PLAIN 6% household bleach each evening (or (3) 96 oz bottles). Continue doing that, till you have a HIGH chlorine level in the AM.

+ Get a good testkit. The HTH 6-way is the ONLY decent test kit we know of that is sometimes available locally: some Walmarts have them. You can check using this link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-6-Way-Test-Kit/17043668 Otherwise, you'll need a K-2006. The OTO kit you have now is better than strips, but we need to know what your stabilizer level is. (More info in the test kit page in my signature)

+ Once you can hold high chlorine overnight, brush your pool completely, to make sure ALL the algae is gone. Once that's done, you can cut back to 1 gallon each evening.

+ If you can't find the HTH kit, take a water sample to a pool store, so we can get some idea about your CYA (stabilizer) level, even if it's not a very accurate one.

+ Do NOT let the pool store sell you this or that goop: don't add calcium; don't add alkalinity; don't buy phosphorous reducer, etc.

+ If your pH is below 7.0, ALSO add 1 box of 20 Mule Team Borax (NOT: Boraxo!) -- slowly to the skimmer, pump running -- each evening. Continue till the pH comes up to at least 7.2