newbie problems

have a 28' round with deep end, 25-28k gallon, 1-1/2hp pump sand filter. been using a pool store 30min away for my testing and chems. . I like this bbb thing. This may decrease the dependency on these guy. They seemed pretty good, they test with a kit not a machine and they never pushed product. But I just couldn't afford to run my pool the last couple years. so Im going to try this deal here. This is 2 year old water , no winter cover. Can't see the bottom. I suffered from mustard algae for a couple years. Yesterday I tested my water and it was way over the 8 level my ph tester showed. I ran the pump for a while then I dumped 3 quarts of acid and waited 1 hour. my ph was then below the lowest ph tester color. I dumped 6 gallons of 6% no name bleach . It went from super green with millions of poly wags to a greyish green( 8 hrs later). Am I on the right track or is this a newbie screw up. Seams to be working. I will buy one of your recommended testers. Should I go back to the 3" tabs? ( I have a feeder) I read that there is some chemical that can build up ,and how do you get rid of that build up. Thanks for your time, I will try not to post too much but try to read more and educate myself from this forum, Thanks, tt

Hi Camas;

Quickly:

1. Please post your pool info in the pool chart:

Pool Chart Entry Form
Pool Chart Results

2. Here's the kit info:

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon

Until we have a reliable stabilizer reading, it's hard to suggest much.

3. Based on your likely pool volume of 18,000 gallons (PF:7; 28' round, 3.9' water depth at perimeter), you probably need to be dumping 2 - 3 gallons of bleach EVERY evening, till you get one of the test kits. Once the water is consistently free of a green tint, add 4 - 6 gallons in the evening, and then BRUSH carefully. Use a cheap OTO (yellow drops) test kit to avoid overdosing: if you get an EVENING chlorine reading of DARK yellow (darker than block shows) SKIP that evening's dose of chlorine.

4. Let us know how it goes.