About to throw in the towel...

I have a 24' round, above ground pool and for the past week it's been a deep, olive-colored green. I just have the Aqua Chem test kit that measures chlorine to 5.0 ppm. Friday, I added some algaecide and added about 16 ozs to the pool. The kind that I bought is 50% mixture of dimethly benzyl ammonium chloride and 50% "other". Saturday morning - no change, at all. So I read all of the info that others have posted on this forum (great source, btw!) and I went and bought 6 containers of 182 oz 6% bleach. Before I added the bleach, I tested the water and here are the results:

CL - 0
PH - 8.0
CYA - 40
AL - 160

So I added about 4 lbs of ph down (sodium bisulfate) and got the ph down to about 7.2. Then I added 4 of the 182 oz containers of 6% bleach. The chlorine color changed to a full orange color. By Saturday evening, the chlorine color changed to a light orange, so I added 2 more containers of bleach which changed the color to the deep orange again.

On Sunday morning - no change. None at all! I tested the water and the chlorine was still an orange color, ph - 7.6, CYA 40, AL 160. I did add water to the pool and raised the water level about 3". Sunday evening I added 2 more containers of bleach and this morning it still looks the same! You can smell the chlorine in the air as soon as I walk out the back door! I tested the water again this morning:

CL - dark, rust-colored orange
PH - 7.8
CYA - 35
AL - 120

I'm scared if I add even more chlorine I'll totally bleach my liner. What am I doing wrong? I didn't expect it to be clear, but I was looking for some sort of progress (i.e., light-green cloudy water instead of dark green cloudy water). I'm trying to employee the POPP method, but at this rate it may be cheaper to drain it and refill it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :-)

Do NOT add more chlorine; rusty colored OTO = 30+ ppm FC. With CYA=40 ppm, you don't want to go quite that high. Instead do this:

1. Complete the Pool Chart, so we can see what you are dealing with:

Pool Chart Entry Form

2. If you aren't already, begin filtering 24/7

3. Maintain an orange -- not brownish-orange -- OTO level.

4. Don't use any more algaecide; that algaecide is NOT compatible with high levels of chlorine.

Apparently, submitting this post has had an effect on my pool. When I returned from work the day before yesterday, the color changed from deep olive-green to clear but very cloudy. I checked the chlorine and ph and they were soft of dark orange and about 7.0, respectively. I didn't add anything and just kept the pump running 24/7. This morning it is still cloudy and the chlorine is still the orange color. So I should just maintain the orange color until it clears up?

As much as I would like it, we can't magically clear up pool water: the chlorine you'd already added did it WHILE you were posting here. With OTO 'brown', that's pretty much what I already expected.

+ Go ahead and keep it orange to orange-yellow for 1 day AFTER you have CAREFULLY brushed the whole pool.
+ Run your filter 24/7 at the lowest speed, or most restricted flow rate you can manage.
+ Your pH readings are NOT trustworthy when your chlorine is that high.