It's pretty swampy. When I first opened it, I added four 1-lb bags of "TurboShock" (stuff the pool place sold me) along with a bottle of Algaecide (which I've since read mixed things about). As soon as I added them, blankets of what appeared to be fabric - but was in fact algae - started floating to the surface. I skimmed all of those out, but have a feeling there's still more sitting on the bottom. It's not an above ground, but I do have a valve on my plumbing to bypass the filter and go directly to waste (I think that's what it does). I guess I could hook up the vacuum and do it this way - sans filter.

Is there any harm in running the pump and filter with the torn grids? If so, I could run it just for circulations sake and add the recommended bleach / acid / borax.