Thanks so much PoolDoc/Ben! Just having read your reply I already feel better about my pool! I have an OTO test kit (chlorine and pH) that I started using yesterday...the strips are a joke, and it's looking look my 'professional tests' I had done are, too. I'm going to go check out the Taylor test kits when I finish and hopefully get one ordered soon. Also wanted to let you know that I do feel quite foolish for adding the hardness increaser...I had read a great deal on your site but it was mostly about algae problems...I passed right by that whole calcium-vinyl thing. I am wiser now, though...poorer (after buying 16 pounds of that junk), but wiser! I did try bleach when we first opened, though, and 5 gallons didn't budge the chlorine reading of 0, so I did splurge and buy the granules in an effort to speed the process up.
Okay, so I'm guessing it's okay to use the trichlor tabs in the skimmer...? I'm not going to be able to get D.E. until Friday (it's actually hard to find the stuff around here), so should I go ahead and get that chlorine going and pour in the polyquat in the meantime...and does it matter what the chlorine reads at this point (I assume keep it under 5 ppm as per #8 in your instructions)? Then Friday, get the D.E. and start that evening with the testing filtration, brushing and vacuuming? Then, continue on to raising the chlorine to 5 after 4 days (Tuesday-ish)? Sorry for the questions, but again, I wanna make sure. I haven't really ran in crazy circles, but I have definitely not made any progress either, so I wanna get this right...lol!
Also wanted to let you know that due to the cloudy water, I've been keeping a nylon (knee high) on the skimmer basket to filter those finer particles...didn't take the time to order skimmer socks and found that many people used knee highs with success, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's caught a bit of debris, but not a whole lot (exception was that it was full of muddy looking junk the day after I used the metal out...dunno if that means anything or not). Nonetheless, I wanted to let you know and see if you thought it something I should do or not and whether or not I should keep doing it.
Thanks again for all your help and your patience! I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on this thing...I have faith that it'll eventually come clean (hopefully by the fourth, but I'm not holding my breath...lol)!