He said that phosphates are algae food, and as long as I have high phosphates, I'm going to be fighting it.

Two days ago, I added 2 gallons of 10% sodium hypo, 2 pounds of super shock-n-swim (54% cal hypo), 12oz granular chlorine, and the recommended amount of algaecide. After all that, the FC was still 0.

Yesterday, I added 6 gallons of 10% and 2x 1.84gal 6%. After the first 4 gallons, the FC was still 0.

The pH was fine yesterday, but started to go down after I accidentally dumped out my floater while trying to pull it out of the pool. I just fished 3 pucks out, but I think there's still 3 in there. It's very difficult to retrieve things that you can't see. I added 1/2 box of borax right after I got back from the pool store, and the pH is now up to about 7. I just added the other 1/2, but most of it is still in the skimmer basket.

The pool guy said to add 1 pound of super shock (68% cal hypo) now and 3 more tonight, since it will be used this evening. The 1 pound has cleared it up enough that I can now see the floor in the shallow end, and brought the FC up to >10 (the limit of my test strips). Using 1/2 pool water and 1/2 tap water shows the FC at about 6.