Halfdones's pool

[Halfdone]

OK, So I ended up buying the sand filter and installed. The pool is about 18,000 gallons or 22,000 gallons depending on what calculator I use to calculate it. It is roughly rectangular with diagonal corners and is basically faceted in the corners and around the bottom rather then rounded corners. My pump is a 1hp single speed. The piping is 1 1/2" in-ground and everything above ground is 2" I have been running the pump for 3 days now constantly and have had to backwash 2 times which is to be expected. I am fighting some algae issues and cloudiness. I purchased the K-2006 kit and tested two days ago resulting in these numbers;
FC = .5
CC = 0
PH = 7.8
CH = 80
ALK = 160
CYA = 30+ (ran out of room and black dot never disappeared)

I tried to do a shock treatment Wednesday evening with bleach going off of my roughly calculated 18,000 gallons. I put in 6.3 182oz jugs, which should have got me up to about 30ppm FC. The next morning (Thursday) the FC was back to nothing. After looking into more posts I noticed that the Stabilized chlorine tablets and shock using Sodium dichloro was also a conditioning shock so I hoped to raise my CYA with it. Thursday I put in 2 1lb bags of shock and filled my floater with pucks of the same type. this evening my numbers are as follows;
FC = .5
CC = 1
PH = 7.6
CH = 80
ALK = 140
CYA = 30+ (ran out of room and black dot never disappeared)

Tonight I put in another 2 jugs of bleach and another 2 bags of the same shock. Is there any way to read the CYA when its lower then 30 with this kit? I did get some CYA at the local pool supply but am not sure how much to add to get my level up to the recommended level of around 50. I plan to use the sock method hanging in my skimmer so I don't loose it all with my next backwash.

So with most of my info listed I need some advice.

1. How much CYA do I add to get to where I need to be ( I assume 50 is a good number based on my reading)?
2. will getting the CYA to a good number help with my dramatic chlorine loss problem?
3. I am planning on adding DE to help filter better but will Cellulose work the same or better? (I only ask because I have a new bag of cellulose, or should I take it back and get DE)?
4. Is there anything else I should be checking? The pool supply store said I had a high phosphate problem so we dumped in some phos-free to lower it but I don't know how to test for it.
5. I've dumped probably $50 bucks worth of bleach in the pool in the last 4 weeks and my chlorine levels are pitiful, should I use something else in the interim until I get the CYA up, or just keep dumping in the bleach?
6. In the FC test using the powder, the powder is kind of granulated and doesn't completely dissolve, I end up having to use about 4 tiny spoons full to get the water to turn pink using the .5ppm/10ml test, is that normal?

Thanks for all the advice, I have been reading through the forum for several days now. Sorry about the lengthy post, I like am trying to give as much info as possible rather then too little. Also it seems that I cant start a new post so I had no choice but to continue this one. hopefully I'll get unlocked soon.

Regards,

Mark