Hi Aylad, I appreciate the response.
Ack! I was on the road all day so haven't gotten to buy bottle test kit yet. However, I shocked yesterday and just went and used on of the (useless-haha) test dipsticks since that was the only measure I have on hand. And the pump has run for the last 24 hours solid. I realize these are estimates based on how well I discern colors:
Total Hardness: 200
FC: 3 (bromine 6)
pH : 7.5
Total Alkalinity: 240 (or more, bluish on stick)
Cyanuric Acid: looks like it fell between the colors for 0 and 30-50 range, so I'd have to guess more than zero but less than 50--at least something's registering on there now.

So, aside from the sky-high alkalinity, it looks pretty good according to the "ideal" ranges given on the HTH strips. BUT, it is even greener than yesterday! Dirtier than when I first started working on it daily, even. A deep, darker than emerald green.

I see in your chlorine chart, I'm close right at this moment. Should I shock it again tonight to keep the chlorine high or would that be too much? Is the algae controller i have useless since it says the pool should be clean before using? (9.96% n-alkyl, .04% n-dialkyl). I'm at the point of just emptying it but our yard holds water really badly, but I don't know what else to do with it.