My Green Pool Saga - Help!

[Pamsel]

Hello, I am new here and am one of those people who hates my pool right now. I have a totally green, cloudy pool and nothing I do seems to fix it. Here is my history with the pool this spring. I opened the pool (14,500 gal in-ground) mid-April. It was dark brown, as it is every year we open it. (We bought this house with a pool and have been trying to learn by trial and error the past 4 summers how to take care of it.)

I started out by sweeping the entire pool to get debris off the bottom. I did this twice, even though I couldn't see the bottom at all, but I believe I got most of the debris. Then I put in 2 qts of Stain Ban (per my pool supply store instructions), waited 24 hrs and added 15 gal of liquid chlorine. Next day I put in 1 qt of Algicide. Over the next 10 days the water cleared up fairly well - I could see the bottom. Then we had an unexpected death in the family and had to go out of state for a week. We left the filter running, but when we got home, the pool had turned green. The next week we had rain constantly and since that time, the pool has stayed green. About 2 weeks ago, I again shocked the pool with another 15 gal of liquid chlorine. The water cleared up but there was visible dark green algae on the sides and bottom of the pool. I was vacuuming to waste and was able to get most of it off, but it seemed to keep returning.

I talked to the "pool expert" at the pool supply store and asked him if I should brush all that visible algae off the sides and bottom of the pool in order to get rid of it. He told me not to, but that it would break up on its own once I killed it. He told me to put 1 qt of 3-month algicide, wait 24-48 hrs, then shock with 3 lbs of lithium shock. I put in 1 qt of the algicide, waited 36 hrs and saw no difference, so added a second quart of algicide, waited another 36 hrs, then put in the 3 lbs of lithium shock. The only change has been that the water turned from clear to cloudy green.

When I tried to get back in touch with him last Saturday, no one answered the phone at the store. I spoke to another pool supply store who told me that I absolutely had to brush all that visible algae off the pool. I should do that, then let it settle with filter off for a short time, then vacuum, then put in 5# of "Super Soluble" which is Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate. I was told to use this rather than liquid chlorine because my PH was high - 8.4 and that this would balance both the PH and the chlorine level, without me having to add acid first and then chlorine. So, I brushed the whole pool down, shut off the filter to let it settle. It never settled, but instead turned the whole pool completely dark green and completely cloudy. I can no longer see the bottom of the pool. So, I decided to go ahead and shock it with the 5# Super Soluble last night and this morning woke up to see that it has not changed at all! Still completely dark green and completely cloudy. If I could, I would drain the thing and fill it in with dirt today!

I only have test strips to use right now. Here are my readings:

Total Chlorine - 1ppm range
Free Chlorine - 1 ppm range
PH - 8.4 (did not come down at all as I was told it would)
Alk - 240
Hardness - Ok range (250-500)

I found this site today out of desperation and I've been reading about using plain Clorox, baking soda, etc and about other test readings that I don't even know what they are. (CLY or something like that, I think.) I really have no idea where to go from here. I have spent over $300 on this pool already this spring and it is no better than when I started 6 weeks ago.

Can someone please tell me what I need to do, right now, step by step? Right now, there is so much chemical in the water I don't even know where to begin to work with this mess. I am at a loss, discouraged and disgusted with all the wasted money. Thank you so much for any help!

P.S. When I take my water to the pool supply store to have it tested, all they do it stick the same test strip in it that I have at home. They don't tell me anything more than I already knew.