pool green - chemical imbalance?

[roadrunner]

someone please help! i am pulling my hair out here. i had an AG last year so learned a little and now bought a house with an IG, which i think is 12x36 so i figured roughly 10,000 gallons+. no idea what type of pool. filter is a cartridge filter.

when i moved in it was winter and previous homeowner said she just put a chlorine tablet in weekly to keep it clear looking til summer so i contd that til a few weeks ago and let it slip as i just kept forgetting with a busy schedule to buy some more. now the pool is green, clear green but solid green. i have ran pump, sprayed filter several times to clean, and put lots of chemicals in which i think have messed it up worse. i started last week with 2 bags shock and 3" tablets x 2 in skimmer basket x2 in floaters. no avail. so resorted to 3 gallons 6% bleach after reading on this forum. still no avail. filter running 24/7. FC continues to show 0. so i added more 3" tablets, added x2 more in floaters equalling 6 total. still FC of 0. pH was low so i added pH plus. 3 days later, still nothing happening.

today, i added 2 more bags shock, bought the premade chlorine floater from wal-mart. 6 hours later, nothing. here are my readings:
total hardness: 400
chlorine: 0 (i assumed this was free chlorine but container doesn't actually say that, it only says chlorine - HTH strips from Wal-Mart)
pH: less than lowest on scale of 6.4 so lower than 6.4
TA: 40 (slightly a little less as color wasn't totally matching 40)
CYA: i'd say about 20 as it looked between the 0 and 30-50 color.

after reading some posts about the 3" tablets being acidic, i took all of them out just before posting this. so what i have done today is the 2 lbs shock and have the premade chlorine floater punched out to 10,000 gallon marks. when putting in the shock, i got a frothy/foamy skim on top of water but that has cleared now about 6 hours later.

from what i gather after reading/researching here, i need to leave it alone to allow the pH to bring itself up. i have pump running which i have 4 jets over my steps so i think that will circulate/aerate well? then i also read to bring up the pH and alk before water will clear up so i plan to get some borax and baking soda tomorrow for that. any idea how much i may need? then i figured i would start with the bleach and someone had suggested to another poster 10 gallons? am i on the right track or making things worse?

TIA!!!!!!!

[CarlD]

OK, I'll start:
1) stop using everything you are using.

2) You MUST get your pH up above 6.9 immediately--use ordinary 20 Mule team Borax to do that. You'll probably need 3 or 4 boxes--just a guess.

3) You need lots and lots of bleach. I am ball-parking it but I think you'll need 6 to 10 gallons at a time.

4) Patience, persistance.

[roadrunner]

thank you so much CarlD! i left the floater in there so i should pull it out as well huh? i kinda figured i had it in shock with all the mix and too much chemicals and it kinda locked up my chlorine from doing anything so i figured my best bet was to stop it all and start over with bleach and borax. will get right on those tomorrow and update.

[Watermom]

Take the floater out and just hit it with bleach as Carl suggested.

[roadrunner]

okay, the floater is out. i put in 4 jugs of the 1 gallon 46 oz from wal-mart. i also put in on 4 lb box of the borax to start with and have the pump/filter running. i have sprayed the filter clean about every hour. now i tested the water 2 hours later and here are my results:
TH: 200
FC: 5
pH: 7.8
TA: 80
CYA: 30-50

do i just wait and be patient to see if this clears it up or does the FC need to be higher to burn out the algae?

[Watermom]

Take your chlorine up to about 12 and try and hold it there. Test several times a day, the more often the better, and each time add enough bleach to shock it back up there.