Assuming those results are valid, your chlorine is too low, way too low. Everything else is OK for now. (Some tweaking will be needed later.)
15K gal pool => PF= 8. One gallon of 8.25% bleach contains about 0.7 lbs of chlorine gas, so a gallon adds 8 x 0.7 or ~5.5 ppm of chlorine to your pool.
Add 3 gallons tonight. Test tomorrow PM with OTO. If you get a DARK yellow OTO reading for chlorine, add 1 gallon the following PM. If you get medium to light yellow, add 2 gallons. Clear, add 3 gallons.
Continue till algae is gone.
Stop using the "shock" till you tell us EXACTLY what kind it is. Much of the stuff sold today is better used to clean your toilet bowl.
The only "good" kit at Walmart is the HTH 6-way (made by Taylor). If your Walmart doesn't have that one, just get a cheap OTO / phenol red drops kit.I'll get the "good" HTH test kit at Wal-Mart today along with a cart load of bleach.
Unless it's polyquat (www.poolsolutions.com/polyquat.html) do NOT use it. Give it away, flush it down the toilet, whatever. Just don't put it in your pool.I have some Algaecide that I haven't used yet.
What kind of filter and pump do you have?We have been brushing and vacuuming but our vacuum is manual and doesn't seem to have very good suction. The filter is running 24/7 right now.
1. Read the Best Guess page, linked in my blue signature block.What else should we do to get rid of this algae?
2. Order a K2006 test kit (see link in blue block).
3. Use bleach to keep the chlorine in the DARK yellow OTO range, till the algae is gone.
4. Do NOT let the pool store "pool-store" you -- no shock, algaecide, phosphate removers, calcium, alkalinity, etc.
Once the pool is well-chlorinated, and clear enough so that they can't disappear and die on the bottom unseen and un-rescued, they can swim. Use old swimsuits -- people are VERY chlorine resistant; some swimwear is not (especially women's fashion swimwear!). Depending on what ELSE has been put in the pool, the water may be irritating to their skin and eyes. So limit their first swim to 15 minutes. Wait a few hours, and see if any of them are itchy or have burning eyes. If so, you'll probably have to put off swimming till you've had 2 -3 days of full sun AND high chlorine. (Solar UV + chlorine break down stuff chlorine alone won't.)My three little boys are dying to play in the pool. Do I need to keep them out till everything is crystal clear and blue again? Thanks!
In particular, if you've used any algaecides besides polyquat, or some "metal removers" the pool may be unpleasant for awhile.
Good luck!
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