Struggling with cloudy water after killing algae

[xangellovex]

I have a 48x18 intel pool.... I had an algae issue and the guys at the local pool store had me correct the PH level and then shock the pool to kill the algae...this seemed to take care of the green and now I have blue water but its very cloudy and I am unable too see the bottom. I have been trying for 5 days now to filter out the cloudiness but it hasn't seemed to fix it.. I have a big problem because I have a pool party in 2 days for my kids but no pool to use if I can't get this one clean... What is recommended short of draining and refilling the pool to fix the cloudiness QUICKLY?

[CarlD]

We'll need more information. Without test figures we are flying blind.
Did the pool store test your water and give you the results?
You should be able to test your water yourself. Even a little OTO/Phenol Red test kit helps, but while we generally recommend first the Taylor K-2006 kit, since you are rushed, try this:
If there is a WalMart handy see if they have the HTH 6-Way Drop Test Kit--about $20-25, several gallons of ordinary 8.25% bleach, a gallon of steam-distilled water (every supermarket sells it) to start.
We'll need to know what size pump and what kind and size filter, if you have a skimmer or not and:
FC--Free Chlorine
CC--Combined Chloramines
TC--Total Chlorine. If the pool store tests gave you the FC and CC, then TC=FC+TC. But also test with the HTH OTO test.
pH
TA--Total Alkalinity
CH--Hardness or Calcium Hardness
CYA--Cyanuric Acid, aka Stabilizer / Conditioner.

The HTH kit tests for TC (OTO), pH, TA, CH and CYA.

Also, what did the pool store give you to shock the pool? Was it Di-Chlor, Cal-Hypo (calcium hypochlorite), Tri-chlor (probably not--this is usually only sold as tablets), or "Liquid Shock" (bleach)?

IF, and only if, your chlorine levels are good and your pool is blue-cloudy and not green-cloudy, it's possible your TA and CH levels are too high--but at least that's harmless to swimmers. Look for TA to be 180 or more and CH to be over 400 or even 500. But that's JUST A GUESS without more data!

[kelemvor]

Another wild guess (since that's all we can do without the test results Carl requested). It could also be dead algae floating in the pool. Intex filters are generally barely big enough to keep a clean pool clean. Once you get a mess, it can take a long time to clean stuff out of the water. If so, and if you have the capability to vacuum to "waste" it might be better to turn the pump off for a few hours so it can settle on the bottom. Then you could vacuum the dead algae out and top off the water.