Desire to run my pool cost effectively
Hi Conley and welcome!
The key to the BBB method is good, solid testing. We always recommend the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006C test kit as the best, the gold standard but you can't buy it in stores, only online. Here's the link:
http://www.poolsolutions.com/testkit-order-links.html
If you get it, a good daily test kit is the K-1000 OTO/Phenol kit that only tests chlorine and pH.
A more complete choice is usually only available at your local WalMart: The HTH 6-way Drop Test Kit. If you get this, be sure to pick up a gallon of steam-distilled water while you are at it.
The HTH is an OTO kit that only measures total chlorine up to 5ppm. However, using "the Patented CarlD Shotglass Method" you can increase that range to 10, 15, 20, or even 25ppm. (the name's a gag, the method's real). Simply take a shot glass and a Pyrex measuring cup and put one shot of pool water and one shot of distilled water in the cup, mix, and measure THAT. Now whatever the OTO reading is, you can double it, up to 10. To get to 15, repeat the process but add 2 shots of distilled instead of 1. To get to 20, use 3 shots, and to 25, use 4. By that time, though it does get less accurate, but it WILL tide you over till you get the K-2006 and it's super-accurate FAS-DPD test.
I can only guess at the volume of your pool, since it probably goes from 3.5' to 8' deep, and probably not as a simple ramp. So "best guess" is an average depth of 6' and that gives me a ballpark volume of 4800 cubic feet, or 35,900 gallons (7.48 gal/cubic foot). It's probably a bit less--below 35K but above 30K. For 35,000 gallons, each jug of 8.25% bleach (they come in 121 ounce jugs, not 128 ounce gallon jugs) will add about 2.3ppm of chlorine to your pool. Depending on the level of stabilizer, aka, CYA for Cyanuric Acid, you may need to maintain a level anywhere from 10 to 25ppm of chlorine to kill the algae. The stabilizer level determines that. Too little and it doesn't kill the algae. Too much and you risk bleaching or even damaging your liner. Bleaching is far more likely. If it's an old liner, you may not care about that.
Not the pump expert but leaking usually means the pump-to-motor seal is damaged. Grinding noise means the motor's bearings are probably shot. If you are really mechanically inclined you can fix it, but you'll need a bearing puller to get the bearings off.
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