We need help. I have been to the sister site and read....kinda understand. You folks seem to know EVERYTHING! Well, here goes: We bought a house w/ an IG Gunite appx.17,000 gal, appx 14 years old. We have NEVER had pool experience before! The pool became a green slime pit before our eyes. Mar, Apr & May. (family illness kept us from cleaning earlier) While waiting for man to come repair pump, we raked and skimmed as much as we could each day..several hours. (we're getting older, heading for 60) Man repaired pump, but pump had to be backwashed about every hour to hour & half. Very slow going. Next, we had tech replace sand in pump (Hayward 240 also appx 14 yrs old) & had them add a pressure gage. Things really started to improve then. The pool tech said that the sand they removed was actually play sand and not the real stuff that they put in. Have no idea what damage this could or would have done, if any. But, we have dipped, skimmed, BLEACHED, ran pump, brushed and vacuumed. The pool is now clean except for some stains (brownish) on the bottom and still slightly green water. We got a 6-way kit from WallyWorld and practiced. Today I took water sample to pool store and, sure enough, it was just as I had read. A three page printout shows that we need almost $150 worth of 'stuff'...and, they used the strips...and that is just to get the water ready for their weekly sale/purchase to maintain. Nope, didn't buy anything. I tested w/our 6-way drop kit and actually re-tested Tot Alk & Hardness because of the difference. I think our test #'s are closest to correct and what I will post here. FC .5, CC 0, Bro .5, PH 7.5, Tot Alk 120, Hardness 100, Stab/CYA 0, Copper 0, Color light green. The only things WE have put in the pool is bleach and 20 Mule Team Borax. We know we need to add Stab/CYA, but we have no idea how much and, what do we do first? If no response, we will add more bleach tonight, appx 6 - 3/4 gal jugs. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanking you in advance, Joyce