Janet, thank you so much for your help. Here goes again:
1. When you say get the chlorine up to around 12-15ppm do you mean to try to keep it there 24hrs a day? We don't feel comfortable running the filter at night.
2. We have been shocking (thinking we are getting to about 15ppm) in the late evening and running the filter a couple of hours (treating as 18,000 gals est using 4.5 gals of 6% bleach??) Did this two nights in a row and remarkable difference. Will do again tonight. But, tomorrow I will get some Cal-hypo to use for shocking. How much of this do we need to buy? Does it come in little bags or buckets? How much?
3.We bought a 3lb bottle of the CYA/Stab from WalMart and, after reading your site, we are really nervous making sure not to add tooooooo much! I think I like your idea of the tube sock in the skimmer, will talk to hubby. How do we "shoot for 20 ppm?"
4. Hubby thinks our pool looks like it has a slight bluish tint now. White plaster w/stains and blue tile trim. All back yards on all sides have lots of tall trees, but ours does not. Some green reflection? I am a little color-blind, but it still looks greenish to me...esp in the deep end. What would bluish mean?
5. How will we know when the pool is safe for swimmers? (sorry, I know, dumb question alert)
We are so happy to find this site and trying to learn the BBB method. Thank you so much for all your help. Joyce
Again, thank you and the folks on this site.