As far as chemicals go,I would pick up large quantities of plain, unscented bleach, a box of Borax, a box of baking soda, and a container of CYA (also labelled as balancer, conditioner, or stabilizer). You can get all this stuff at WalMart. You also need a drop-based test kit--the WalMart 5-way for about $15 will do to get started, but I highly encourage you to invest in a really good one--Taylor has one, but most of us use the one sold at this forum (click on the Poolsolutions logo at the top of the page).

I would say to do your best to get as much crud off the bottom as possible, even if you have to vacuum, wait for water to settle, then vacuum again but I don't see any reason not to turn the pump on. Your pump should have a skimmer basket to catch anything big enough to hurt the pump, and you can always use a piece of panythose or a skimmer sock (also available at WalMart) to help the basket catch smaller stuff. The faster you can get the pump up and running, the faster we can help you clear your water.

Run a set of test numbers for pH, TA, and Ca, and let us know what kind of pool (vinyl? plaster?)l and the gallonage, and I'm sure we can get you headed in the right direction!

Janet