I had the same problem opening this year. Lots of algea from the winter. had the cloudy water too. I read on another site about breakpoint chlorination, which is basically bringing the free chlorine level high enough to burn off whatever combined chlorine there is. This results in a 0.0 CC reading, leaving your entire CL reading as FC. I brought my FC to 25 ppm for 2 days, then let it gradually go down to 10 and held it there for a week, all the while running the filter 24/7. Once I reached the 0 cc reading my water cleared beautifully. I imagine if I had a cart or De filter, it may have cleared quicker, but nonetheless, it cleared. The cloudiness is the dead algea and Cl floating around. Another thing to keep in mind is to get the ph and alk balanced BEFORE trying this. PH tests are not to be trusted in very high CL readings. I made this mistake and have had the added job of bringing the high alk down, because I added baking soda thinking it was low, all the while getting a false test reading. Hope this helps.