Thank you! One thing I would like to say is that after reading some of the posts on this forum, I know that you (Watermom) have had a rough go the past few years and that I hope you are in full remission and doing well. Thank you for taking the time to answer.

I just tested the water and here is what I came up with (using our cheap $15 kit)
Chlorine= between 1.5-2.00 it was more than one, but not quite 2 on the color chart
Ph= 7.8 (as best as I could tell)
Total Alkilinity= 170 ?? I have not done this test before, and I am thinking this is high? I added 17 drops of solution 3 before the water did a permanent change from a lilac color to clear.

Question: stabilizer is something I purchase separately and put in the pool? The tabs that the previous own had supposedly have stablizer in them, but we are not sure how old they are. If I am using bleach, is there a product that is just stabilizer?

The algea that we think we have seems to be very minimal at this time (I can only imagine it can explode, though), so if we increase cholorine and the time we run the pump, should that help? My husband has been vacuuming (yes, manually...hence the question about automatic vacuums!) and brushing the sides and bottom almost daily to keep ahead of it.

Any other information I can provide? Many thanks!
Kelly