it's hth brand pucks. the lid is yellow. (their trichlor lid is orange)

i do have a breakthrough...lol...i was holding off of adding more sequestrant since our conversation yesterday, but since my water was looking worse, i bought some cheap brand and put it in this AM. now my water went from brown to cloudy greenish color there is alot of stuff settling on bottom. i made my own vac system out of intex vac head that came with pool. bought a cheap hose and stuck that on the end where the bag would go on vac head, and shoved other end of that hose into intake on inside of pool. it was sucking stuff up, but the cartridges didn't filter it. everything was going back into pool. Went out and bought sand filter made by AquaQuik, now i can vacuum and clean water goes back into pool. hoping that this filter clears the water for me so I can start over.

If this works should i continue with the pucks i have?
What is the real deal with shocking? Do I shock and continue to have brown water?
Bleach is the cheaper way to go?