Opened pool to find the water almost black

[Shy]

(15ft above ground 5,500gallons)
This is our 3rd year with our pool and the past 2 years our pool was crystal clear and we were in it with in a day or 2. This year we find a very small hole in our winter cover which I guess was just enough to let in all the gross stuff from the winter which turn my pool a super dark green almost black and it smelled god awful.

Now, I am on day 4 and have shocked my pool every morning like I was told, I've kept the pump running this whole time, I brush the bottom and sides, I vacuum it at last once a day then back wash and rinse the filter. The pool if now a cloudy blueish green color, my son say it looks like Baja Blast Mt Dew for reference (still cant see the bottom). My Alkaline is at 40ppm and my PH is at 6.8 and the Chlorine isn't even registering at all even though I have used probably more shock than I'm supposed to simply because my chlorine level wont go up. Yes I made progress but I feel like I'm stuck right now, there has been no changes. I tried putting Alkaline increaser in and it didn't budge and I tried adding PH up and it didn't budge and the chlorine level wont change either. I have 2 different test kits that I've used and they both give me the same reading. Now before you ask, yes I am added the right amount, I even bought a scale this year so I wasn't guessing like I normally do, which I always lucked out with. At this point I don't know what to do and I'm getting frustrated. I made such good progress and now I'm at a stand still. What should I do next?

[Teapot1]

Shock is a process not a product, that means raising the level of chlorine to cause breakpoint chlorination and holding that level. By using "shock" product in large quantities you are also raising the level on chlorine stabiliser which I would bet is already to high because of the use of chlorine pucks which also contain chlorine stabiliser ( cyanuric acid CYA) you should get the water tested and not with dip strips for CYA.
Dont worry about the TA level at 40ppm, thats fine un a vinyl pool ( I run mine around that level and dont have to add pH- so all is fine. Dont worry about your pH for now at least, all the stuff in your pool will be rotten and probably acidic so once you have got rid of it things will get better. A high CYA figure, which I think is most likely the cause of your issue is cyanuric acid so an acid that is holding the pH down as well. Test test test. Then come back and I' ll bet you'll need to partially empty and refill to dilute the CYA

[Denniswiseman]

As Teapot1 says you need to Slam (Shock Level and Maintain) with relation to
Chlorine / CYA Chart and
Recommended Pool Levels

Use Liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite or plain bleach) Liquid chlorine only adds salt

Test strips are commonly called guess strips
You really need to get yourself a decent FAS/DPD test kit (Taylor K2006c or TF Testkits TF100 in the states) to get accurate results as maintaining an appropiate shock level means testing quite often during the day and not just dumping shock in and thinking "that's it"

Excessive CYA renders your chlorine ineffective and you have to use more to get the same sanitation
For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness (CH) by at least 7 ppm
To reduce your CYA you have to do a partial drain and refill
Continuous use of Trichlor/Dichlor will raise your CYA which means you have to raise your chlorine level as well

[Shy]

I took some water to the pool store close to me to have it tested and they got the same results I did. I also showed them pictures of my pool so they could see what I was talking about. They told me more than likely what my issue was is there is too much bio material from all the algae I've been killing off that it's eating up the chlorine. They suggested that I use flocculent and then shock the pool again after I'm done with that. I put the flock in yesterday and I can finally see the bottom of my pool. I've vacuumed once this morning and I'm letting it settle one more time to vacuum again. I also just ordered a better test kit, my store was out of them.

[Shy]

Crisis averted!!! The flock worked! It cleared the pool right up with the second vacuum and then I shocked it. All my levels are up where they should be and the chlorine level has stayed stable for the past few hours. I'm going to check it again in the morning. Looks like I'll be spending the whole day in my pool!!

[Teapot1]

Thats good to hear and what about your CYA level?