New to forum cloudy water nothing helps

[maddie0929]

Hello All!! I am new to this forum and in need of some advice. We have had our pool for 5 years. It's an above ground, 27 in, 4 1/2 ft, sand filter
We didn't close our pool properly last year and for some reason my husband wanted to put a net cover thing over it instead of a regular pool cover, so of course when we took the net off it was green.. knew it would be already because we could see the water. So the 1st time I take a sample to pool place they told me to up my alkalinity, lower the ph levels, then put some turbo shock and algicide in it and all should be good... didn't work. Went back again was told to put more shock and algicide then when it turned a blueish color floc it then vaccum to waste... didn't work, went back and they gave me more floc.. didn't work. So I took it upon myself to clean the filter with filter cleaner, add more shock and put some clearing tablets in the skimmer and then it started looking some better. All this time all this algae and white looking stuff is coming to the top.. even with the floc and I have been trying to get it out with the net whenever I saw it. Not sure if the white stuff is water mild or what. So after a couple of days with no change went back to the pool store and was told to use some Phos-X.. let that circulate over night (this was Friday afternoon) then told to floc it again, this time with Baqucile (spelling?) Floc instead of regular floc...none of the stuff is falling.. some is rising to top. I have flocced before so I know what it's suppose to do. So went back Sunday and had water tested again.. here were the readings:
free available chlor 0
total chlor 0
total alkalinity 56
ph level 7.3
calcium hardness 63
cyanuric acid 8
Asked to speak to manager, explained to her from the start what happened, she told me to add 10 lbs of alkalinity increaser let filter 4 hrs then add 4 gallons chlorine and tablets in skimmer that evening, then this morning to floc.. so did all that, it's just been little over 12 hours and still see little improvement. I plan on waiting till Wednesday then vaccum what I can see to waste and see what happens. It just gets frustrating doing everything they say and no improvement. I guess I am a "pool dummy" and I take samples there because that's where we bought it and for the most part they usually tell me the right thing to do and are very helpful when first thing doesn't work to just give me something else no charge. I realize all of this is our fault for not properly closing it like we should but I really don't won't to spend the first half of our summer break (I work at my daughters school) trying to get this clear.

Thanks in advance!!!

[chem geek]

First off, get your own good test kit because the numbers from the pool store may be wrong, especially the CYA number. Get either the Taylor K-2006 kit here or the TF-100 kit here with the latter kit having more volume of reagents so is comparably priced per test.

Read Defeating Algae and maintain a high shock level of Free Chlorine (FC) even if you need to add chlorine regularly. Do NOT use stabilized chlorine (Trichlor or Dichlor) until you know for sure that your CYA level is too low. You can use some Cal-Hypo if you want, but not too much as it will raise CH (though right now that seems low which is OK). If you can, get 10% or 12.5% chlorinating liquid or 6% unscented bleach (Clorox Regular or off-brand Ultra). Use The Pool Calculator to calculate dosages.

Do not be afraid to hit the pool hard with chlorine. Add the chlorine slowly over a return flow in the deep end with the pump running (if using Cal-Hypo, pre-mix in a bucket of water first) and after you are done, lightly brush the side and bottom of the pool where you've added the chlorine. This is good practice with any concentrated chemical that might settle to the bottom of the pool unless well-mixed -- so this procedure is good for chlorine and for acid (added at separate times, of course).