First, let me say thanks for all of the great comments, and help!!
Okay, So I won't use the algaecide (from what I gather from the above emails). I will lower the PH. From what I gathered about the sock method for increasing CYA, I will add 48oz by volume of granulated stabilizer. I will split this in 2 athletic socks, and put one in each skimmer basket. I assume I will need to wait for everything to be dissolved. This will get me up to 30ppm according to the pool calculator. One question here is that this could take a while ... so am I hurting myself by not having elevated levels of chlorine? We have had tons of rain lately too.
Hang the socks of CYA and start shocking to shock value of 10 FC.
One thing I'm not sure about it how to dose the tricolor (I have this in granulated form). Where do I put it? Is there a chart somewhere? Do I put the entire does in at one time?
Did you read Pool School re: How to Shock Your Pool? We recommend bleach/liquid chlorine. You can find dose calcs at the PoolCalculator.com. Link in my sig. Give it a try and if you have questions, post back.
And, I've already screwed up. I put in too much acid and reduced my Ph to 6.8 I guess I need to get some baking soda and get it back up again? I tested it about an hr. after adding the acid, maybe it just hasn't incorporated well enough (since I took a sample from the top)?
The pH needs to be around 7.4ish. Retest BEFORE you dose. Also, baking soda is used to raise TA, NOT pH. We use borax to raise pH.
Sorry about all of these questions. I'm learning a lot though.
No problem, that is why we are here! Got lots of folks around to help out, too