I opened my pool late this year as usual. Of course, I had a very green pool. I immediately put in 4 gallons of 12.5% shock and filled some socks with stabilizer to get my CYA up to 40. My PH was over 8.0 before I added shock, so I added a gallon of muriatic acid as well. The water color changed overnight to a light green. I began checking the FC often and keeping it at 16 or above. Over the next two weeks, in spite of brushing twice a day, backwashing, and maintaining the FC, nothing changed. I remembered a bit of advice from another, now defunct, forum. That advice was basically the same SLAM advice, except the FC level advice was to keep it over 25. I just did that on Friday. This morning, my water is almost clear. I'm thrilled about that, but wonder why my experience would be any different than most others.