Hi Rocket Man and welcome to the Pool Forum!
I'll take a stab at some of this and then others will also chime in -- especially about the SWCG which is not my area of expertise at all.
I guessed your volume to be around 24K gallons, assuming an average depth of 4 ft.
Keep shocking the pool. Just use bleach for now. If I'm close in regards to the volume, each gallon will add 2.5ppm. I'd say you are right that you most likely have no CYA, so for now, aim for shock levels around 10-12. Hit it hard with bleach. Test as many times a day as you can and each time, add enough bleach to get back to 12ppm or so. (BTW -- bleach is pale yellow and not clear.) Don't add any CYA just yet and do NOT use any more products with copper in them! Contrary to popular belief, it is not chlorine that stains things (including blonde hair), it is copper!
Do have a test kit? If not, you will need one. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (same kit, larger bottle of some reagents). If you buy it through the Amazon link in my signature, the Pool Forum makes a little money on the sale which helps us keep this form online. Only buy if the seller is Amato Industries, however. Some other sellers are substituting the K-2005 which you do NOT want. If Amato isn't listed, wait a day or two and try again. They seem to restock pretty quickly when they sell out.
In the meantime, pick up a cheap OTO/Phenol Red kit (yellow and red drops) and use that. It will only read to 5 (or maybe 3) but you can force it to go higher with a dilution method described here: Testing Without a Good Kit
You do need a gauge. They are cheap. Pick one up and put it on there with some teflon tape. Operating without it for a couple of days would not have hurt anything, but you need one. It is how you will know when it is time to backwash your filter and right now with all the junk in the water, I'd say that is pretty often. Do you know how to backwash a sand filter?
If you think there may be nails in there, I wouldn't vacuum just yet until you can see better where they are or I think you may puncture your liner. Run your pump 24/7. When you put the new gauge on (ASAP), go ahead and backwash (let us know if you need directions for how to do so) and then note the pressure afterwards. Whenever you see a 5-10psi increase over this clean filter pressure, you'll know it is time to backwash again.
To sum up --- get a OTO kit and lots of bleach. I'd also pick up several boxes of 20 Mule Team Borax (laundry aisle at Walmart). Order the good kit as soon as you can. Buy a filter gauge. Sustain the high cl and run the pump 24/7. Post your pH reading when you get it. Come back when you have more questions and keep us posted how it is going.
BTW -- when you post, your post has to go through a moderation queue before it appears on the forum. That is why you first post didn't show up immediately. I deleted your other post.
Hope this helps some.
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