You've definitely come to the right place. I purchased a home with an in ground pool last year and started reading this site a month or so before I closed. After closing, the pool was nasty and green but following instructions here I got things right in less than a week. Here's my before and after photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14865808@N00/4857680807

Anyway, there's a bit to learn and although it can be intimidating (especially if you try and understand the WHY behind things) the practical implementation is actually very simple. Spend a few hours reading poolsolutions.com guides; the money I saved by doing it (before I read the site, I was planning on hiring a pool guy at about 90 bucks a month) has been significant.