Yes, you do need a good test kit. I'm sure with all the reading you've done here you now know that we like the Taylor K-2006 or the 2006C which as larger quantities of reagents. Order one so you can get it as soon as you can.

In the meantime, you can use the dilution method (also referred to as the shot glass method) to allow your tester to register higher cl readings. Take one part pool water and mix it with one part distilled water and use some of this to test with. Multiply your result by 2. If that doesn't read high enough, use one part pool water, and two parts distilled and multiply the results by 3, etc. You do lose some accuracy with each dilution but it will at least give you a ballpark figure until you get a good kit.

If your cya is 55, you need to be shocking up to about 15. You need to test as many times a day as you can right now, and each time add enough bleach to get back to 15. At the very minimum, you need to test and dose with bleach in the evening when the sun is off the pool and in the early morning before the sun is on the pool. When you get to where you are no longer losing more than 1ppm of cl from sundown to sunup, then you can let the cl drift back down between 3-6. But, never let it go below that or you'll have a green pool again. Twice a day is the minimum times to test while dealing with algae but there is no such thing as testing and dosing with bleach too much. The more often you do, the faster it will clear up. Also run the pump 24/7 right now while you are working on this problem.

Your pH and alk are both a little high. Take a look at the folllowing thread in regards to that. If you have any questions, let us know.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=191

A good range for pH is 7.3-7.6 and for alk 80-120.

Your calcium level is pretty high. Vinyl pools don't need calcium. This is probably contributing to the cloudy water problem. If, after killing and filtering out the algae and lowering the alk --- the water is still cloudy, you may need to do a partial drain and refill to drop the calcium hardness.

Have you been using cal-hypo? If so, NO MORE. Also, no more trichlor or dichlor because those two will cause your cya to increase and it is already high enough. Stick with bleach or liquid chlorine. As to which is more economical, it varies from one place to another. You'll just have to check out your prices locally.

BTW -- In a pool this size, each quart of 6% bleach will raise the cl by about 1.5ppm. Use that info to help you figure out how much to add each time you test.

Repost if you have further questions. Hope this helps.