alkalinity at 320!?!?!?

Picked up a drop test kit from walmart today did the test and every thing is fine except the alk. I tested 3 times, and have been getting a steady 310 - 320 alk reading with a ph of 7.3. Can this be right or do I need to return the test strips. all the reading that I've doing reguarding ph and alk indicates a close relationship between the two, so how would it get so out of whack? According to test strips I've been uusing in the past, it always registered in the 160 - 180 range, with ph at 7.0. Another concern is the chlorine test is total chlorine, and doesn't differentiate between free or combined, so I'll have to rely on strips for that. also, does anyone know where I can get replacement regeant solution for the cya test? With the amount they have you use, I'll have maybe enough for 3 more tests for that if I'm lucky.

Since no one responded, I was on my own last night. Went to another site and they suggested using muriatic acid, pouring it in with the filter off, no circulation, in a few areas in the pool. Apparently this trick will have more effect on the TA rather than Ph. So thats what I did last night. Added 32 oz of MA total. This morning, i tested and we're down to 260 alk, 7.2 ph. (from 320, 7.3 respectively). So there's improvement. I'll try another treatment again tonight. And test tomorrow. Going by my first result, it seems I'll drop 60 ppm alk to every .1 ph? So, I'll go until 7.0 ph, and stop. Hopefully this will at least bring me under the 200 ppm range, which is still kind of high, but I suppose I can deal with that for now. Will 7.0 ph be ok for chlorine? They say between 7.2 and 7.8 is recommended, but I ran with 6.9 last year for a month with no problems.

Chlorine is more effective at lower band of the recommended pH level so 7.0 would be fine.

Sounds like you did the "slug" method, which apparently only works if you get lucky and duplicate conditions recommended in the following thread, which you need to read if you haven't already-

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