Latest update...

Added 40 lbs of salt Saturday, because I determined that amount should push the system reading to the high end of acceptable, but get the salt "stick" tester into the acceptable range as well.

At the same time, I added 1/2 box of Borax. Tested a pH a few hours later and added second 1/2 of box. Also added a littel water as the level was getting a bit low.

A few hours later, I checked the system reading for salt. It said 3500. Ran the system on 60% until dark. With a basic chlorine test the level seemd to be rising, but still not acceptable. Basic chlorine test early Sun morning before the pump kicked back on was hardly detectible. I let the pump kick on and run for a couple hours, then checked the system reading again (3400 ppm--no idea why the difference). Basic chlorine test registered about 0.5. During all of this, pH was holding steady at 7.4.

I decided to remove the cell one more time and inspect....Still didn't see any visible signs of build up...Pressure washed it with garden hose into a 5 gal bucket...A few tiny bits of debrise washed into the bucket (looked like tiny aunts). It seemed as thought the additional salt had made a difference becasue the chlorine level was increasing slowly. Even though it wears on the cell, I needed to determine if all of this had made a difference (remember the pool store had me run at 100% aand we never even made it into the acceptable range for FC), so I set the system on super-chlorinate. We only did the one time the previous year (as per pool store instructions after a large swimmer load including a couple clean dogs), but will try to never do it again. Early this morning, with super chlorinate still running, our basic test is showing right at 2 ppm!!! I'm going to let it finish it's 24 hours and retest. At least the cell seems to finally be working.

The salt "stick" test went from 2640 to 3330 24 hours after adding the 40 lbs of Aqua Salt. pH this morning looks to be 7.5. This afternoon, I plan to try to reset the system readings to see if the numbers will line up a bit closer to the "stick." With the current jump in the reading over night, our system has our level as high as it will accept it.

Current test readings for recap and those I didn't mention...
pH 7.5
salt "Stick" 3330 System has jumped from 3500 to 3400 to 3600???
TA 80 turned clear, but 90 to get fully red
CYA 65

I'm going to get 2 more lbs of CYA today. 2.64 ilbs should put me exactly at 80, so 2 lbs will certainly be safe. I feel safe in this because by my original calculations, 7.04 lbs would have taken me to 60 and 10.56 lbs would have taken me to 80 (using my nearest estimate of gallons in my pool---22,000). I've added a total of 8 lbs and we are at 65 ppm, so I feel good about 2 lbs not pushing me over.

If any of this sound wrong or sets off alarm bells for you, please let me know! I'm trying to catch on as quickly as possible, but I could easily make a mistake!! The pool store will try to talk me out of the additional CYA. Im also going to return the baking soda!!

I'll have to let you know about the hue this evening. I'll have my husband get in with a mask to let me know if any of the cloudy look under water has dissipated. Last year, you could film under water and not appear to be under water because it was so clear. I'm sure with all of your help, I can get there again!!

Thanks for restoring hope and removing a great deal of frustration!! :-)