Yes.
1. With a pH of 7.8 and CH of 680 ppm, do NOT add any bicarb! And, put whoever told you to do that into the "cannot be trusted to give pool chemistry advice" category!
2. Get a testkit, a K2006, and test BOTH your pool water AND your fill water. Links below. You're getting some pretty dodgy advice, and the chances are good you're also getting some dodgy water testing. It's unlikely your CYA is a "steady" 100; it's more likely, it's a steady greater-than-100 . . . and the difference matters.
3. Complete the Pool Chart.
4. You DO need to lower your CH level, IF it really is 680, and you do NEED to stop the scaling. But FIRST, you need to figure out where the calcium is coming from. Nothing you've described putting in your pool adds calcium, so some critical information is missing here.
5. Lower your pH; keep it nearer 7.2 till you know what's going on with your pool. . . . and do NOT add bicarb or soda ash (pH Up). If you accidentally OD with acid, add borax to raise the pH back above 7.0.
Ben
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+ Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)
+ Having a good test kit makes pool care easier for EVERYONE, but is an ESSENTIAL tool for pools with problems. A good test kit means a kit that can test chlorine from 0 - 25 ppm, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and stabilizer with reasonable accuracy. Test strips (AKA 'guess-strips' ) do NOT meet this standard. Some pool store testing is accurate; most is not. The ONLY way you'll know whether your pool store is accurate or bogus, is by testing accurately your own self. On the other hand, pool store 'computer' dosing recommendations are NEVER trustworthy -- ignore them. They are designed to sell more chemicals than you need, and WILL cause many pool problems.
+ We recommend the Taylor K-2006 test kit, which meets the requirements above, for many reasons. The HTH 6-way drops kit is a great starter kit, and is compatible with the K2006 (it's made by Taylor). There are a few alternatives; for example Lamotte makes an FAS-DPD kit that's OK -- but it costs 3x as much. But, we're not aware of any test that is better, and since we are all familiar with the K-2006 (and can help you with it) we recommend it exclusively ( Test kit info page )
One caution for the 2012 season: Amazon does not stock the kits directly. So when buying at Amazon, Amato is our current preferred seller. However, they often don't list enough stock to last the whole day, so try order mid-morning. You should expect a delivered cost under $60 for the K2006A and under $95 for the K2006C. If you can't find that, wait a day.
+ Here are links to the kits we recommend (you can check local availability on the HTH kit, using the Walmart link):HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon
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