Hi again,

I've finally got my K-1720, Taylor's "Pool Stabilizer Pool Water Test Kit for Cyanuric Acid", and did my first test this morning. Now I understand why the professionals said the pool was overstabilized. I get a reading above 100ppm, which is the upper level this kit can measure. I completely lose the black dot in the white cloud and there is still a good amount of height to reach 100ppm line.

I've also got a Taylor kit that can measure high Chlorine levels, K-1515-A as was suggested by aylad. I've been measuring with it for the last week. I moved down from FC 13.5ppm slowly down to 11.5ppm, by disconnecting the salt water system all together. But now I'm thinking with the Cyanuric Acid level this high, maybe I need FC to be this high?

BTW, 110ppm total alkanity is my incoming water supply. My TA used to be 170ppm, and by aerating I got it down to 120ppm, I'm no longer doing it, it's not gonna change any more given my incoming level.

Unfortunately, I still don't have anything to measure calcium hardness alone. Given that I have 3 kits now (basic Taylor for FC/CC, pH, alkanity + K-1515-A for high FC/CC, and K-1720 for Cyanuric Acid) I'm hesitant to get K-2006. Is there something simpler I can buy just for calcium hardness level? Is that really necessary? My wife is already making comments about the increasing number of little blue boxes in the house .

Also, it is important to say that the water is crystal clear now that the pop-ups are working. I've changed the ones on the stairs with ones that have small nozzle openings, that seemed to fix the problem.

So here are my latest readings from this morning:
FC 11.5ppm
CC 0ppm
pH 7.4
TA 120ppm
Cyanuric Acid >100ppm

Here are my questions:
1) What does this very high cyanuric acid level mean? Does that mean I need to keep my FC also at these high levels? Or does that mean I need to replace the water as the professionals suggested?
2) Do I need a calcium hardness kit? If so, which one would you recommended?
3) Although my FC went down slowly, my CC never moved (always 0), where did the FC go?
4) How can I tell what kind of pool I have? It looks like a pebble pool from the pictures I've seen, but is there any other way to tell?

Thank you for the great support you are providing.