Quote Originally Posted by tom5412 View Post
i am using 6 way test strips as i thought they would simplify the testing.
Unfortunately, the way test strips simplify testing is by being wrong a lot. We often refer to them as "guess-strips": simple, but often useless.

Buy a cheap local OTO / phenol red test kit (yellow / red drops). If you can find the HTH 6-way kit, get that. It's made by Taylor and includes the CYA test. At a minimum, test your pH and chlorine.

But . . . with a 3,000 gallon pool, the EASIEST way to handle things is to dump, refill and follow the "Super Simple" recipe:
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?17055

That will help you focus on the important stuff, and not get distracted by all the other things pool stores want you to 'fix'.