A big thank you to FormerBromineUser- yesterday I got a "house call" from her to look at my pool - an extra pair of eyes might help. Everything that could be cleaned was cleaned EXCEPT----when I turned the in-line chlorinator OFF several weeks ago, I forgot to take the pucks out! Luckily FBU caught this and the petrified pucks (about 6 of them) were removed and the empty tower cleaned (with hose water). There was a rust-colored looking stain on the tower walls, a bit of sediment on the bottom, so I soaked it w/ hose water and sprayed it out w/ the hose on jet spray setting. It does look much cleaner and water in it is clear, so I turned it on just a bit to let water trickle thru it- there's no shut off value for the chlorinator and Nature2 unit (which are located next to each other on their own line).
Not sure if that was a contributing factor, but it's now empty and clean.

Numbers:
Yesterday FC went from 30 to 27 (dawn to late afternoon) so I added about 1/2 jug of bleach.

Last night tested @ 8:30pm FC=30 CC=2.0
This morning tested @ 7:15am FC=29 CC=2.5

I didn't get to the brushing yesterday- will do it today.