You definitely need to get a drop-based kit, and if your WalMart carries the $15 5-way, that would be a good one to start with. The strips are very unreliable, and are not worth much at all when trying to clear up a problem. As Marie pointed out, CYA of 0 is WAY different than CYA 30. If the bags of shock you bought were cal hypo, then see if you can return them--with your hardness that high you definitely do NOT want to put any more calcium in your pool. In fact, with your Ca and TA both that high, I'm not sure that some of your cloudy problem isn't precipitating calcium.

So..the best thing you can do is get a drop-based kit and run tests for Cl, pH, TA, Ca, and CYA and post them here. Alternatively, you could get a pool store to test for them (IF they used drop-based testing) and get their printout to post here. Just don't buy anything they want to sell you, unless it's a drop-based test kit!

We'll be able to help you go from there.

Janet