Salt water level testing

[doriec]

This is the second year for our SWG. Last year I ran the salt level at 3400 ppm and could generate plenty of chlorine. This year when we started the pool up, the salt level was 2900--we had lots of rain over the winter and spring. However, when I double checked the salt level with test strips this spring, it consistenly showed 3500 ppm. I am hesitant to add a lot of salt because when we started last year, we put too much in and had to drain the pool down.
I added CYA and it is up to 50 ppm. I added two bags of salt, and now the reading on the aquarite is 3000 in the morning, but drops off to 2900 by evening. Sun seems to affect the salt level. I am running the SWG at 60% for 12 hours each day.
Do I rely on the salt reading indicated by the SWG or on the test strips? I have been adding bleach to supplement the chlorine level.
The salt cell is very clean, by the way. I don't want to add more chemicals than I need.
Tests also show no CC.
Thanks.

[tenax]

there can be discrepancies between and swg and test strip reading. according to poolsean with autopilot, trust the salt test strips reading. (based on reading it at it's very highest point)