Opened the pool this week and found crystal clear water. What a pleasant surprise. I took a sample to the pool store yesterday and then ran my own PS234 tests this morning. Here's the drill.

Pool store My pS234 kit
FC 14.4 9.5
CC 1.1 00
pH 8.2 8.2
ALK 288+ 280+
CYA 140 150+
CAL 600+
Hardness 340
TDS 3900
Copper 0.07 (is this important?)

It is a fiberglass 20,000 gallon pool. Our local water supposedly runs 1500ppm TDS. Pool store tells me I need to drain some water, but I couldn't make contact with the local Viking pool people yesterday and of course they don't work on Saturday. I bought lots of muriatic acid last year from the black hole of a pool store. Spent all season with incredibly high chlorine or fighting algae. Any ideas? I'm willing to drain but I want to talk to the Viking people first so I'll know how much I can safely drain.

I admire all you chemists who understand this stuff. I've been reading for two summers now and it just gets more confusing!! One more question. Is there a drop test for Ph so you don't have to rely on comparison? Thanks for your help.