I have not found these soil test kits to be very reliable, and the information you get is only very general. Your available Nitrogen is highly dependant on soil temperatures so a reading now of "very low" may or may not be of any significant. The other nutrients are in the same category. The soil pH test more often than not will give you the same reading if you test soil, vinegar (acid), or baking soda (alkaline). If you have a good amount of organic matter in that soil those results are way off. Contact your local office of the North Carolina State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service about having a good, reliable soil test done and dig in with these simple soil tests to see what you do have, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. If you have a goodly amount of organic matter in your soil those test results should not have been that far off. Here is a link that might be useful: NCSU CES

I have not found those soil test kits sold in garden centers to be at all reliable, whether that is because my good, healthy soil fools them or not I have no idea. Solvita is supposed to have one, but it is (in my estimation) expensive and I can get a better test for less from Michigan State University USDA Cooperative Extension Service ($12.00 per sample) and since a soil test is only needed about once every 5 years it is less of a problem to use that resource than keep a soil test kit around. Here is a link that might be useful: Solvita Soil Test Kits

Most of these only test what's in the air, which doesn't help you narrow the problem down. When I had a mold problem I called around to all the local environmental testing companies... several of them came and did an inspection (with remediation estimate) for free. The lab tests cost whatever the lab charged, but then we had help interpreting the lab results. I'd reccommend seeing if there's a deal like this near you. Good luck!

Lancer,you wrote [quote]He recommended to get the Acid from Lowe's or HD and get the Alkalinity decreaser (baking soda) from them to keep the tests free.[/quote], that's the reason for my 'correction' - I think it was a typo, but didn't want you to think that adding baking soda would DECREASE your alk:-)I know that you will do well with Dave's TF -100 kit and as I said, the product and service are first rate!!! Back to the off topic stuff: ME, a water scientist????? The only reason I passed high school chemistry (the only chem class I ever took) was because the final exam was sooo weighted and curved - I just managed to 'cram' a year's worth of chem into my head (for 4 hours) better than 85% of the other students! However, I've been a pool worker for a lot of years and I'm conscious. I also am a voracious reader and manage to retain much of what I read. As such, I still question the 'yo-yo' method. While I will not disagree that all living creatures adapt to their environment and subsequent generations can thrive where their predecessors couldn't (thank you Mr. Darwin), I CAN NOT see how a strain of algae that has adapted to 3 ppm cl would do anything more than redouble it's growth rate at a cl of 1.5. It's not like it NEEDS 3 ppm to survive, only that it CAN survive at a cl level that high, halving the cl would not be toxic to the strain that can survive in 3 ppm. As such, there must be something else going on, my best guess would be cya - when you've experienced these things you are not following the 'scientific method' which says ~ hold all things constant except the 'variable' and any changes you observe are due to changes in that variable -- I'm thinking that you haven't kept a record of cl vs. cya (then again, even if you think you've followed the scientific method, a regression analysis of the data would prove helpful, just in case you missed something) BTW - anyone who hasn't met Jock Hamilton will have to wait for the afterlife - he's caring for God's pool now :( I'm also interested in the beer index - for me, it's when my wife hits me with a frying pan and says 'THAT'S ENOUGH FOR TONIGHT!!!' :D I gotta go change the 'wee-wee' pad (the dog was reading over my shoulder again)