high alkalinity, no free chlorine but high ph

[megan]

i just opened our pool and the alkalinity is high, my ph is high but my test strip indicates no free chlorine. thats 4 hours after i shocked and added chlorine. is it just too soon to be accurate on the free chlorine?

[muss08]

If you just opened your pool and the pool was very dirty and green then chances are the chlorine was already used up. Could also be that your strips are either tainted or a high chlorine level bleached the result pad. I would recommend staying away from strips as they are not always very accurate. I use the Taylor K 2006 which is a drop test. You need to get your pH down too because at very high levels the chlorine is not very effective.