Thanks again, Wizard, I see now that our little pool is is in fact a hotbed of advanced chemistry! For ten years I've been thinking Ph and Chlorine levels, with success - until this year. What now figures is that we've had the driest year for nearly 150 years - hence little dilution to reduce CYA levels, aggravated by the fact that we have at least two months every year of full-on, unbroken sunshine, with UV levels around 10 or 11, which didn't help. I'm now searching round all the pool stores for a decent test kit which I can rely on.