Yes, BigDave, the fill water is from our well and is also TA. We are concerned about both. It just makes no sense to me that the (new) test strips would show almost zero TC, very high TA and very high pH....to me, this means we should add MORE calcium since it's zero, but that would, to my mind, make it only MORE alkaline...and would not lower either the TA or the pH. Even if we ignore the TC, how do we lower the pH and TA? (and thanks for taking the time to respond; much appreciated).