This is the kit I have. It has everything. Including for inground pools. Mine is above ground, I don't use all of the tests/chemicals. The kit has more than you'll need for one year. It is $70 in the US and you can buy just the chem refills each year, which is cheaper yet. Like
kimkats said, We can't speak to the Taylor kit unless we know exactly which one you are talking about.
Yes, Your pH looks pretty off the charts. Time to blast that down into the 7.2-7.5 range right away. I use muriatic acid from the hardware store (Lowes.) Be super careful with that stuff!
Photos are always tough to judge, but it looks like you have plenty of Cl, at least for now. Not bad to have it high for a little while, especially when opening the pool, and when you don't know your other levels. Keep an eye on it over time, if it doesn't drop low for a couple of days, your CYA might be ok, but you really need to test. No guessing allowed!
If CYA gets too high, then it affects your chlorine's ability to work. But your strip test shows CYA is pretty much not there, and you've been losing Cl like crazy, so you most likely need it.
The weird thing is that your drop pH test shows really high pH and your strip test shows really low pH. Strips are unreliable, so I'd go with the drop test, as long as you're sure you did it correctly. (Not judging. I've made plenty of mistakes.) Nobody on here likes test strips, so try the drop test again and see where you end up. I would definitely do this before adding anything. Your pH is either really high or really low and you want to make sure you pull your water in the right direction when you are off by that much.
In summary, you probably need a good bit of CYA, you probably need a good bit of acid, and you
definitely need to test with a good kit as soon as you can. Happy hunting! Enjoy the journey. It was a fun process for me.
