Please put the type of pool surface (plaster/vinyl) in your signature.
Okay.... I'm really don't want to offend you, I really want to help but it seems like you are maybe getting overwhelmed by all the information (which is easy to do). You need to take a deep breath and really begin to understand the information so that you don't rush in and make mistakes, adding unneccessary chems to your pool. If you are uncertain please wait for confirmation before adding something. The pace on the forum in the off season is slower but we can usually get you an answer within 24 hours. There is no reason to rush to treat the pool, it can wait for an answer.
You should not have added the borax. Myself and Polyvue both advised you to "Aerate" instead. Actually there are a few things that you should not have added (algaecide and powdered shock) but what's done is done.
When you have a Borate level, like the recommendation of 50ppm in the Pool School article - it makes it harder then to lower TA in the future. Since your TA is on the high end right now, adding borates right now is not the preferred method for raising your PH. With high TA, one simply needs to aerate and the PH will rise on it's own.
On one post you said your PH was 7.2 and then the next day 6.8. Did you add anything in between like more acid to cause it to go lower? Do you have tablets in the floater? Tablets are acidic and they lower the PH/TA.
Now your PH is again too high, so you need to use muratic acid to lower it.
First, use muratic Acid to get the PH down to 7.4 ish and please measure carefully.
Make sure when you are using the Pool Calculator that you enter all the values in the various boxes correctly. Because if you only do PH - and your TA box doesn't have the correct amount- you may get the wrong amount of chemical listed to adjust PH. Does that make sense?
The "effects of adding chemicals" section at the bottom tells you how much the various levels are affected but it doesn't take into account the other current values in that calculation. I don't know how to explain that in simpler terms. The upper section does take this into account, so use the upper section completely filled out when determining how to treat the pool.
Make sure when you are doing the TA test you wipe the tip of the dropper bottle as I advised above.
On an earlier post - you mentioned adding "lbs of shock" - what is the ingredient in that shock, and are you now using liquid chlorine?
It is not clear if your water is clear yet or not, but I get the distinct impression that you have not completed the shock process. Obviously we need to focus on one thing at a time... So:
1. first tackle the PH. When it is 7.4, then
2. you can complete your shock process.
These two steps should be your focus for treating the pool.
I would not bother with the Pool Store. You have the best kit available, and you just need the experience of testing to have confidence in your results. Often pool store testing is unreliable and just plain innacurate. Do you know what they are testing with? strips, drop based kit?
Assuming you did the CYA test correctly, why would they end up with such different results? Have you tested the CYA since the tablets were added to the floater?
Are you confident you did the CYA est correctly? Since there was such a big error on the CH test, perhaps you should repeat it, unless you have come up with the same results more than once....
If you are confident in your CYA testing method and have yielded the same result more than once, I would trust your own results over the pool stores.
What was the active ingredient in the black algaecide treatment? Does that account for the high copper reading? OR have you been using something that is copper based, like liquid algaecides? Very slowly over time with water replacement, the copper level will come down, assuming you don't add anymore copper based products. You do not want it higher, you risk staining on the pool and on blond or light colored hair.
I hope this helps, I know what it's like to be overwhelmed with all of this information, but believe me we are here to help you... just take a deep breath and keep reading the information and eventually it will begin to sink in.