Welcome to our forum.
Being in Canada, like myself, you are going to have to go to ebay and buy your K2006 test kit (for chlorine). The exchange is brutal, but it is worth it. Test strips that are good, you won't really find up here either. About all I use test strips for is for chlorine levels. I just changed my water on Tuesday so you'll make it to March like myself without issue. Do you have a floater with mini chlorine tabs in it by chance? Print out that post by nitro for water balancing. You'll be referring to it a lot if you are like myself for the first 6 months or so of ownership.Get your TA sorted out first. Then worry about PH. Get some Borax from Walmart. 20 Team Mule Borax, it is in the cleaning section with the dishwasher detergent. You'll need this to push up PH if it is too low when you get your TA sorted. PH can be really stubborn to get down. You just have to keep adding and testing to get it right. Once the PH breaks, it will come down so you don't want to overshoot it too much.The taylor kit is key here. I don't know what I would do without it. I know the majority use strips but they are so vague.. One other quick suggestion is that once you get your kit, test it and compare against your strips. I did this so I know that my PH/FC/TA is either low or high by X amount on the strips if I can't use the test kit (-30C comes to mind!) and I made a note of it. I know my strips are low by 1ppm on my FC strips. The reagents are expensive to get with the kit, so order the 2 oz replacements when you order them. This way when you run out or have to wait from ebay for the reagents, you'll be ok with the strips until your refills get to you.
sksmoker,Just curious where in Canada you are located? We are in the Vancouver area.