In an attempt to lower TA a little, I have dropped the PH with dry acid, and have been aerating like crazy, but the PH is not coming back up. How long does this usually take?

The rate of PH increase depends on how high your TA is and to a lesser extent what other factors might be trying to move the PH. A day is a long time to go without seeing any change, an hour without changes wouldn't surprise me if TA isn't too high.

LadywithIron.
In addition to what Jason said, how much aeration you produce is also important. The more aggressive your aeration, the faster it will go. I aerated my pool to drop TA from 130 to 80 in about 8 hours. Here is a picture of my home-made aerator

Holy guacamole! That is one heck of an aerator!

Man, do I like that!! PVC is a marvelous invention and you have used it very effectively.

My only disapoint is that you don't show a picture of the 396 cu in Chevy V-8 engine that MUST be powering that bad boy!!

I'm off to Home Depot right after I submit this post.

I picked up one of these on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pool-Water-Fountain ... dZViewItem

Holy cow now THAT is what I call adding air to water.

I was so impressed I had to make my own. It is drying right now and I will definitely be using it when needed. Plus the kids will probably love it!

Thanks for a great idea and the pics
Brian

That's a pretty awesome aerator. I've got the high TA problem and my pool jet pointed at the surface stirs it up pretty god but for all practical purposes the TA hasn't budged.

I have been wondering. Would weighting the end of my shop vac hose into the pool and the (cleaned!) vac set on discharge maybe do the trick???

You are dropping your pH to 7.0 before aerating,right?
Aeration does not lower TA. Dropping the pH by adding acid lowers TA. Aeration brings the pH back up without causing TA to rise.

I just lowered my TA from 180 to 90 using the acid/aeration method. Doing this took about six lbs of dry acid (left by the previous owners of the house), 1 gal of muriatic acid, and several days. I would add acid each morning and evening bringing the pH down to around 7. After a few hours of aeration the pH would be back to 7.2. I found that no amount of aeration would raise the pH above 7.2.

I aerated by using a 45 deg elbow and a 2' length of 1 1/2" PVC on the return. This caused a low fountain to break the water surface injecting a surprising amount of air into the water.

To get the pH to a more comfortable 7.5, I added a few cups of borax after the TA was down to 90.

Actually- no I haven't. I'm new and have been studying a couple different sites. I first stumbled upon this DYI notion on "pool solutions" for whatever that may be worth here. I don't know if there's contradictory suggestions or not. I do know I haven't 'got it' yet. I registered here to settle into one set of advice and one school of thought so as not to be bouncing between them.
I'm still weeding through the 'pool school.'
So it's off to lower the PH. At this rate my wife will refuse to get in the pool because of "all the acid in it."

Don't worry about it, I made the same mistake the first time I tried it.

I aerated, and my PH went up a bit...TA didn't budge. I was like Huh? Went a re-read the article....oh.Duh.

It's all so overwhelming at first, it's easy to miss things. Good luck on your process!

How's this for aeration?

Thanks for all the great idea's.

Anyone have an idea if this is using screwed in nozzles or just holes drilled? The flow seems rectangular not round like a hole would do. I have a portable 1/2hp 1855 GPH portable pump that has 1-1/2 outlets. Any idea if a "T" bar like this with some holes drilled in would be enough to use on TA reduction aeration? Which method is better shoot the water down or make a sprinkler out of the pump and shoot it higher?

I made mine from a sump pump I had around. I brought the pipe up to pool height, tee'd it, then drilled 12 1/8" holes in the pipes on each side of the tee. I capped off the ends, & fit the pipes in the tee. I didn't glue the pipes going sideways from the tee, and I can point them different directions if I want, they hold in really good & usually I point one up in the air & one more straight out to maximize the water surface area. The pressure from the jets holds the pipes & tee firmly against the pool wall, so I don't have to fasten it to anything. I've brought my TA down from 250 to a current 120 & still going.