thanks guys for all of your answers. I have been able to get the dry acid. I pour in 7 pounds and a few hours later I can get a reading of 7.4. In 2 days it is back up to 8.0-8.2. Is it possible that as the pebble finish cures, it is causing the pH to rise? I have not started the salt yet, and when I do there is going to be a new thread for which locally available salt is preferred. MY TA is still around 140. The 14 lb. of HTH pH Minus brought it down a little. Am I just going to keep having to add and add weekly until the TA gets down to a workable level? This is a big cost at 65 soles (25 dollars) per 7 lb. container. So far we've added 6 of them since we filled the pool 2 weeks ago and the pH is 8.0 again today. By the way, I am using a tablet floater and going through maybe a tablet per week. I was told to try and keep my pool with as low FC as possible for the first month or so. so my FC levels are somewhere between 0.5 and 1. When it gets down to nothing - as we are under full sun, I am adding liquid Chlorine which I know brings the pH up a little, but it shouldn't be that much.