I am new to pools (from a balancing standpoint), and new to the forums. I have read and read some more trying to figure out a few things that are going on in my pool. It is a fiberglass pool that is to my knowledge 15+ years old. The previous owners heavily neglected it. I have gotten the water back clear and removed the algae through shocking and maintaining the cholrine level properly. What I cannot figure out though is why the pH continues to rise. The TA is high in the pool and I am having a hard time getting it to lower as I only have 2 return jets and one side I just plumbed to run my polaris 360. I plan on building a homemade evaporative cooling waterfall jet. I also have jacuzzi spinners on the shallow steps, though they are old and need to be replaced. I just bought some acid to drop the pH (which continues to go up as high as 7.9-8.0 if left untreated) to begin the process of dropping the TA through aeration. Could the reason the pH continues to rise be because the TA is so high (180)? We have also had two large storms pass over (Ike and Gustav) my area and that has added alot of rain and debris. I plan on doing a shock with Bleach this weekend, but I would like to get the TA on the way down before then. My neighbor (who is responsible for getting the pool in selling condition for the previous owners) said he could not figure it out as he uses the same water source as does not have the issue. Will a high TA make pH rise?
FC = 3-5
pH > 7.6
TA = 170+
CH ~220
CYA ~ 35
FC = 3-5
pH > 7.6
TA = 170+
CH ~220
CYA ~ 35