Actually we don't use any pool store chemicals. I have never had to raise my PH..I use acid to lower it when it gets to the 7.8 mark..about once a month. I keep Borax on hand in case I ever need to raise the PH but for the past year it's ended up going in the laundry.

I also haven't had to lower my Alkaline level in over a year since we put the pool in. The PH gets high, I lower it with acid, the TA stays pretty much the same until for some reason the last 2 weeks or so when it started jumping up. We have been getting ash from a wildfire in the pool since the 30th of June so maybe that is what's raising the TA? Dunno.