Does PH ever normalize?

[chem geek]

Well, you can see that your TA is exceptionally high (as you said, you had no choice since it was 180 out of the tap). If you follow Ben's Lowering Your Alkalinity procedure to lower your TA to at least down to 100 (if not 80), then that should help significantly. However, as I said above, your new plaster will still create a significant acid demand, but at least with the lower TA you won't be adding to the problem with carbon dioxide outgassing.

Happy aerating! If you have an air compressor with a nozzle that can produce small bubbles, that is particularly effective. Your SWG, when it comes on line, will also produce lots of tiny hydrogen bubbles. For my own pool, I used an outdoor portable shower with the head removed (or just having a hose directed at the pool from up high would work) and had it splash into the pool. If the rocks in your new picture photo are a waterfall (it's hard to tell -- it looks like they might be there as a visual feature rather than a waterfall), then turn that on as that is a good source of aeration.

Since your plaster if brand new, I'm not sure you want to lower the pH that much to 7.0 (as with the lowering your alkalinity procedure), but aeration certainly won't hurt and will speed up the lowering of the TA.

Richard