@Rockhead,
One problem I had was, everybody kept telling me, "Throw some soda ash in there." Or, "Shock the hell out of it." All without knowing anything about that particular pool's chemistry. We got a new lead maintenance man who wanted me to shock it like the Enola Gay. I had by then a bit more knowledge than that and refused. I tried explaining how I wanted to do it through balance of the water and by using shock that does not increase the level of cyanuric acid. He said not to heed the cyanuric acid for now, but to shock it heavily with the dry chlorine and get rid of the excess cyanuric acid another time. I had the balance closer and closer to perfect. But I had another problem. Although other people told me the ph was perfect, I didn't believe them. It tended to drift upward and I had to keep adding a product called ph down. At the same time, the alkalinity kept dropping on me and all I knew to lift it was soda ash. I was adding the ash, which raises the ph and then adding ph down and getting nowhere. Then I discovered a product sold by HD Supply that raises alkalinity without soda ash. In less than a week, I was able to get the perfect balance after that, all but the need to lower the cyanuric acid from about 70. Which I did by draining the pool water for ten minutes three times a week.
