Ray,
Welcome to TFP... a great place to find the answers to all your "Is my pH above the legal limit?" questions...
High means nothing to us... numbers mean everything.. (Except when it come to phosphates)
TFP is all about the pool owner running their own tests and never having to go back to the pool store again.
I suspect what you think is high for pH is just about right... most saltwater pools like there pH to be about 7.8. The harder you try to make your pH 7.2 the harder it will try to get back to 7.8..
Things that can make pH go up are; New Plaster, Total Alkalinity (TA) above 100 ppm, and running a waterfall or water feature all the time.
The only reason the pool store tells you that your Phosphate level is high, is so that they can sell you some "magic" Phos-Free... Something you generally never need. Sigh!!
I have three saltwater pools and follow the TFP pool care process.. In five years I have never added any kind of "shock".. it is just not needed if you know how to care for your pool.
If you are interested, then I suggest you read through our Pool School
Pool School - Pool School and see what we are all about...
Thanks for posting,
Jim R.