Carboxylated polymer can be used as an anti-scaling agent in circulating water cooling systems. Poly(acrylic acid) and homopolymer have some drawbacks such as slight solubility in water and low calcium tolerance leading difficulty to determine the remaining quantity of polymer in water. This research is mainly focused on synthesis and ability of poly(acrylic acid-co-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) (PAA-PAMPS) for scale inhibition. These terpolymers varied in mole ratios of monomers were prepared via solution polymerization. The obtained polymers are then characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, TGA, turbidity, and UV-visible spectroscopy. For a scale inhibition test, GB/T 16632-2008 standard is applied. The scale inhibition efficiency for 100% was found in PAA-PAMPS copolymer (7:3). Afterwards this polymer was chosen for synthesizing an ultraviolet-tagged PAA-PAMPS-PNaSS terpolymer. UV-visible spectroscopy was used to monitor benzene sulfonate structure in sodium styrene sulfonate of the polymer chain at 224 nm.