Quick Dip: Pool Water Balance Total Alkalinity Ph & Calcium Hardness
WHY POOL WATER BALANCE IS IMPORTANT & HOW TO FIX IT Water Balance 101
Finding balance it is essential in life and very important in the proper maintenance of your swimming pool or hot tub! Utilizing a quality test kit from companies like LaMotte or Taylor, you are able to quickly ascertain the balance levels of your pool. In this Quick Dip article we explore the top three pool water balance factors, Total Alkalinity, pH, and Calcium Hardness. Dive in and read on!
What Causes Highcalcium In Pool Water
High calcium in the water is usually the aftereffect of your pools chemical imbalance. If your waters pH, chlorine levels, and total alkalinity are messed up, calcium level rises. This is the reason why maintaining balance in your water is key. In the following section, well show you how to measure calcium hardness in a pool and make the necessary adjustments.
How To Lower Hardness In A Pool
If youre dealing with too much calcium in a pool, you can try adding a sequestering agent, which is a chemical treatment that fights the effects of high metal and calcium content in swimming pool water . If you routinely struggle with high calcium levels or if you live in a place where hard water is an issue, you should make a sequestering agent part of your regular chemical maintenance program.
Of course, when dealing with any swimming pool issue from calcium problems to questions about routine maintenance — your local pool professional is a great resource. They can prescribe what is best for your pool to take care of and prevent any problem that can arise.
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What About Calcium Hardness Reducers
Some novice pool technicians think that a calcium hardness reducer will permanently lower the calcium level. However, this is simply not the case. This is because the calcium isnt actually removed from the water with these treatments. Remember, these reducers work by using chemicals to bind up the calcium temporarily. These treatments do reduce the effects of high calcium in the short term. However, after 4-6 weeks, these products are completely broken down. Remember, when this happens, the calcium is simply released from the chemical bond and then returns to the water. Finally, your calcium level is back to where you started!
Lowering Pool Calcium Hardness
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It corrodes your swimming pools metal fittings. It leaves ugly rust stains and scaly white buildup on your formerly pristine pool surfaces. It eats away at fittings and creates tiny pinhole leaks in critical pool equipment.
Its calcium. Or calcium carbonate, if you want to be scientific about it. But whatever you call it, this naturally occurring chemical compound can be the source of common swimming pool maintenance headaches. The good news is that, with a good pool maintenance routine, you can keep your water balanced and keep pool calcium in check .
How Do You Reduce Calcium Hardness In Pool
How to Lower Calcium Hardness in Your Pool
The Calcium Hardness can be increased by the addition of Calcium Chloride. It is important to dissolve the Calcium Chloride in a bucket of water before adding to the pool. If you just pour it into the pool without pre-dissolving, it may form scale on the pool surface.
Similarly, what causes high calcium in pools? A: In most cases, excess calcium happens when your pool water is not properly balanced. Common culprits are high pH, fluctuating temperatures, and evaporation.
In this regard, what does calcium hardness do for a pool?
Although soft water is desirable in everyday home use, calcium hardness is necessary in pool water. With sufficient levels of calcium dissolved, the aggressive nature of water is tamed and will help prevent the leaching out of certain substances in pool equipment.
Does baking soda increase calcium hardness?
Adjusting HardnessYou can raise water’s calcium hardness easily by adding calcium chloride . Adding calcium chloride in the hours before or after treating with soda ash or baking soda will result in cloudy water.
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Beware The Fading Endpoint
Occasionally when testing calcium hardness you may get a purple endpoint instead of blue. This is called a “fading endpoint” and is due to interference from metal ions . Retest, but prevent the interference by adding five or six drops of hardness reagent to the sample before adding the buffer and indicator. Then proceed as usual. Remember to count the drops of titrant added at the beginning when you calculate the total number of drops required to reach the endpoint.
Calcium Buildup Happens To Every Pool At One Point Or Another We’re Going To Tell You What To Do To Get Rid Of The Buildup So Your Family Can Get Back To Summerfun In The Pool
If you see a layer of white or greyish-white grime on the sides of your pool around the waterline, that’s calcium. Calcium can build up in your pool water when the pH levels are off and leave deposits on your pool tiles. It’s similar to what happens in your bathroom sink, toilet or bathtub. If this happens, it needs to be taken care of right away. Calcium deposits aren’t going to go away on their own. If not removed, they can make your pool unswimmable. It’s not easy, but you can clean up calcium deposits. However, the steps you need to take aren’t the same as removing calcium and lime from your bathroom. Read on to learn more about how to identify calcium buildup, removing calcium deposits, and getting your pool water back to the right levels so your family can get back to swimming in your pristine pool.
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Calcium Impacts All Types Of Pool Surfaces
Pick your surface, fielder’s choice: plaster, pebble, tile grout, fiberglass/gelcoat, or vinyl. What do they all have in common? They are allwithout exceptiondramatically impacted by the calcium hardness level in the water. This article will attempt to explain the urgent need to understand and manage proper levels of calcium hardness in our pools.
Having begun my career in the pool service industry in 1984, I have a confession to make. Call it an admission of guilt. A common belief–which I shared–was I do pool repair, not chemicals. This is more common than not, so lets explore why it’s a problem. How many of us pool repair people even bothered to carry a pool chemical test kit on our truck? Not me. How about calcium chloride? Nope, me neither.
Alright, so you say That is not true! I have a 4 in 1 test kit to check the pH. And maybe if youre feeling generous, you checked the chlorine and alkalinity too. Well guess what: when you discovered a hole in the heat exchanger, if your instant conclusion was just “low pH”, think again. I used to think that, and I was painfully mistaken. At the expense of my customers.
Testing For Calcium Hardness
Whereas your regular checks for chlorine pH and total alkalinity should be done weekly at the least testing for calcium hardness does not need to be done as regularly. Usually you should check every month depending on the quality of water in your area. If you know the water in you area is hard the it would be best to check every two weeks.
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The Pool Draining Method
This is the best way to permanently lower your calcium hardness level, but it does call for a bit of extra effort. The logic behind this method is dilution, or rather, watering down your pool water with new water. Specifically, filtered water with low calcium levels. You can obtain this water either at home with a water softening system/filter that reduces hardness, or from companies that deliver filtered water.
Drain about 1/4th of your pool water to start, then test your water once its been replaced with new water.
Chemical Water Softener For Pools
Using commercial pool products such as chemical water softener for pools to remove the hardness is another means of getting rid of the calcium levels.
They can be used once off if the hardness in your pool is in accumulation, or can be added weekly if the fill water is very hard.
Keeping the pH a little low can prevent scale problems associated with hard water.
One of such products to try is a liquid product called Metal-Out . I think it also has something relating to stain removal in sub-title under product name. Comes in a quart bottle. Follow manufactures instructions & you should be in business.
Still need more recommendations, you can continue reading for more ideas on how to reduce calcium hardness in pool.
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How Dangerous Are The Chemicals
While sodium bicarbonate is certainly not going to hurt you if it comes into contact with your skin, precautions should still be used. Minimally, using a respirator, and eye protection will keep you safe.
Calcium chloride on the other hand, when mixed with water, has an exothermic reaction, which is to say, it gets hot! So make sure you use a respirator, eye protection, and definitely wear gloves to keep your hands safe!
Test Your Water Regularly
You should ideally be testing your pool water on a weekly basis, especially if your water source is hard. You should also check the calcium hardness every time you drain and add new water or chemicals to your pool. If youve had torrential rain recently, you might want to test then, as well. The best test kits are usually liquid kits, but test strips work, too. Just make sure your test kit includes a test for calcium hardness.
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Water Chemistry Is Very Dynamic And Constantly Changing But Calcium Is Consistent
The measurement you get at one moment may have nothing to do with the current condition of your surface or equipment. It is more likely that a water balance problem presented itself over a long period of time not the moment you are testing the pool. Furthermore, the most important overriding chemical question was what was the LSI reading?
Another benefit and point of fact about calcium hardness is that it is very slow to change, and less dynamic than pH or alkalinity. What would you rather control first? A chemistry that fluctuates by literally minutes or hours ? Or one that is very stable and slow to change ? In my opinion, it’s a very easy decision.
Treating High Calcium Hardness
Reducing high calcium hardness is very difficult. The easiest way to do this, although it doesnt always work, is to replace some of the water with fresh water. If that does not work consult a pool professional, as they will have to add a chemical to keep the calcium in solution that prevents it from depositing.
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Why Does Calcium Hardness Matter
Pool water needs calcium for stability. It makes managing the chemical makeup of the water easier, and means spending less money on chemicals due to a decrease in water chemistry fluctuations.
Pool water with low calcium or magnesium content is considered soft, and can be a result of filling the pool with a local water source, or from rainwater entering the pool after a storm.
Without proper mineral content, the water will seek out minerals wherever it can find them. This leads to corrosion of metal surfaces like your pool ladder and equipment, pitting of concrete pool walls and floor, erosion of tile grout, and etching/delamination of plaster finishes.
On the flipside, pool water with high calcium or magnesium is considered hard, and can also come from a local water source, as well using too much calcium-based product like calcium chloride or calcium hypochlorite.
High calcium levels cause floating scale in the water. It can also lead to calcium deposits building up at the waterline, as well as in the plumbing and pool equipment. This can completely damage your pool pump and filter, which is all the more reason to check your calcium levels regularly.
If that wasnt bad enough, hard water can leave your skin feeling dry and irritated, may have a funky smell, and can even clog your pipes. Lowering calcium is also harder to fix as it requires dilution of your pool, or using flocculant/muriatic acid.
Apply Water Softening Techniques
Even a small resin based water softener can handle a pool in days. I really like the idea. There are two scenarios:
- Soften the water that is in the pool. Preferred, no draining. However, high salinity is a showstopper here more than 1000 ppm. In that case the only option is:
- Soften the water used to fill the pool and drain a part of the water when evaporation causes too much hardness.An example of an installation:This one is a equipped with a proper volume based control valve, 45 dm3 per minute flow, a 35 dm3 tank and 150 kg salt capacity. The beauty is the price, wharehoused on several spots on earth and least maintenance.You may want to search the net for CoronWater, model names like cws-cst-1044. If you are experienced with this device, please drop a note below.
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Raising Your Calcium Harness With Calcium Chloride:
How To Lower Hardness In Pool
Wondering why there is damage on your pool surfaces? We will explain why it is related to high calcium and show you how to lower hardness in pool.
How To Lower Hardness In Pool | Sage Bathroom
While you may have already learned how to test the waters pH, chlorine levels, and total alkalinity, identifying how to lower hardness in pool is equally important.
Hardness is theproportion of calcium and magnesium in pool water. When water is excessivelyhard, white scale develops on a pool surface. When it is overly soft, equipmentweakens and rusts. In a nutshell, it causes real damage over time when notbalanced.
Contents
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What Is The Correct Calcium Hardness Level
Heres your favorite answer: It depends. But what it depends on isnt that difficult.
If your pool has a vinyl or fiberglass liner, the calcium hardness level should be between 175 parts per million and 225 ppm.
If you have a concrete or plaster pool, keep the level between 200 ppm and 275 ppm.
See? Easy.
The key is keeping it balanced. You dont want your pool water to be too hard or too soft. Either way, youre in trouble.
