How Often Should I Test My Pool
Its recommended that you test your pool waters calcium hardness at least once a month, but its important to keep your eyes peeled for any signs of trouble as well. It can be difficult to recognize some subtle signs of calcium damage or to keep track of your test strip schedule/trips to the pool store, so a product like pHin is ideal. With pHin, youre alerted every time you need to complete a test strip it will read your results for you and make recommendations accordingly, and help maintain your pH and total alkalinity levels as well, which we now know are vital to maintaining healthy calcium hardness.
Using An Acid To Adjust Your Pool Water Saturation Index:
You can also add an acid, such as muriatic acid or dry acid . Adding an acid will not lower your calcium hardness, but it can bring your pool into balance according to the saturation index. You should ask your pool service provider about this and get their opinion and advice before attempting this, as your pH and total alkalinity will be reduced as well and can cause your pool water to become unbalanced and corrosive.
Why Do We Need To Lower Calcium Hardness In Swimming Pools
We need to lower the calcium level properly maintain the balance of pool water. It is one of the most difficult parts of owning a pool. The calcium hardness levels in your pool can often prove to be particularly troublesome to pool owners.
How do we lower calcium in pools?
- Test the water
First, check the pool water level before trying to lower calcium hardness. To know the current level of calcium in your pool.
- Determine how much water to drain
Determine how much water you need to drain and water that you need to add. Remember to add fresh water every time to lessen the water in your pool.
Don’t Miss: Does The Tropicana Have An Indoor Pool
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.
What Is Calcium Hardness
Youve heard of hard water, right? You may live in an area where the municipal water is hard. Or you may even get your water from a well. Either way, it means your water supply has a high level of minerals, including calcium.
But wait, calciums a good thing, isnt it? It makes strong, healthy bones and teeth. Sure, thats true. But its not so good for your pool and all the expensive equipment you bought to keep it clean and healthy.
Over time, an out-of-whack calcium hardness level can do some real damage, which is why its so important to monitor and balance the calcium hardness in your pool.
You May Like: Can Lice Live In Chlorine Pools
If All Else Doesnt Work You Can Use Muriatic Acid It Wont Diminish The Calcium Hardness Yet It Will Raise The Saturation Which Can Aid In Bringing The Water Back To Being Balanced
On the other hand, whatif the water gets overly soft? Having such is equally harmful as it can becorrosive. It can break up cement and erode any metal parts contacted by thewater. Everything adds up to costly repairs if the calcium level is not broughtback up.
Luckily, increasing itis way easier than lowering hardness. Simply add calcium increaser and measurebased on the product instructions.
If Levels Are Too Low
As was already mentioned, low calcium levels can be just as bad as high levels because they can corrode your pool and pool equipment.
Fortunately, increasing hardness levels is a whole lot easier than lowering them. The best remedy for soft water is to add something called calcium hardness increaser, which is calcium chloride in granular form.
To know how much to add, youll need to know your pool volume. Youve got to be careful because when calcium chloride comes into contact with water, it releases heat in an exothermic reaction.
Thats why you need to wear protective gear when doing this sort of thing.
Recommended Reading: Build A Inground Pool Yourself
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.
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.
Recommended Reading: Costco Pool Chlorine Tablets
Maintaining The Ideal Calcium Content
Like pH and alkalinity levels, calcium content is all about finding the right balance. Water should have a calcium content in the range of 100-400 parts per million.
Know the Lingo: Parts Per Million
Parts per million often abbreviated as PPM is a unit of measurement that tells you how much of a particular substance such as a chemical or mineral — is present in water.
How To Clean A Diatomaceous Earth Pool Filter
Cleaning your DE Filter involves three basic steps: Backwashing, Cleaning the manifold and grid and adding new DE. The first step in cleaning your DE is to backwash. Backwashing will clear out all the dirt and debris inside your DE Filter. Place the pool filter valve in the backwash position, then start your pool pump.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Best Inground Pool Alarm
How To Lower The Calcium Hardness Levels
There are several ways you can take to lower the hardness level of your pool water.
Maintaining a properly balanced water is one of the most difficult parts of owning a pool. Calcium hardness is probably the most difficult to maintain when it get out of range. This is hindered further if you have hard water on tap. However, whist the balance can be difficult, with the right information you can overcome these problems and have a healthy safe pool.
Operating A Pool With Hard Or Soft Water
I am totally on board with the fact that you should be able to control Hardness with your PH & Alkalinity. Lowering or draining your pool to dilute the hardness is not the way to go unless there is a crazy amount in the pool.
The water you used to fill the pool will still have the same levels of Calcium that will most likely start at lower levels at the beginning of the summer and end up higher in September.
So if your fill water is Borderline High in Calcium content deal with it. If you cant, then make an adjustment with the fill water like the ones that I mentioned above in the article then use Muriatic Acid to lower pH and Alkalinity using them as controls for stopping scaling and stains in your pool.
If your pool water needs more Calcium in its diet switch over from pool tablets to Calcium Hypochlorite. Use the Granular chlorine as mentioned in earlier articles on MyWaterEarth& Sky called Granular Chlorine Vs Tablets? for bumping Chlorine levels and adding other different type controls for operating your pool and saving money while you do it.
Either way, money wont be an issue. Muriatic Acid is very cheap and you can buy it almost anywhere. It also has numerous applications that can be used around the pool.
Use safety procedures whenever you use Muriatic Acid. Wear chemical-resistant gloves and safety goggles.
Buy a reliable Test Kit, yes, educate yourselves on the basics, yes and youll have a beautiful pool all summer long and save money too!
Also Check: How Do I Raise The Stabilizer In My Pool
Calcium Reductionthe Natural Way
One way to reduce calcium hardness is to pump out water using your pool cleaner or vacuum hose. Doing this during long periods of soaking rain when your pool is likely to overflow is best. In short, this method removes the high calcium water from the pool while at the same time, the rain refills it with fresh water that contains no calcium. So, doing this several times a year can have a huge impact on the calcium levels in your water. And its free!
Reduce Hard Pool Water
Postby Pool Helper»Sat 29 Apr, 2006 05:17
Postby Ice-cream»Fri 16 Jun, 2006 12:48
Postby Deaun who can’t sign in»Sun 17 Jun, 2007 16:43
Pool Hardness wrote:There are commercial pool products to “remove” hardness or calcium levels. They can be used once off if the hardness is an 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.
Postby Backglass»Tue 10 Jul, 2007 20:40
meatloaf wrote:
mrmike wrote:I used a regular water softener and a submersible pump – took 2 weeks to go from almost 700 to 200 ppm
This idea has got my attention. Could you elaborate on this process?
You May Like: How To Hide Pool Pump
How To Remove Calcium Scale
Calcium Scale can be removed with muriatic acid, or dry acid dissolved in water. A sponge works well for small areas or a flower watering can for larger areas. Don your lab glasses and gloves for acid removal of tile scale. It will fizz and bubble and emit noxious fumes as it dissolves the scale. Acid Magic or Instant Liquid Acid or even pH Decreaser can also be used as a safer acid to remove scale. Do not use CLR or household cleaners to remove pool scale however, which add chemicals that dont belong in your pool.
Photo Credit: PST Pool Supplies Oceanside, Ca
For swimming pools, the range of acceptable hardness levels is 200-400 ppm, although many suggest a tighter range of 180-220 ppm for plaster pools and 150-250 ppm for vinyl pools.
Have A Pool Or Spa Question
Leisure Pool & Spa Supply, Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Syracuse, Indiana. We focus on serving the service and supply needs of both residential and commercial clients. We have grown to include a branch office in Indianapolis allowing us to work with clients across the State of Indiana. Our service technicians are highly experienced and have combined decades of experience in the aquatics industry.
If you have any questions regarding your pool or aquatic center needs, do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We are always available via phone or email and look forward to assisting you. If you are looking to purchase products directly online, visit our online pool and spa supply store.
Read Also: Cap050550440rt
How To Treat Hard Pool Water
While owning a swimming pool has a lot of benefits like an area for relaxation during the hot summer days and a great venue for house parties with friends, this too requires a lot of responsibilities.
One of the concerns that many pool owners have to consider is when the water becomes too hard for swimming.
What does hard pool water mean? And is it really dangerous?
In this article, we will explain the factors that contribute to making pool water hard, necessary steps to soften it, and some tips and reminders.
How Long After Putting Salt In The Pool Can You Swim
A bag of salt pellets can take up to 24 hours to fully dissolve. Pool salt that is crystalized will usually dissolve quicker since its already in crystal form. If you add salt in the evening after youre done swimming for the day, you can swim the next morning as usual with no trouble.
Having said that, a general rule is to wait 20 minutes to 1 hour to swim after adding a chemical to the pool with the pump running. Since salt isnt a chemical per se, it isnt as big a concern.
But if you want to be safe and dont want to swim in potentially highly salted water as the fresh salt is running through the pump, add salt the night before and leave the pump running over night.
Also Check: Las Vegas Hotels With Private Pool
When Was Pool Noodle Invented
Pool noodles are believed to have been first made and invented by Steve Hartman from Industrial Thermal Polymers in Canadas Ontario, in the early 1980s, however Rick Koster from the same province in Canada, also claims to have been the first to have invented the toy, around the same time, although neither patented the
The Effects Of High And Low Hardness
Specifically, water with high calcium hardness gets cloudy unless the alkalinity and/or pH are low enough to compensate. As mentioned, the excess calcium carbonate will precipitate as crusty, grayish white scale on surfaces, piping, and equipment. It’s unsightly, can cause abrasions on users and snag bathing suits, and makes a good anchor for microorganisms. It will clog filters. When it builds up in piping, circulation is reduced and pressure increases. Scaling is an especially acute problem in heaters because calcium’s solubility is inversely proportional to temperature: As temperature increases, less calcium is able to stay dissolved. Scale on the pipes or coils acts as an insulator, slowing heat transfer. This makes it more expensive to heat the water. Over time, thick scale will cause a heater to fail.
Water with low calcium hardness will seek more by dissolving it from surfaces it comes in contact with that contain calcium, such as plaster, grout, and concrete decking. The late Dr. Neil Lowry, a well-respected instructor in our industry, preferred to call water with low calcium hardness “aggressive” rather than “corrosive” because the latter term implies the destruction of metals. The corrosiveness of unbalanced water, he would tell his students, comes from poorly maintained alkalinity and pH.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don’t Miss: Mandalay Bay Heated Pool
Reducing Pool Calcium Hardness Levels
DILUTION: Lowering calcium hardness by dilution is often the easiest method, and for many its the only solution that is recommended. If your tap water or treated and softened house water is much lower in calcium than your pool water, and you are allowed to drain and refill in your area , lowering by dilution can be the best method to reduce water hardness in swimming pools.
HOME WATER SOFTENER: Many homes that draw their water from wells are equipped with a water softening system, limestone filters that exchange calcium ions for sodium ions. But most outside hose bib spigots arent connected to the water softener system. You can connect a hose to fill the pool with filtered, softened water by connecting a hose after the sediment tank or in the kitchen or laundry room. You may not want to fill continuously, but most systems can handle 8-12 hrs per day of filling the pool.
DELIVERED POOL WATER: In areas where pools and water wells are common, there are companies who deliver pool water taken from nearby municipal water supplies , after treatment and softening. Its not a cheap option, often costing $250 per 5000 gallons, but sure is fast and easy way to refill the pool with softer water.
Problems With Pool Water Hardness
In many parts of the country, tap water with hardness levels of 400-800 ppm is not uncommon. High calcium levels can lead to scaling, especially if pH levels are allowed to rise, which produces whitish scale or crystalline deposits, at the water line, inside pipes or all over the pool.
Excessive water hardness can also come out of solution, precipitating into repeated bouts with cloudy water, or calcium stains as hard minerals mix with dirt and oils.
Read Also: How To Store Pool Towels Outside
Just Adding Tap Or Tank Water Will Do The Trick Right
Remember, simply adding more water does not lower calcium hardness levels because as water evaporates into the air, the calcium is left behind in the pool. Remember that water evaporates but calcium does not! Therefore, the calcium stays in your pool no matter how many times it is topped up. Also, concrete pools will also release some calcium into the pool water over time, particularly when the pool surface is new.
