Trying Caltreat...

[cepler]

I tested our CH and came up with 820 or so...really did not want to do a drain/refill so we are trying the Caltreat treatment. However, my CYA is 0...So... should I just proceed and not worry about CYA for now and address it after the caltreat thing is done (~5 days) or should I get the stabilizer in there now?

One thing that concerns me is our levels around opening for FC were 27 and I left the cover open to vent/get sunshine and dropped them down to about 5 or so in a day turning the salt cell down...but now we're WAY down there at .5 or less so now I'm wondering if the salt cell is operating properly...I've set it to 100% and was going to run this way overnight to see how things read tmrw... TA is 110

TF100 kit
FC: 0.5 (1 drop pink to clear)
CC: 0.5-1 (accidentally did 2 drops, haven't re-tested yet)
TA: 110
CH: 820 last tested prior to caltreat
pH: 8+ (required for Caltreat)

Does Caltreat kill off your chlorine levels? I did notice the pH dropped with it and had to add about a box of borax so far to bring that up. I think I'm gonna drop by Walmart and stock up on some bleach in case the salt cell is not operating properly...am just a little worried about messing with things part-way thru the caltreat process esp since I'll need to clean the filters off afterwards and that would wipe out the CYA off them which takes a while to get in there...but how bad off am I if I don't have any CYA right now? My FC levels shouldn't need to be as high to stay 'clean' right?

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. :lol:

anyone-ever-try-using-caltreat-t10221.html?hilit=caltreat

Because you don't have any CYA, the sun is consuming ALL of your chlorine as fast as it can be produced.

 

[cepler]

Ya right after I posted that I decided I really need to get the CYA up so added 8 lbs... Will re-test things in the morning...will probably need to add a bunch more borax to get the pH high again for the Caltreat.

 

[Joan]

I am curious to know if the Caltreat worked for you.
I recently was recommended by our local pool supply store to use Caltreat to reduce the calcium hardness in our pool. The Caltreat bottle stated “When used as directed, Caltreat will reduce calcium levels 200 – 400 ppm. The water hardness in our pool was 450 ppm so both the pool supply store and I expected my water hardness to drop to perhaps 250 ppm. (FYI water straight from the tap here is 80 ppm) I followed the directions exactly and after a week retested the water – now 400 ppm, not the result I expected.
I emailed the company and after several days got this reply:
“In answer to your question on the Caltreat with a hardness of 450 ppm, the Caltreat may only drop your calcium 1 to 200 ppm. The 200 to 400 ppm are based on a higher calcium reading.”
Gee, no qualifier like that on the bottle.
Also the day before I got the email reply, I called the company directly and got a bit of an interesting answer from a different individual. Basically to summarize what that individual said: This is a new product; they don’t really understand how it works; and they can make no prediction on how well it will work as there are a lot of factors in the pool water to consider.
Sooo, how much did they test this product before putting it out on the market with unsupported claims?
Therefore I would have been better off doing a partial water change. On a happy note, the pool supply store refunded my money and said they will no longer recommend this product to other customers.

 

[cepler]

Don't think it went well. I started at 820 and now I'm at 1200ish. I followed the directions brushing daily and keeping the pH high. I'm going to ignore it this season and may do a full drain/acid wash at closing and start fresh with delivered water next season. $250/truckload up to 6k gallons so it'll be about 2-3 loads but will clear it up and let us clear out the marks on the bottom...

 

[Joan]

WOW, the hardness increased! Sure sounds to me that United Chemical Company that makes Caltreat is ripping people off. I would complain and seek a refund for the product from them or where you bought it.

Anyone else out there have opinions on Caltreat and/or how to make them accountable for the false advertising?

 

[JasonLion]

Joan, keep in mind that cepler's pools most likely has constantly rising CH due to evaporation and high CH fill water. The way I read cepler's reply is that CH kept going up as it normally does, so the caltreat must not have had much effect. (Of course I'm guessing a little here since I don't really know what cepler meant, but I am reasonably confident in my guesses.) Not having much effect is not at all the same as having the opossite effect.