SWG Pool with High CH

[PoolFrog]

Hi,

I'm posting this on behalf of my dad in Tucson, AZ. He's having some trouble with high amounts of calcium. Here are the particulars about his pool:

10,000 gal. IG pebble tec SWG, cartridge filter, 1.5 HP pump

His TF-100 test results are as follows (just taken):

FC = 0
CC = 0.5
TA = 30
CH = 1,450
CYA = 30
pH = 7.8

He was very surprised to see that he had no chlorine this morning, as that has never been a problem. However, there were some pretty heavy winds there this week that he said blew quite a bit of leaf debris into the water, which he swept and skimmed out this morning after testing the water.

Is there anything he can do in particular to address the high CH issue?

 

[JasonLion]

It is time to replace water or get a reverse osmosis treatment (if available) to lower the CH level.

 

[PoolFrog]

I've heard that sometimes adjusting TA can chip away at high CH, as a possible alternative to replacing water. Has anyone ever tried this, and if so, how would you adjust TA?

 

[JasonLion]

High CH levels can be compensated for by lowering TA and PH. That doesn't do anything to lower the CH level, it just prevents the calcium from depositing as scale on the pool surface. And even then there are limits to how low you can go with TA and PH, which means that CH around 1200 is about as high as you can go safely.

 

[PoolFrog]

He realizes that water replacement is needed, but he's trying to hold off until the weather cools back down. He has concerns about the pebble tec surface being exposed to the 100+ temperatures while the pool is being drained and refilled. In the meantime, would adjusting TA and pH prevent calcium deposits from building up in the pump, etc.?

 

[JasonLion]

If you can keep the PH around 7.2, and raise TA to about 50, you might be able to limp along, though it is iffy for the SWG, which will probably have frequent calcium scaling.

 

[Richard320]

It won't cost anything to call Calsaway and see if they will go as far as Tucson to do reverse osmosis. The water can't be green and sludgy, though.

 

[PoolFrog]

The water is clear, and they haven't noticed any scaling on the walls, but they're having to clean the cells more often than they should have to. The pump just had to be fixed, though.

 

[PoolFrog]

My dad read about a product called Metal Free made by Natural Chemistry. Is anyone familiar with it? Again, just trying to find a temporary fix to help get him through until the weather is cool enough to drain and expose the pebble tec surface.

 

[JasonLion]

You can replace water without draining the pool. It does use more water, but might be an appropriate choice in this instance. Simply add water at the same time you are draining water, adjusting the faster process so the water level stays more or less uniform.

We don't recommend using Metal Free. There are some other sequestrants that might help, but I doubt that any of them will help enough to deal with CH that high.

 

[PoolFrog]

Just out of curiosity, what is the concern with Metal Free?

 

[JasonLion]

It is much less effective than other similarly priced alternatives.

 

[PoolFrog]

What are some of the more effective ones?