I have been getting conflicting information on this and was hoping someone here could clarify for me.
I found out from our local pool shop that the water in my area (near Seattle, WA) is some of the softest and metal-free water in the country. They said I don't need to use things like "Metal Gon" or a pre-filter since there's basically nothing to filter anyway, but at 20ppm hardness I'll probably need some hardness increaser. They said I should strive to get at least 100ppm.
My hot tub is a Softub with a soft vinyl inner lining. I called Softub and they said I should strive for 250-400ppm for water hardness (or at least, they said I should strive to make test strips read that number range). They also, of course, say I should use their "Softcare Calcium Up" product exclusively. That means pretty much a whole bottle of their product for every refill of my hot tub given how soft my water starts out at!
While trying to search for info on potentially cheaper sources of calcium, and if they would be as safe to use, I found several threads here that said that vinyl-lined pools didn't need calcium at all! Is the vinyl in pools significantly different than the vinyl in Softubs, and that's why Softub says I need 250ppm or risk the vinyl hardening and cracking from the water leaching the calcium from the vinyl? Or is Softub just playing it safe and I don't really need to worry about water hardness and the calcium leaching thing is a myth?
So essentially not sure who to believe and if I should aim for 250ppm, 100ppm, or just leave it alone at its default 20ppm.
I was about to order this as a cheap source of calcium - https://www.amazon.com/Pool-Spa-19005CLX-Hardness-Increaser/dp/B00PZZFAAA But I don't know for sure what form of calcium it is, nor if that really matters? Is any kind of water hardness increaser equally fine to use on a vinyl-lined hot tub? My local shop wanted to sell me SpaGuard brand but it's $11 for 12oz (same as Softcare Calcium Up) compared to $12 for 5 pounds if I get this Clorox stuff from Amazon...
I found out from our local pool shop that the water in my area (near Seattle, WA) is some of the softest and metal-free water in the country. They said I don't need to use things like "Metal Gon" or a pre-filter since there's basically nothing to filter anyway, but at 20ppm hardness I'll probably need some hardness increaser. They said I should strive to get at least 100ppm.
My hot tub is a Softub with a soft vinyl inner lining. I called Softub and they said I should strive for 250-400ppm for water hardness (or at least, they said I should strive to make test strips read that number range). They also, of course, say I should use their "Softcare Calcium Up" product exclusively. That means pretty much a whole bottle of their product for every refill of my hot tub given how soft my water starts out at!
While trying to search for info on potentially cheaper sources of calcium, and if they would be as safe to use, I found several threads here that said that vinyl-lined pools didn't need calcium at all! Is the vinyl in pools significantly different than the vinyl in Softubs, and that's why Softub says I need 250ppm or risk the vinyl hardening and cracking from the water leaching the calcium from the vinyl? Or is Softub just playing it safe and I don't really need to worry about water hardness and the calcium leaching thing is a myth?
So essentially not sure who to believe and if I should aim for 250ppm, 100ppm, or just leave it alone at its default 20ppm.
I was about to order this as a cheap source of calcium - https://www.amazon.com/Pool-Spa-19005CLX-Hardness-Increaser/dp/B00PZZFAAA But I don't know for sure what form of calcium it is, nor if that really matters? Is any kind of water hardness increaser equally fine to use on a vinyl-lined hot tub? My local shop wanted to sell me SpaGuard brand but it's $11 for 12oz (same as Softcare Calcium Up) compared to $12 for 5 pounds if I get this Clorox stuff from Amazon...