Do Hardiness Reducer Products Work?
- Thread starter wilco
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
What type of pool do you have?
CH of 450 is fine for most situations.
Please create your signature with details of your pool and equipment as the proper CH level is dependent on your pool and equipment.
The calcium reducers do not REMOVE the calcium from your water, it binds it to prevent it from plating out on surfaces. You must keep up with the maintenance doses for it to work, until it no longer does because your calcium in the water gets high enough to overwhelm it.
It is a band aid in place of managing your CSI and water chemistry.
CH of 450 is fine for most situations.
Please create your signature with details of your pool and equipment as the proper CH level is dependent on your pool and equipment.
The calcium reducers do not REMOVE the calcium from your water, it binds it to prevent it from plating out on surfaces. You must keep up with the maintenance doses for it to work, until it no longer does because your calcium in the water gets high enough to overwhelm it.
It is a band aid in place of managing your CSI and water chemistry.
Thanks for the tip ajw22...I updated my signature. It's a plaster pool. Ok sorry dumb question. What is CSI? I looked it up in the pool school section but couldn't find anything.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 3,730
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Hey neighbor. CSI is Calcium Saturation Index and is a calculated value in pool math.
www.troublefreepool.com
Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)
How is CSI calculated? Very simple – use our PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more.
www.troublefreepool.com
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
On a plaster pool a CH of 450 is fine. What made you think you needed to lower your CH?
www.troublefreepool.com
What Are My Ideal Pool Levels?
Use our tool to find ideal chemical levels for any swimming pool. Check TFP recommended levels on pH, free chlorine, cyanuric acid, and more.
www.troublefreepool.com
LOL hey there neighbor JJ. Thanks for the info I'll check it out. AJ, I have the PHin (Home - pHin). It monitors the basic pool chemicals for you and then sends you what you need in the mail. I like it and it's very easy to use. In their app, they recommend CH to be between 150-399. Thank you for the guidance because the pool is nicely balanced now that I know 450 is good. It measures TA, CYA and TH with a stripe and a picture so it's not accurate at 700-900ppm. I measured it with a manual test kit and came up 450. But the app recommends 150-399 so thanks for the advice on just leaving it as is.
If your CYA is somewhere between 175 and 225, where do you have your free chlorine at?? That is what would scare me. For the chlorine to be effective, you really need to keep it north of 14 ....
www.troublefreepool.com
The Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship
Managing your cyanuric acid and Free Chlorine levels is key to stabilizing your pool. Learn how these two items affect each other.
www.troublefreepool.com
I just downloaded the Pool Math App. It says they recommend CYA between 30-50 (Mine = 90) and TA between 70-90 (mine = 110) Should I look to reduce these 2?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Note that TH and CH are measuring two different things. Total Hardness depends on a lot of other hardness factors other than just Calcium. Total Hardness depends a lot on your local water. TH does not matter, the CH component does.
They are sketchy in their whole explanation that conflates TH with aggressive water or scale. CH is only one of the factors in determining the water balance. Read...
www.troublefreepool.com
and ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
You have to decide if you want to follow PHin or TFPC methods. Trying to mix them will lead to confusion as well as undesired results. From what I see your PHin tests are leading you down wrong paths.
They are sketchy in their whole explanation that conflates TH with aggressive water or scale. CH is only one of the factors in determining the water balance. Read...
Calcium Saturation Index (CSI)
How is CSI calculated? Very simple – use our PoolMath tool. To ensure long plaster life and save money, click here to learn more.
www.troublefreepool.com
and ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
You have to decide if you want to follow PHin or TFPC methods. Trying to mix them will lead to confusion as well as undesired results. From what I see your PHin tests are leading you down wrong paths.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Your CYA should be reduced to 30 - 50. Your TA at 110 is ok right now if you don't have a SWG.
What is the pH, TA and CH of your fill water?
Post a complete set of test results in the format below or share your PoolMath test log.
FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA
Water Temp
CSI
I think that Cal-Treat is sodium hexametaphosphate.
Phosphates can cause calcium precipitation and trisodium phosphate was once used to lower calcium.
I would not use sodium hexametaphosphate or other phosphate chemicals to try to lower calcium.
Phosphates can cause calcium precipitation and trisodium phosphate was once used to lower calcium.
I would not use sodium hexametaphosphate or other phosphate chemicals to try to lower calcium.
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,211
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
A submersible pump is the primary CH and CYA reducer. Pump out pool water and pump in (hopefully) lower CH and 0 CYA fill water as needed. But totally agree that you need to align yourself with one protocol. Only confusion will come trying to combine efforts. Manually testing yourself is best. Your automated tool may get some things right, but it’s hard to argue with a few minutes of testing yourself to get totally reliable and consistent results. CYA reading is wrong per your notes above and TH is not important.
- Jul 17, 2019
- 3,730
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Wilco - The basic premise of TFP is test your own water, and maintain your FC according to your CYA levels.
As you have found out, you can get pretty big differences between the various tests (phin vs strips vs pool store, etc.). There are a few trusted test kits on here, including the TF-100.
You havent mentioned your FC levels, but they need be pretty high (10-12) if your CYA is 90, and even higher if your pHin reading of 175+ is accurate. I'm guessing your CYA got to be that high from granular shock and/or pucks which add CYA each time you use them. Eventually your CYA will get too high and you will get algae, typically called "chlorine lock" by the pool stores.
As you have found out, you can get pretty big differences between the various tests (phin vs strips vs pool store, etc.). There are a few trusted test kits on here, including the TF-100.
You havent mentioned your FC levels, but they need be pretty high (10-12) if your CYA is 90, and even higher if your pHin reading of 175+ is accurate. I'm guessing your CYA got to be that high from granular shock and/or pucks which add CYA each time you use them. Eventually your CYA will get too high and you will get algae, typically called "chlorine lock" by the pool stores.
Thank you all for the comments. I'm in the process of lowering my CYA and my Calcium a little. I will repost my progress and will start using the Pool School methodology. Way easier 
UPDATE: Well...I tried to be clever and make my own reverse osmosis devise so I could filter the CYA and TH but the water that went through was no different. LOL.
I ended up draining the pool and got my CYA down to around 60 and the TH to around 300 so that was an improvement.
Although now my PH keeps spiking. Everyday I have to add tons of Acid. My TA is around 120. About the same as it was before although it was around 110. Why my PH spiking so crazy.
I ended up draining the pool and got my CYA down to around 60 and the TH to around 300 so that was an improvement.
Although now my PH keeps spiking. Everyday I have to add tons of Acid. My TA is around 120. About the same as it was before although it was around 110. Why my PH spiking so crazy.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Don't get whipsawed by a test and display liek that. As long as your pH is anywhere in the 7's it is ok.
What is the pH and TA of your fill water?
You have an autofill?
What is the pH and TA of your fill water?
You have an autofill?
- Jul 16, 2012
- 7,211
- Pool Size
- 27000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
From roughly 4/5-9, when your pH plateaued, were you adding MA daily?
I was hoping to see your Pool Math logs when I clicked on your profile pic, but it looks like your log is empty. Keeping the logs in there (you have to subscribe to do so) is a great way to share that data with folks helping. Certainly not required though.
I was hoping to see your Pool Math logs when I clicked on your profile pic, but it looks like your log is empty. Keeping the logs in there (you have to subscribe to do so) is a great way to share that data with folks helping. Certainly not required though.
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