High Calcium Hardness

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JarCar

JarCar

0
Mar 23, 2017
95
Katy, TX
Hey guys,

I've been getting high CH readings for my pool and I'm not sure of the cause. Based on the pool place reading of 500ppm, pool math is telling me I need to drain and replace almost 50% of my water.

Help? What could be causing this? My plaster is new (less than 3 months) but it seems like I can't get the hardness below 400ppm. My water out of the tap is about 100ppm.

Any suggestions?
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Ouch, Guess-Strips and pool store testing will rarely get you where you need to be. No decent test kit after 34 posts and a brand new pool to take care of?? WHy not?

I'd say a new pool and perhaps someone put a little too much calcium in? Hard to know. Only way to get rid of excess is drain/refill. But I wouldn't want to do it based on questionable testing.

I hope your FC isn't really that low? How's your water looking?? Any algae or cloudiness appearing?

Maddie :flower:
 
Sorry, been a while since I addressed this post. I was kinda put-off by the somewhat snarky remark

At the time, we were utilizing what we were given from the pool builder (5-way Pentair test kit and the Guess Strips).

Since it ran out, I bought the Taylor K2006 test. I'm still having high calcium, but have no other issues with the pool as all other parameters are in line.

I am getting some random small dark spots in my plaster that I've addressed in a separate post, but believe those are metal stains that I'll be working on with some Vitamin C to get out.

I also did about a 6 inch drain on my water over the weekend and noticed a drop from 575 to 500 on the TH. I think I'll wait for the weather to cool down and the new plaster to become less new before I drain anymore if I keep having issues.
 
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elwood58 said:
RO Treatment?
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You are right - that only disposes of 20-30% of your water.

RO is available in a few spots - primarily southern California and Arizona. Not sure in Texas. They use a large Reverse Osmosis unit to process your water. The concentrate containing all dissolved solids in your water is disposed of and you add fresh water to make up. It is expensive.
 
If your fill water is 100ppm for CH, I'm assuming something was added to your new pool when it was filled to increase the level? It could be possible that too much was added. Hard to say if the level was high at startup or if it's been rising over the months since you don't have weekly test results to go off, but you can monitor it now and see if it continues to rise. I'm assuming you aren't using anything that would be adding calcium?
New plaster can account for some rise, not as much as you have though going off your fill water level. With my month old Quartzscapes plaster I haven't had any CH rise. I live in an area where we have hard water, my fill water was 300ppm, and calcium rising in pools is a problem, so 500+ levels around here are normal and as mentioned the water can still be managed.
 

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Foxy said:
If your fill water is 100ppm for CH, I'm assuming something was added to your new pool when it was filled to increase the level? It could be possible that too much was added. Hard to say if the level was high at startup or if it's been rising over the months since you don't have weekly test results to go off, but you can monitor it now and see if it continues to rise. I'm assuming you aren't using anything that would be adding calcium?
New plaster can account for some rise, not as much as you have though going off your fill water level. With my month old Quartzscapes plaster I haven't had any CH rise. I live in an area where we have hard water, my fill water was 300ppm, and calcium rising in pools is a problem, so 500+ levels around here are normal and as mentioned the water can still be managed.
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I'm assuming it was caused with the acid start-up and then using calcium hypo shock that was used to get the pool swimmable. I do have weekly tests, only they are from Leslie's Pool and/or Pinch a Penny Pools. My builder recommended I do a weekly test with them so that if I ever had any warranty issues I could show actual tests.

What they have shown is that I've floated around 500 - 550ppm of TH this entire time. I maintain everything else pretty religiously...I just can't seem to get rid of the calcium. I have a moss rock waterfall and retaining wall, not sure if that will leach additional calcium into the pool.

All I use now are the following: Liquid Chlorine, or bleach....Muriatic Acid, and Baking Soda when I need to increase my TA. The baking soda could be playing a part in increasing the hardness I suppose, but I try to keep the pH low when adding the baking soda.

Just ready to toss up my hands....
 
JarCar said:
I'm assuming it was caused with the acid start-up and then using calcium hypo shock that was used to get the pool swimmable. I do have weekly tests, only they are from Leslie's Pool and/or Pinch a Penny Pools. My builder recommended I do a weekly test with them so that if I ever had any warranty issues I could show actual tests.

What they have shown is that I've floated around 500 - 550ppm of TH this entire time. I maintain everything else pretty religiously...I just can't seem to get rid of the calcium. I have a moss rock waterfall and retaining wall, not sure if that will leach additional calcium into the pool.

All I use now are the following: Liquid Chlorine, or bleach....Muriatic Acid, and Baking Soda when I need to increase my TA. The baking soda could be playing a part in increasing the hardness I suppose, but I try to keep the pH low when adding the baking soda.

Just ready to toss up my hands....
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No reason to toss up your hands, it's not that bad. You didn't mention that products containing calcium were added to your pool, that's your cause. Your startup crew could have also added some hardener that you weren't aware of, so if you don't know how much was added and what all has been used in your pool, you can't know for sure how much your CH was raised due to products. Yippee was right even though you didn't like the approach. Doing your own testing with a reliable test kit is the only way to avoid all these common pool problems. You have a kit and you're doing your own tests, so you are on the right track now.

As mentioned, the only way to lower CH is partial water drain and refill (except RO where it's available and it's expensive), but also as mentioned 500 is manageable, so it's up to you if you want to lower it now or do it in the future.

Lots of great information here, so you're in the right place to get it all figured out.
 
There are members here with CH levels approaching 1000ppm who manages their pool without issues. The trick is to manage your CSI.

Use pool math to keep your CSI between -0.3 and +0.3 and there should be no issue.

Post up a complete set of test results including water temp and we will get you on the right path.

FWIW- I didn't find Maddie's post snarky at all, just direct and to the point.
 
I'm thinking out loud here....but would it be plausible to put a sump pump in the deep end, connect the outlet to a hose to the shallow end of the pool with a Hayward Bobby (or similar filter) connected to it and cycle the sump for a couple of hours?
 
JarCar said:
I'm thinking out loud here....but would it be plausible to put a sump pump in the deep end, connect the outlet to a hose to the shallow end of the pool with a Hayward Bobby (or similar filter) connected to it and cycle the sump for a couple of hours?
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Sorry, I don't quite understand what you are trying to do, but if you are asking if running the water through a filter would remove the calcium, no it won't.
 
You cannot filter out calcium from water. The filter you showed is a carbon filter. For the taste of your water. We do not recommend drinking pool water.

Manage your CSI and you will be OK. If you know you are going to have a large rain event (which I know Katy TX has occasionally) lower your water level and refill with rain water. That way you will either maintain your current calcium hardness level or possibly reduce it.

And do not use ANY solid forms of chlorine in the future without knowing how it will effect your water chemistry.
 
domct203 said:
There are members here with CH levels approaching 1000ppm who manages their pool without issues. The trick is to manage your CSI.

Use pool math to keep your CSI between -0.3 and +0.3 and there should be no issue.

Post up a complete set of test results including water temp and we will get you on the right path.

FWIW- I didn't find Maddie's post snarky at all, just direct and to the point.
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So far looks like the CSI is ok! Thanks for the tip!
 
For the chlorine these are the values at the end of the day....so I started the day with 8ppm, it dropped then I added more chlorine to get back to 8.

I did the in-between value when a color started to change between 7 and 8 drops for the TA. Next time I'll just keep at 70.
 

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