Total hardness

[Backdraft57]

New pool, and my first, filled December 8th 2020 here in Arizona. Convert to TFP a few months later after wasting money on Crud I didn't need. Anyway the standard answer is drain and refill. I have a Taylor test kit but ran out of hardness fluid but it was high when I initially filled. Now test strips have been showing 1000ppm. As mentioned I have read drain and refill but that seems insane to do every 5 months. Is there anything else I can do to lower this hardness? Thanks so much. This is an awesome site. I have partially converted some neighbors but they haven't seen the light yet.

 

[mknauss]

Get refills for your kit.
Your CH could not go from 250ppm or so at fill to 1000 ppm in 5 months. Means you added 4x your pool volume of fill water over that time. All due to evaporation.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Install a whole house water softener and have the pool fill line (if there is one) tied into it. There is no way to chemically lower mineral hardness. As the water evaporates, you add more hard water to your pool. That hardness simply builds up over time. The only way to mitigate it is to fill with a softened water line.

 

[Oceansol]

Install a whole house water softener and have the pool fill line (if there is one) tied into it. There is no way to chemically lower mineral hardness. As the water evaporates, you add more hard water to your pool. That hardness simply builds up over time. The only way to mitigate it is to fill with a softened water line.

or even partially drain and refill

 

[Backdraft57]

Get refills for your kit.
Your CH could not go from 250ppm or so at fill to 1000 ppm in 5 months. Means you added 4x your pool volume of fill water over that time. All due to evaporation.

I dont remember the exact number but it was very high when filled. The pool company gave me the kit and we went through the kit and tests as he did them. We did hardness and it was super high......said "that's just our water". Its so bad the shower head plugs after two months.

 

[Backdraft57]

Install a whole house water softener and have the pool fill line (if there is one) tied into it. There is no way to chemically lower mineral hardness. As the water evaporates, you add more hard water to your pool. That hardness simply builds up over time. The only way to mitigate it is to fill with a softened water line.

I've read about using "floc" and then vacuum it. Is that an option?

Get refills for your kit.
Your CH could not go from 250ppm or so at fill to 1000 ppm in 5 months. Means you added 4x your pool volume of fill water over that time. All due to evaporation.

So refills today and tested. 500 ppm calcium hardness, pool filled December 8th 2020. The test strip shows 1000 ppm "total hardness". Not sure what that other hardness is. Do I not worry about that and just calcium? TA shows 120

 

[mknauss]

I've read about using "floc" and then vacuum it. Is that an option?

No.

So refills today and tested. 500 ppm calcium hardness,

That is at least possible. Your fill water CH is about 250 ppm. Unless the builder added calcium, which would make him a fool, you have evaporated and added one full pool volume of water in the last 5 months. A bit of a stretch in winter.