Water Hardness…

[sallylewis]

Morning and Happy New Year
We have a 12000 litre vortex mercury spa and all of the chemical levels are stable… however the water hardness is too high as our water is not the best and I am at a total loss how to remedy, and concerned that this is going to cause pipe erosion and damage to spa.
Appreciate any suggestions, ideas and thoughts on combating this.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hello Sally How high is the pH, TA and Calcium?? Got some recent good test results (not test strip ones!)

Maddie

 

[sallylewis]

Hello Sally How high is the pH, TA and Calcium?? Got some recent good test results (not test strip ones!)

Maddie

Hi Maddie,
Thank you for your reply. I have just ordered a proper test kit after reading some of the responses on other threads and realised the test strips are probably not very accurate.
So hopefully they arrive this week sometime
The strips are showing really high hardness well above 1000. Ph is sitting at 120 and alkalinity is at 7.2.
Not sure about calcium levels? Will this be able to be read on the proper testing kits? I hope so .
Still very unsure. The water is clear, clean and no obvious signs of build up of any sort of algae.
Thank you
Sally

 

[bradgray]

Not sure about calcium levels? Will this be able to be read on the proper testing kits? I hope so

Hi Sally,

Calcium  is Hardness.

While it's possible you have high hardness levels, 1000ppm is unusual and you'd generally see issues with scale precipitate long before you got there.

A proper test kit is great like Maddie recommended! Glad you ordered one. Ideally you'd snag the TF-100 from here Test Kits Compared

 

[wireform]

Ph is sitting at 120 and alkalinity is at 7.2

You probably meant to say TA of 120 and PH of 7.2

 

[sallylewis]

You probably meant to say TA of 120 and PH of 7.2

I think you may be correct on that…. One too many beverages whilst sitting in the spa

 

[mgtfp]

We have a 12000 litre vortex mercury spa

Hi Sally welcome to TFP!

Are you sure about the 12000 litre? That's a small pool rather than a spa. Maybe 1200? Just make sure you get the volume right when calculating chemical additions with PoolMath. Adding the required amounts for 12000 litres would have quite an overwhelming effect in 1200 litres...

Do you have a water report from your water supplier that includes hardness? That would already give us an idea what you are dealing with until your test kit arrives.

 

[mgtfp]

Ideally you'd snag the TF-100 from here Test Kits Compared

Great choice in the US. In Australia, the only alternative to importing a Taylor 2006C kit from the US is Clear Choice Labs.

 

[bradgray]

Great choice in the US. In Australia, the only alternative to importing a Taylor 2006C kit from the US is Clear Choice Labs.

Ah, yes. I missed that detail. Good catch!

 

[sallylewis]

Hi Sally welcome to TFP!

Are you sure about the 12000 litre? That's a small pool rather than a spa. Maybe 1200? Just make sure you get the volume right when calculating chemical additions with PoolMath. Adding the required amounts for 12000 litres would have quite an overwhelming effect in 1200 litres...

Do you have a water report from your water supplier that includes hardness? That would already give us an idea what you are dealing with until your test kit arrives.

I think I really need to remember not to partake in drinking whilst sitting in the spa and asking questions to this site, how much incorrect information did I say omg it is approximately 1000 …from now on, I am going to just read every one else’s stuff to find out the answers