Even though you know your alkalinity and pH are perfect, you also need to know the ways to balance the calcium hardness level in your pool. Calcium hardness is usually meant as a measure of the amount of calcium present in the water. When the water is called “hard,” it means that the water has a higher volume of mineral content than usual. Calcium hardness is a measure by which one can detect the attendance of high levels of dissolved magnesium as well as calcium in the swimming pool. It is important to keep the calcium hardness balanced in addition to preventing your pool’s water from becoming corrosive or scaling.
What is the acceptable calcium hardness level?
The acceptable level obviously depends on the type of pool that you have. If your pool contains fiberglass liner or even vinyl, the calcium hardness is expected to be between 175 to 225 ppm (parts per million).
On the other hand, if you have a plaster or concrete pool, you will have to keep the calcium hardness between 200 to 275 ppm. The aim is to keep it balanced. No one prefers pool water to be too soft or too hard.
What happens when the water is too hard?
If you have hard water, your pool’s water will be cloudy looking. You can use pool shock to clear the cloudy-looking water with pool shock. If the water contains extra calcium, the cloudiness will not go away after several shocks.
If left untreated for long, you will be able to see a buildup of calcium sediment on the top of the pool water. Therefore, it is vital to keep the amount balanced.
How to reduce calcium hardness in your pool?
Drain and Replace water
It is necessary for you to know how to lower calcium hardness in your pool. Drain and replace the water in order to lower the calcium hardness, and you need to replace the water. But, before that, check the water source. If it has a high level of calcium hardness, you can use a hose filter to stop entering excessive minerals.
Pool flocculant
You can use a pool flocculant if you cannot drain any water from your pool. When you detect the clumps form, you will have to vacuum them manually. Before putting the floc in the water, you need to make sure that the pump and filter are turned off. Before you finish, you also need to vacuum the waste.
Muriatic acid
If you don’t get a good result from both draining and floc, you can finally try muriatic acid. It does not typically reduce the calcium hardness of the water, but the saturation level will be raised, which in turn helps to balance the water back.
What happens when your water is soft?
If the pool water is too soft, it will slowly corrosion to the pool and make the concrete and plaster dissolve. Further, if any metal substance or pieces are submerged in the water, it becomes corrosive too.
How you can raise calcium hardness levels
Raising the calcium hardness is easier than lowering, which you can do by adding the calcium hardness increase in the pool water. For the best outcome, make sure you properly follow the instructions that are given with the package. However, you just need to know the volume of the pool to know the exact amount of hardness increase to add.
Is it hard to balance calcium hardness?
You just need to take some precautions in order to keep the calcium hardness balanced. For example, you can examine the calcium hardness level in your pool water. Nevertheless, owning a pool is great fun, but proper management is needed to continue the fun. So, the more you take care of your pool, the safer it remains.
Conclusion
When you have a pool, you will have to know how to balance the calcium hardness level in your pool. Calcium hardness can be a great threat to the pool water, and you must maintain the excessive minerals of the pool water. When your water becomes “hard,” you should take immediate actions to stop the calcium hardness. Neither “hard” nor “soft” water is acceptable. Therefore you need to keep the calcium hardness balanced.