increasing Calcium Hardness

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T

tstex

Silver Supporter
Aug 28, 2012
2,236
Houston, TX
Hello to all,

Based on a pool that has a peeblesheen surface & completed in Jan 2015, what type of product is best for my current chemistries [Calcium Chloride or Calcium Chloride Dihydrate or other] to raise my Calcium level?

Previous CH reading before Harvey [we had 38 inches of rain] = 250
Post Harvey reading = 150

Other current readings today are:

pH = 7.5
TA = just brought up to 80 from 50ppm
CYA = 10 maybe, previously 30 [using pucks to raise CYA and get a temp bleach break]
FC range = 3-5ppm

Water temp's 81-84 and live in SE Texas

Also, tile-line and spillover stone is travertine...

If we have a TFP vendor that supplies product, pls let me know?

THank you
 
Order Ice Melt (be sure it is calcium chloride) from Home Depot or Lowes. Have it delivered to the store for free shipping.

Use Pool Math to determine how much to order.

That will be your cheapest way to purchase it.

Take care.
 
Marty,

Just viewed some products at Home Depot.

While I have located the products w Calcium Chloride, do you or someone know how much per lb increases your calcium hardness by X PPM / LB ?

The standard seems to be 1.25lbs increases CH by 10PPM or 5 lbs to 50 PPM

I'm not sure of the concentrations of the pool-based products vs the HD or lowes and how they compare on a % to lb basis. Does this make sense?

Basically looking for a product name and how much per lb to increase CH by X PPM?

Thanks again,
tstex
 
Use Pool Math for amount needed. See the Effect of Adding Chemicals.

You want as close to 100% calcium chloride as possible.

Some brand names are Peladow, Dowflake, Tetra Flake, or Tetra 94.

Take care.
 
Be careful with hardware store ice-melt products. In many instances they have very low percentages of calcium chloride in them with the larger fraction being magnesium chloride and sodium chloride. Some types also mix sand into their formulations for traction.

If you really need to increase CH, then I personally would only use pure chemicals for this. PoolGeek has some CH Up listed -

https://www.poolgeek.com/products/glb-calcium-hardness-up-25-lb

Certainly more expensive than cheap ice-melt, but at least you know what it is....
 
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cal-hypo pool shock is sold right along side pucks and other chlorine. google it.

there isnt anything fancy about it, it's just chlorine bound with calcium.

Certified Pool Operator (CPO) training -- What is not taught
For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) added by Trichlor, it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 6.1 ppm and decreases Total Alkalinity (TA) by 7.1 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Dichlor, it also increases CYA by 9.1 ppm and decreases TA by 3.5 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by Cal-Hypo, it also increases Calcium Hardness (CH) by at least 7 ppm and increases TA by about 0.4 ppm.
For every 10 ppm FC added by ANY source of chlorine, there will be 8.2 ppm salt from when the chlorine gets used/consumed and converts to chloride. For bleach, chlorinating liquid, and lithium hypochlorite, there is an additional 8.2 ppm salt added upon addition so the net result is 16.5 ppm salt from these sources and the TA rises by 0.1-0.6 ppm depending on the amount of "excess lye" in the product.
Click to expand...
 
ok, I now have 50lbs of 94% Calcium Chloride in pellet form.

what is the best way to dissolve or dispense the pellets? Are there any do's or do not's I should be concerned with when dissolving?

Thank you very much,
tstex
 
Dissolve them in water in a bucket. Do not place them in the pool undissolved.

Depending on how much you are adding, do it in small batches over several days. Test in between adds to confirm you are going the direction you want to go.

Take care.
 
It gets HOT when it dissolves (exothermic reaction) so pre-dissolve in a 5 gallon bucket of water. You can dissolve almost 10 lbs/gal of water BUT I would not recommend that due to the heat.

Once dissolved, you can pour the resulting solution slowly in front of a return. Be sure to have the pumps running to get good mixing. Expect some cloudiness for a day or so. You could drop the pH a little to help reduce the CSI and keep the water from clouding too much.
 
Great. Thank you Marty & Matt

I'll dissolve 5lbs in 5 gal bucket & let fully cool. Get pH around 7.2, and disperse from 5 gal bucket w 1gal bucket & sling across entire pool surface.

Will do this every other day to allow slow and steady dispersion and test the next day after each appication. Anything wrong w this plan, pls advise.

Thank you,
Tstex
 
The calcium chloride that I bought are very sm pellets and don't seem to weigh every much.

I need to go from 150ppm CH to 250. Been adding, by volume about 3.75 - 4.0 cups at a time. Do not have an effective way to weigh that amt and I do not know the density of the 94% CaCL2 to figure it that way.

First application was the approx. 4cup range, then 2 days later I added the same, then day later today I added 2 x 4 cups. As recommended, I fully dissolve all of the pellets in about 4 gallons of water, then pour into pool while scuppers and pump us running. Have not seen any cloudiness at all. I'm going to do a complete pool chemistry test later today and will post back. I've also been using pucks the last 10-12 days to increase my CYA bc it was 10ppm or less.

Thank you,
tstex

I
 
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