There's Too Much Calcium In My Pool And The Water Is Cloudy
Now it's cloudy and I don't know how to get it clear. Please give me some suggestions on what to do and also is it safe for us to swim when all the other chemicals are perfect except for the calcium. Thanks Thanks for the question Chlorine granules, called calcium hypochlorite, should only be used where the fill water has low hardness. Here in Oregon our fill water is about 1 - 2ppm hardness. In Arizona, where I had my pool route, the hardness could be 300 - 400ppm, so I used mostly liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite). My suggestions would be to stop using granular chlorine and start using liquid. There's no easy way to reduce the hardness of the water other than drain 1/3 - 1/2 of the pool water, refill, and balance out the chemicals again. The main danger to having high calcium is scaling. This is when a nice little white ring forms at the water line. If your pool is heated, the high calcium level might clog up the heater. You can also have scaling in the pipes, plumbing and filter. With extremely high calcium, the water can become dull and cloudy. For a salt pool, it's damaging the chlorine generator. The safest way to remove the ring is with a pumas stone or a wire brush. You can also do a muriatic acid/water mix. A 3:1 mixture works well. Take a sponge and rub the acid mix onto the buildup, then use the stone or wire brush. This should not be done on a vinyl liner as the liner might tear. If all the chemical reading are fine, you shouldn't have any issue in clearing up the pool. Keep filtering 24/7 until it does clear. Shocking the pool won't do anything. I would like to know what the calcium reading is. A couple of things that can happen to swimmers is itchy, dry skin and sore, red eyes. Once you get the hardness out of the water, your pool will be just fine. Hope this helps and have a fun and safe swimming season. Robert |
