Calcium Hardness

[BearBath]

Does everybody have these problems?

I drained the HS Grandee today and actually got a pretty early start on it (10 AM ish). It took until about 2 PM to totally drain. I then bypassed the water softener and refilled the tub. Wow. It takes a lot less time to fill than it does to empty!

Much to my horror, I still was very low on the total alkilinity and the Calcium hardness. I added a fair amount of Baking Soda and appear to have the alkalinity in line as well as the pH. I then put in the Spa56 and the Renew as directed.

The Calcium hardness is still low. It appears to be about 100. I don't have anything to bring it up so it is off to the dealer tomorrow for Calcium booster. Interesting, because the dealer said County water, which I am on, is ususally fine.

I know that I bypassed the softener because I have a volume meter on it and checked it while filling the tub. No movement.

Is it common to have water that is too low in Calcium? Will it do any harm to run it for a period with low calcium?

Now I also have to wait through the frustration of it heating up again. Maybe in time for a morning soak?

BearBath

[Bill_Stevenson]

Treated water here in South Florida has very low calcium hardness.  Bringing it up will help to stablize the pH and more importantly, prevent foaming.

Regards,

Bill

[bobhol]

Why did it take so long to empty? It should only be 45 minutes or so if you follow the various methods sugested  here..... bobhol

[Gomboman]

Bearbath,

What did you use to determine your values?  Did you use test strips?  If so, I would take your water to your dealer or a pool store to get accurate values.  When I use test stips it shows that my calcium values are very low.  When tested at the dealer with a Taylor test kit my calcium values are perfect.  Just a suggestion.  My water out of the tap is very hard to balance.  My PH is off the map high and my alk is on the low side.  

[tony]

My water comes out of the tap at 50 ppm calcium hardness.  There is a school of thought (Northman and Pool Solutions) that with todays products, low calcium is not a problem except for concrete spas or pools.  I add calcium but prefer to keep it at the low end of normal.

[BearBath]

Yup, I did use test strips to measure Calcium hardness. That is a good suggestion to take a sample to the dealer for more advanced testing.
I guess one of the places I was heading with this thread was to ask whether the Ch level was all that important. I did manage to reduce the salt content through unsoftened water, so the potential for damage to the plumbing and jets should be reduced. Other than that, is the calcium content just a buffer for pH?
I really would like to get the tub to the maintenance status rather than worry about whehter I have the chemistry perfect!