Hardness problem

[COWBOY]

I am still pretty new to spa water control but feel i have a fairly good handle on everything on my test strip except hardness. I know that my city water is a little hard but i did not think in any way excesive. What do i need to do to bring this reading down that has always been at the highest level possible since using my current test strips.

[Chas]

The only way to bring down the hardness would be a water softener. You do not want to fill your tub with soft water, but if you have a softener you can use soft water to top the tub off as evaporation and splashing takes water out.

If you don't have a softener I wouldn't worry about it unless you start to have a real bad hard water line.

Keeping your pH and TA in line are far more important than hardness.

BTW - just so you know, low hardness causes foaming. Filling a tub with soft water can take out important metal parts such as shaft seals and heating elements.

 8-)

[COWBOY]

What's best for the tub itself is my main concern. I just thought if there was something i could add to make my skin less dry & itchy after getting out would be nice without compromising whats best for the tub.

[Chas]

Hot Water all by itself can give you dry itchy skin, once you get out and dry off. To minimize this, I tell my customers to add the chlorine after they exit the spa, and only add enough so that there is a barely readable amount of chlorine the next time they go in. This tends to go away as you own the tub and learn to have the levels all just right, and as your skin adjusts to being squeaky clean.

Also you said you are new to this - read the "Chas' Law" note at the top of the forum. Might apply.

 8-)

[Memories_Galore]

I use all soft water in my tub, then I put in the powder to bring the hardness up to where it should be.  Is that a bad thing?