View Full Version : Filtering out calcium
poolEd
07-05-2011, 10:48 PM
Anyone know if it's possible to filter out high calcium with a whole house filter ?
waterbear
07-06-2011, 11:42 AM
calcium does not "filter out", it has to be removed by ion exchange or reverse osmosis, neither of which is practical for a pool in almost all cases.
Best way to deal with high calcium (short of replacing it was softer water, which is usually not practical) is to keep close tabs on pH and to keep the TA at the low end of acceptable to keep the calcium saturation index as close to 0 as possible (or even on the negative side). pH is the easiest factor to adjust and has the MOST influence on whether the water will be scaling or not.
TA, besides having a small impact on whether water can scale, has a very big impact on how fast pH will rise so lower TA generally means slower pH rise and therefore less chance of pH spiking high and creating scaling conditions.
poolEd
07-17-2011, 04:18 PM
Thanks for the reply. My calcium is 590. unfortunately the refill water is at 250. I guess I can only add acid and empty it seasonally.
waterbear
07-17-2011, 05:53 PM
Thanks for the reply. My calcium is 590. unfortunately the refill water is at 250. I guess I can only add acid and empty it seasonally.
Your refill water is less than half as hard as the water in your pool so in your case water replacement will lower your calcium. In the mean time watch your pH and keep it below 7.8 at all times. Lowering your TA to 80 or a bit less will also be hellpful.
You could also go the other route and purposefully make the calcium precipitate out into your filter by using cal hypo properly and making the right adjustments to your pH and TA but you really need to know what you are doing with that or you could have a lot of problems.