Prevent white scale on marble

[dgid0711]

As newbies at pool care, what can we do to prevent white scale from building up on marble slabs along the edge of our pool? Our water in AZ is very "hard" and the marble was sealed with Hydrex by Tenax. We currently have a sand filter and are using chlorine without an SWG. One installer has recommended adding a water conditioner and changing to UV sanitation with enzymes, an ozone system and DE filter. All at a hefty price when we simply want to stay ahead of the build up issue.

[CarlD]

I'm not sure how to treat hard water but leaving chlorine for UV and ozone is probably going to bring an epic failure. I don't know if you can use a water softener with a pool. Ben?

[waterbear]

Many parts of AZ have very hard water so scale deposits become a fact of life. Chlorine has little to do with the scale formation and ozone and enzymes are NOT EPA approved sanitizers so stay away.

The best thing you can do is keep close tabs on the pH and do not let it rise very high since high pH is the main predictor of scale formation, particularly with very hard water.

There is a company in AZ called Calsaway (http://www.calsaway.com/)that uses reverse osmosis to remove calcium from your pool water that could be a solutions. They have dealerships in many locations in the state and from what I have seen and heard about them the process does work. I have no idea of the costs however.

If the scale is forming on areas because of evaporation there is really little you can do except remove the deposits with acid. However, be aware that acid will also attack marble in much the same way it attacks scale deposits since both are calcium carbonate!