Water is too hard

[mphare]

I have a gunite pool, this will be my third operating season.
The first two years were basically trouble free, except for my ever raising pH. Oh, yeah, I have salt Cl generator (Aquarite).

This year, I've had a hard time getting Cl to stay in the pool (I had a algea bloom a few weeks ago while I was out of town - yuk. But it's cleared up now). I got a good test kit (my previous drop kit was no good: no CYA, no CC, no CH; and the strips were worse. I would have gone for the PS234 but needed something asap so I got a Taylor K2005. For what it's worth, my pool supplier refills the reagents in the kit for free each year) and tested for CYA and it was 0! So... About 9 lbs of Cyanuric Acid later, I now have a pool with FC and TC (2 ppm, no CC) and a pH of about 7.2 and CYA of 90 ppm. (I was told to shoot for 80 ppm with the Aquarite so I'm a little high and I'm not really worried about the low pH, it'll creep back up this next week).

However, my Calcium Hardness has crept up to above 400, approaching 500 ppm

How do I get the CH down? Partial draining?

[duraleigh]

How do I get the CH down? Partial draining? .........Yes.

That said, I'm not sure you need to. CH levels seem to vary widely in pools and, if your pH and Alk are maintained correctly, don't seem to cause too much problem.

If the upward climb in CH is a trend, I would try to identify the source and eliminate it. Assuming it's not your fill water, partial draining and/or splashout should trend it downwards. I don't think the CH level is at a danger point of any kind but, you're right, it's at the upper limits of what most folks recommend. :)

[mphare]

Thanks Dave.. I'll keep an eye on the CH and the associated trend.