Calcium Hardness in in vinyl pools?

[chem geek]

As far as I know, calcium is not needed for SWCGs and in fact a higher calcium level (or more technically a higher calcite saturation index) can lead to more calcium carbonate scaling in the SWCG. One generally targets a slightly negative saturation index in a plaster SWCG pool, but in a vinyl pool it can be more negative since there are no plaster surfaces to protect.

[CarlD]

I would go with chem geek's chemistry any day unless one of our specialists on SWCG, like PoolSean ventures a different opinion.

[abru88CJ]

Now I remember last year. I was maintaining the recommended calcium level in my Intex/SWG pool and I had a terrible time with calcium carbonate packing up the electrolysis cell. Had to soak it in HCl plus some scrapping with a thin piece of plastic to get the cell cleaned out three times. I wonder if those calcium carbonate deposits could short out the cell or at least reduce it's ability to create chlorine from chloride.

Richard

[PoolDoc]

We've seen NO data indicating that you need to ADD calcium, for the benefit of an SWCG. But, as you've seen, even 'normal' levels of calcium increase SWCG maintenance.