Hardness increaser less expensive than the pool store?

[tfrailey]

I have to continually increase my water hardness. The hardness increaser I am buying is running $33 for 15 pounds. Is there a less expensive alternative?

[Redwolf]

Hi Tfrailey,

I have recently investigated the use of calcium hardness. I just received a shipment of calcium chloride ( ca increaser per se ) from the cheapest source ( Qik Joe ) for me in midsummer from a TruValue hardware organization.... http://www.midlandhardware.com/135210.html . If not for shipping, this product, for 50# would have been very cheap. Where you are located, I think Home Depot carries a product, which I know is currently available in Yonkers, NY area, for a price of $17+ for 50# so suspect you should not have a problem finding it. I think it is in flake form which I would have preferred. I did call Qik Joe company, great guy, and he said the MSDS was 92% + pure Calcium Chloride, no heavy metals listed, but no tech available at that location to speak with me either. Still, I prefer more Calcium than what is in the products sold by the pool stores.

I looked at a fish forum for their recommendations as they are really into purity. They like Tetra products ( Tetra 94 ) the best as it seemed to be the purest form with higher concentrations, atleast until Katrina hit when the company had to go to China for it's source.

I started a thread on this forum last week about calcium chloride source. Check that out if you can for other options, including Amazon, which the poolforum gets some funding should you start at the PF site. I do not think I listed the link above in that reference.

The product just arrived, along with my new K-2006 kit so I will make changes to my pool chems tomorrow. Will post after I have used the pellets.

Hope this helped you!

[waterbear]

Many pool stores do stock 50 lb bags of calcium chloride (or can get it from their suppliers) but you have to ask them for it, particularly if they also sell to the pool service trade. Either the dihydrate or the anhydrous forms are suitable and it does not need to be food grade (but the dosing is slightly different between the two forms because of the weight differences). Tetra is a common brand that is sold because of its purity but not the only one. Dowflake (dihydrate) and Peladow (anhydrous pellets) now contain higher levels of bromide (because of manufacturing changes since the brand was sold to Oxidental Chemical) so it might temporarily create some bromine sanitizer in the pool but the only significant side effect is that, since bromine cannot be stabilized against loss from sunlight you might have a temporarily higher chlorine demand, similar to using a bromide based algae treatment. If you are testing your FC levels regularly this becomes a non issue other than the fact that you might have to add a bit more chlorine to maintain the proper level for a short time.

[tfrailey]

Thank you Redwolf and waterbear - very useful information!

[Redwolf]

You are welcome Tfrailey. And thanks also Waterbear as you are a great source of information. I am really dreading putting the calcium in as I already have a cloudy pool.

[waterbear]

I am really dreading putting the calcium in as I already have a cloudy pool.

Adding calcium should not normally cloud the pool unless your pH/TA is very high. As a safeguard you can drop the pH to around 7.2 before adding the calcium, predissolve no more than about 5-10 lbs at at time in a large bucket of water and walk it around the pool, and break the additions into 3 or 4 with a wait of a few hours in between so everything can circulate and mix.
All that being said, I just broadcast the dry calcium chloride over the pool surface in two or three batches without really waiting in between and have never had a problem. My pH is between 7.6 and 7.8 and I keep my TA at 70 ppm.