What causes Calcium to rise?

[waterbear]

Simple answer, you have a gunite pool. If you let your water parameters go out of balance (such as too low a pH for a period of time) it can acutally dissovle the calcium in the plaster of your pool. This is the main reason that calcium is added to plaster pools in the first place. Also you pool is new. Curing plaster can raise the calcium level of the water if I am not mistaken.

[CarlD]

Yup. That's about all there is to it.

[SoCalBoo]

Thanks everyone. Luckily, my Ph has been below 7.2 since startup (fighting high Ph issues with SWG and new pool), so it must just be the new pool issue.

I understand the general consensus is the only way to get rid of calcium from the water is to drain and refill (i.e. dilute it). Anyone heard of anything else.

Moderators - if this should be a new thread because it is a 'new' question, let me know and I'll re-post.

Thanks

[let_her_flicker]

Are you having problems with your pool?

Since you have high CA, is your pool cloudy? You PH is fine according to your other posts. You don't have a heater that could suffer from scaling.

If it was me, I would leave it alone. Why micro-manage your pool. You could possibly end up with more problems.

Just a different point of view.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

[SoCalBoo]

Nah, water is perfect. Crystal clear, no algae in sight, 88-92 for last month or so, FC is stable, CC is non-existant. The BBB method is a thing of beauty.

Get some white deposits (which I assume are calcium in some form) on raised bond beam tile near spillover and in a few other spots, but diluted muriatic and a scrub brush takes care of it. Maybe 10 minutes a month of work.

I can live with the 430 calcium and probably more. My post(s) was/were more directed at the future, because evaporation and refill will slowly cause the calcium to rise. Unless there is a method to lower calcium levels other than draining, I'll need to drain it sometime, probably sooner than I'd like. Since that is the case, I was trying to find out if something went wrong and/or there were ways to protect against high calcium levels to avoid in the future. I take it from the responses that nothing likely went wrong, and there is likely no way to avoid it in the future...just the way it goes, which I can live with.

[SoCalBoo]

Opps, and meant Ph has been above 7.2, above.

[waterbear]

The only problem I can see is the chance of increase scaling in your SWG as the pH rises. There is an alternative to draining and refilling. Calcium is a metal and there are metal sequesterants that are more sepcific for calium than others. Google 'calcium hardness reducer pool' and you should come across several. Just be aware that they do not remove the calcium. Just make it so it cannot react and form scale. Don't know how effective they really are but the chemistry behind them is sound. You will need to keep up with the maintenance doses just like with any other metal problem, however.
I have also seen a product from LoChlor, which Poolsean said was a sister company to AutoPilot Systems, that puts magnesium in the water so the scale that forms on the cell is soft and mushy and will wash off easier. Might want to check with PoolSean on this one.