Quote Originally Posted by waterbear
That is because adding salt to your pool DOES NOT soften the water. In a water softener salt is used to charge the ion exhange resin with sodium. When the water flows through it the resin exhanges the sodium for calcium and magnesium in the water. The resin is then recharged with sodium and the calcium and magnisium are washed out to waste so the process can start over. This is what softens the water. Just adding salt to water adds sodium in addtion to the calcium and magnesium already in the water. It has no softening effect whatsoever. The main advantage of adding salt to the pool is to raise the isoelectic point of the water closer to that of the human body. This makes the water less 'irritating".

Would it be possible to soften the water in the pool? Could one rig up a water softener to the pool and let it cycle for a period of time in order to do this? I can only imagine that you would need to replenish the salt alot, but would anything else be necessary?