Quote Originally Posted by waterbear
It might make the water feel 'silkier' ( a subjective term) but it will NOT make it softer (low calcium and magnesium hardness).....Soft water, such as out of a water softener, does not have high calcium and magnesium levels. Adding salt to the water does not reduce the calcium and magnesium. Running the water through an ion exchange resin in a water softener that swaps out sodium or potassium ions for the calcium and magnesium ions does.

Have to agree with Poolsean on this....A higher salinitly will make the water closer to the isoelectric point of the human body, which will make it feel less 'foreign and irritating' but it will NOT soften the water.
Just to make sure that I am not misunderstood on this point, I agree that the water isn't "softer". The thread started out with a question about the "Feel" of the pool and I wanted to point out that getting closer to an isotonic solution in the pool (9000 ppm) will make if "Feel" less harsh. Sean is right, the water isn't technically softer at a higher salt level but ANY salt level will make it Feel nicer.

Mark Manning
Watermaid Canada
www.watermaid.ca
mark@watermaid.ca