If this doesn't get moved to the right place, when I can post to the right place, it'll look like this:

I have soft water, so my hardness is often tested low (the store does the testing). I wonder if the pool industry is making me think that I need to buy their calcium just so they can clean up. I find the threats that they tell me I'll face unlikely and not worth the money the additives would cost.
They say that equipment could be damaged (so what? I have plenty of equipment in the house that processes soft water, and it isn't a problem) but also that it can damage things like concrete and plaster. Well, my pool doesn't seem to have any of that.

I have an above-ground, cold climate (notice my location), chlorine, 28,000L pool.