Ph Balance With Calcium Booster

[GO ZAGS]

I went a little crazy with my first round of chemical purchases. I went with the Leisure Time brand. I bought their calcium booster as I need it in my area. I also bought their pH Balance product. I waited to use the PH Balance until I got my TA and pH dialed in perfectly. I go to dump the bottle in and the water turns from crystal clear to instant cloudy. Now my water is still cloudy after several days and there is a chalky white residue all over. I tested the water and my TA and pH levels are way down and my calcium level also reads down? I figured that would be too high (given the white residue). The product container reads: "Due to pH Balance's unique buffering capacity, it is not necessary to adjust the calcium (hardness) level in your spa". OK - hindsight is 20/20 but that wasn't clear to me. Why didn't they just say "Don't use in conjunction with Calcium Booster"?!

I read online from a Google search that it is definitely from the pH Balance product I used and that my filter would eventually clean it out. Well, it hasn't and with a very recent water change - I'm not excited about doing it again.

Any thoughts on how I can get the cloudiness out of my water? Is my calcium level off the charts high now?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[cofive]

I went a little crazy with my first round of chemical purchases. I went with the Leisure Time brand. I bought their calcium booster as I need it in my area. I also bought their pH Balance product. I waited to use the PH Balance until I got my TA and pH dialed in perfectly. I go to dump the bottle in and the water turns from crystal clear to instant cloudy. Now my water is still cloudy after several days and there is a chalky white residue all over. I tested the water and my TA and pH levels are way down and my calcium level also reads down? I figured that would be too high (given the white residue). The product container reads: "Due to pH Balance's unique buffering capacity, it is not necessary to adjust the calcium (hardness) level in your spa". OK - hindsight is 20/20 but that wasn't clear to me. Why didn't they just say "Don't use in conjunction with Calcium Booster"?!

I read online from a Google search that it is definitely from the pH Balance product I used and that my filter would eventually clean it out. Well, it hasn't and with a very recent water change - I'm not excited about doing it again.

Any thoughts on how I can get the cloudiness out of my water? Is my calcium level off the charts high now?

Thanks in advance for your help!

The cloudiness is probably the calcium precipitating out of the water due to the balance product. Your filter will eventually filter it out but only if the filter remains clean itself. So hose your filter out every other day for a few days to keep it from being clogged up with the precipitate.

Ken

[GO ZAGS]

OK - filter has done it's job albeit tons of calcium caking the filter. I also used Leisure Time's Spa Defender which does this for those that aren't familiar with the product: Prevent mineral buildup from occurring, and extend the life of your spa plumbing and equipment! Prevents scale formation, and aids in the removal of existing scale.

Now when I test the water with a test strip - says my calcium is too low. How can that be? Is the Defender absolutely counter-productive to keeping the right level of calcium? Should I never use it once I get the calcium level correct?

[PaulR]

Looks like Spa Defender is a sequestrant, meaning it acts to keep metals from staining or forming scale. Apparently including calcium. Unless you have especially hard water or other minerals (iron, magnesium) in the water, there's no reason to use this product.

--paulr

[GO ZAGS]

Should I then begin to add some more calcium back until my test strip shows it is in the correct range?

[PaulR]

If your tub is fiberglass, 100ppm would be enough. If it's plaster, you might want it a bit higher. I am not a fan of test strips though, way too many stories about how they were wildly off. Strips don't measure calcium hardness anyway, they measure total hardness including some other minerals, and calcium is what matters most.

--paulr