Should I Adjust Hardness?

[JimKW]

I bought the K-2006 Taylor Drop Test Kit and have been working on getting everything perfect. I am at work right now and don't really remember the numbers, but I got everything within the Ideal range except the Hardness. It's a little on the low side and was wondering if that will cause any problems and should I put something in (book says Calcium Chloride 77%) to raise the level?

[chem geek]

If it's below around 120 ppm then you might have a greater chance of foaming, but other than that you should be fine. The calcium chloride comes in two forms. The one in the Taylor book is calcium chloride dihydrate which is found in products such as DowFlake or Tetra. Another alternative is Peladow which is 90% pure calcium chloride (anhydrous) so is 90% calcium chloride. These are what are found in Calcium Hardness Increaser products for pools and spas.

[JimKW]

Thank you. When I did my first test on Sunday it was at 60, then after adding some chemicals to adjust Chlorine, PH and TA it went up to 100 and my last test after adding some Spa Up and Spa Shock it was back down to 70.

[JimKW]

I put 8 oz of Calcium Chloride that I got from the spa supply store in night before last. When I tested my water last night, everything was fine except for the Chlorine level. The hardness is now at 150 ppm, but my FC was 0. I added 2/3 oz of chlorine and it went up to about 5.5 and the CC was 1.5. That was kind of high, but I tested it about an hour after putting it in. Half an hour later I got in so that probably lowered the chlorine to an acceptable level.

I have found that the test strips are pretty accurate for reading the chlorine level, the alkalinity and the PH when comparing the numbers to what I'm getting with the test kit. But the test kit is great once you get used to using it and you can test things that are not on the strips. It's kind of rewarding when you get everything at the ideal level.