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Low Calcium... High Calcium.... I'm Confused! Please Help


Raycycling35

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Just bought a new hot tub. Set it up bought Leisure Time Granulating Chlorine, Spa Up, Spa Down, Alkalinity, Replenish and of course test strips. The guy at the store said fill spa with water before my water softener (I have well water) I did so let it get to temp put chlorine in and tested. It took a bit to get things somewhat right Alk was high, PH was high and Calcium was low. I finally got the Alk and PH within range but the calcium won't come up and it seems it always need chlorine. My confusion comes in at the point where I have that sandpaper feel on the inside of the tub and the returns seem to have white build up on the lower holes. But the calcium is low at about 100ppm. Everything I read says the Calcium should be high with this sandpaper issue. Please help. I'm a novice that wants to have things right and I'm becoming very frustrated. Thank you in advance.

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If you used well water without the water softener then I'll bet your CH is high. It's his testing that is probably wrong. You should get a proper test kit, the Taylor K-2006. You won't regret it.

You'll probably have to significantly lower the pH in your spa to dissolve the scale and then replace your water and this time fill it with at least some water softener water. Ideally you want your CH to be around 120-150 ppm to prevent foaming but you don't want it much higher than that or you can get calcium carbonate scale which is what you are likely seeing now.

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If you used well water without the water softener then I'll bet your CH is high. It's his testing that is probably wrong. You should get a proper test kit, the Taylor K-2006. You won't regret it.

You'll probably have to significantly lower the pH in your spa to dissolve the scale and then replace your water and this time fill it with at least some water softener water. Ideally you want your CH to be around 120-150 ppm to prevent foaming but you don't want it much higher than that or you can get calcium carbonate scale which is what you are likely seeing now.

Thanks for the help I do appreciate it. I'm using the test strips from leisure time those are the ones telling me it's to low. Could it be a false low? Sorta like a false positive?
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PLEASE stop using the test strips. First of all, most test strips do NOT test for calcium hardness. They test for TOTAL hardness that also includes magnesium and that is now what you need to know. Also, most test strips are not very accurate, especially for CH and CYA (they are best for pH when chlorine levels are lower and are sometimes OK for FC but not always). See this post that shows the differences between test strips and a high-quality drop-based test kit.

Get the Taylor K-2006 or the TFTestKits TF-100.

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PLEASE stop using the test strips. First of all, most test strips do NOT test for calcium hardness. They test for TOTAL hardness that also includes magnesium and that is now what you need to know. Also, most test strips are not very accurate, especially for CH and CYA (they are best for pH when chlorine levels are lower and are sometimes OK for FC but not always). See this post that shows the differences between test strips and a high-quality drop-based test kit.

Get the Taylor K-2006 or the TFTestKits TF-100.

Looking to buy the correct test kit now. Thank you.

The wife decided to jump in the tub and scrub the stuff off. She's running the Jets and hopefully can figure out how to take the panel off to drain the tub.

What's the best way to clean the filter? I want to clean it really well before reinstalling. It's brand new otherwise I would just replace.

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See Cleaning a Cartridge Filter.

As for test kits in the Netherlands, see if you can get a Palintest SP-315C and ask if they also have the Palintest FAS-DPD kit.

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