Jerry123 Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 The guy that i buy my chemicals from said not to bother with calcium if i do a water change at 4 months and that calcium needs to be monitored if you have a gunite unit. Any input on this statement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim_The_Jim Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 The guy that i buy my chemicals from said not to bother with calcium if i do a water change at 4 months and that calcium needs to be monitored if you have a gunite unit. Any input on this statement? It depends on what your manufacturer recommends on the Calcium. Calcium helps to make the water less of an active solvent. It helps to keep metals from rusting, and buffers pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry123 Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 It depends on what your manufacturer recommends on the Calcium. Calcium helps to make the water less of an active solvent. It helps to keep metals from rusting, and buffers pH. Thank you Jim, I guess it can't hurt to keep the level as per the test strip. I have a related question but since some forums frown on that type of follow-up I'm going to post it as a new question. It is in relation to bromine level with an ozonator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 It depends on what your manufacturer recommends on the Calcium. Calcium helps to make the water less of an active solvent. It helps to keep metals from rusting, and buffers pH. Actually, you are partly right Calcium adds hardness to the water (along with magnesium). If the levels get too high the water can leave scale behind and if the water is too soft (sodium and potassiom ions) the water can be corrosive. Calcium is not part of the buffer system, that is a bicarbonate/carbonic acid system unless borax based products have been used such as Optimizer in which case you also have a borate/boric acid buffer system in the water also. In fact, high calcium levels combined with high bicarbonate buffer levels (total alkalinity) can cause the precipitation of calcium carbonate (chalk) from the water which is what happens when you add calcium cloride and total alkalinity increaser at the same time and your water turns milky or your saturation index or Hamilton index is not balanced and scale (calcium carbonate once again) forms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Kahuna Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 My dealer also said not to worry about the calcium too much, a lot of it depends on your local water supply. I've been told by my dealer, and after looking around on the web, that there are other ways just as effective at helping combat the corrosion. I keep my TA within the optimal limits, and keep my tub slightly towards the alkaline side, this helps to lower the amount of corrosion and not have to worry about calcium precipitating out of the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjs Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 The water in my area is realtively soft. Since the main reason I drain and refill is foaming, I've seen recommendations from several sources that I should measure and add calciumm as "moderate hardness" reduces foaming, compared to extremely soft water, at least. If it wasn't for the foaming, I would't worry about low hardness at all. Corrosion, IMO, will be controlled by maintaining proper pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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