How Much Calcium Hardness Increaser To Add To Hot Tub

Amid all the spa maintenance tasks you lot perform, knowing how to lower h2o hardness in a hot tub is one of the most important. Equally of import is knowing how to raise calcium hardness in a hot tub. Wait, which one is which? Spoiler: They're the same thing.

Letting the calcium or hardness level in your spa go too loftier or likewise low can wreak havoc with your water chemical science, and tin fifty-fifty impairment your hot tub and its components. Yous need to learn how to go on it only right.

Why Is There Calcium in Your Hot Tub?

The answer is easy—considering in that location's water in your hot tub. Calcium is a naturally occurring chemical element plant in all types of water bodies, from creeks to rivers to oceans. It's besides in the water that comes out of our homes' faucets because that water comes from rivers, streams, aquifers, and the footing.

Minerals like calcium and magnesium also exist in all those sources, and over time, dissolve into the water. This presence of minerals is what makes water "hard." Depending on where you live, your water may exist softer or harder than in other places. If y'all're not certain how difficult the water in your domicile is, you can get a kit to test it.

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Are H2o Hardness and Calcium Hardness the Same Matter?

Another piece of cake answer. Nosotros're totally going to ace this 1! Yeah, calcium hardness and water hardness are the aforementioned affair. And now we're going to throw another term in in that location: total hardness.

What is Total Hardness?

The amount of both calcium and magnesium dissolved in the h2o is chosen total hardness. Why is this of import? Well, some h2o test strips and kits merely measure full hardness, and non calcium hardness solitary.

This isn't really that big a deal. Y'all could, if you lot actually wanted to, do a bunch of math to determine exactly how much calcium and how much magnesium brand upward your hot tub water's full hardness. But the truth is, you don't need to. It'south enough to go by the total hardness to adjust calcium levels.

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Why is Water Hardness in a Hot Tub Important?

It seems pretty innocuous, doesn't it? It's only calcium. It's found in milk and cheese and broccoli. It'due south healthy! It's not a caustic chemical like chlorine or muriatic acid. And however, calcium tin crusade significant damage to your hot tub if it's non managed properly.

Too Much Calcium in a Hot Tub

If you live in an area with hard water, you lot're already familiar with scaling. You see information technology on your shower caput, your faucets, your dishwasher, anywhere you use water in your home. If calcium levels get too loftier in your spa, you'll end up with hot tub scale.

You'll be able to come across some of it on the jets, in the filter, and even some nooks and crannies in the shell. Only what's more unsafe is the scaling you don't see.

Buildup on the pump's impeller can cause information technology to seize up, and replacing the pump tin be pricey. Worse withal, scaling inside your spa's pipes can impede water flow.

Also, too-loftier calcium levels can wreak havoc with pH and alkalinity levels, throwing your entire hot tub chemistry out of whack.

Finally, loftier calcium levels can cause white flakes in your hot tub, or a cloudy hot tub. Again, yous'll have more than trouble to become out of than but an incorrect calcium level.

Too Little Calcium in a Hot Tub

If you let calcium levels get too low, you run the risk of equipment corrosion. This includes the jets, the heater's heating element, and even parts of the shell itself.

Too-soft water can also result in hot tub foam, which means y'all'll have two problems to prepare.

Juuust Right Calcium in a Hot Tub

Nosotros recommend a range between 175 parts per one thousand thousand (ppm) and 250 ppm. This number also applies to total hardness. Equally long as yous're in that range, you're fine.

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How to Exam for Calcium in a Hot Tub

You have iii options:

Exam Strips: This is the quickest and easiest hot tub h2o testing method. Only make sure you use strips that include total hardness.
Liquid Exam Kit: A little fancier and slightly more labor-intensive than test strips, but sometimes more than authentic. Again, ensure the kit tests for calcium or total hardness.
Hot Tub Supply Store: Whatsoever store that sells hot tubs and spa supplies should be able to perform a h2o test for y'all. We recommend having the water professionally tested at least twice a year.

We recommend testing for calcium—well, just testing your water in full general—at least in one case a week. Exam more often if you use the spa more than oft.

How to Lower Water Hardness in a Hot Tub

Did the test evidence a calcium level above 250 ppm? Yikes. Time to accept action before you commencement to see any scaling.

If it'southward just a piffling to a higher place the high end of the range, bleed some of the water from your hot tub, add fresh h2o, and then add together a scale control production to keep the calcium level where it should be. Yous can add scale control weekly, if necessary, but always follow the manufacturer'south instructions for utilise.

If the calcium level is way in a higher place 250 ppm, your best bet is to completely bleed the hot tub and clean it. When you refill it, use a hose filter to keep at least some of the minerals out of the h2o. Then employ a scale control product to aid keep things balanced.

Got high alkalinity also? You can also follow our guide on lowering your hot tub'southward alkalinity.

How to Raise Calcium Hardness in a Hot Tub

Did yous find the h2o in your spa is too soft? You need to heighten the calcium level before your equipment begins to corrode.

Fortunately, the easiest manner to heighten calcium hardness in a hot tub is to—y'all guessed it—add calcium to the water. Really, y'all want to add together calcium chloride, which is the active ingredient in calcium hardness increaser made specifically for hot tubs.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions to get the calcium level upwards where it needs to be.

Dealing with Hard H2o Isn't That Hard!

By now, you should be a calcium hardness pro. Side by side time your neighbor asks you how to lower water hardness in a hot tub (or heighten it), y'all'll be able to answer with confidence. Then perhaps they'll let you borrow that sleek new riding mower they got last summer.

The primary thing to call back is that a high or depression level of calcium in a hot tub is adequately easy to correct. Just make sure you go on up with water testing and balancing, and you lot won't have to worry about scale, cream, or cloudiness ruining your soak.

Happy Soaking!

Matt Giovanisci is the founder of Swim University® and has been in the pool and spa manufacture since 1995. Since then, his mission is to make pool and hot tub care easy for everyone. And each twelvemonth, he continues to help more than people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting.

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