What happens if my water hardness is low?

Question

My hardness reads 50ppm and I'm told that the level should be between 200 and 400. How important is this ?

Also, I'm having difficulty getting the free chlorine reading up. Is there a liquid or powder that will get it up faster than slow release tablets?

My PH is 7.5 and the Alkalinity is 100, but the Cyanuric Acid is 0

Answer 1

You definitely need to get your calcium hardness up. If you have an inground plaster finish pool it needs to be at least 120ppm. If you have a vinyl lined pool it can be 80ppm. Pools with low calcium can become corrosive as the water looks for a calcium source. You need to get your cyanuric acid (CYA) level up. It should be 30-50ppm. This helps to stabalize chlorine and make it last longer. There is a chance your chlorine is being burnt off by the sun almost immediately which is why you are having trouble getting a chlorine reading. You can shock the pool with granular chlorine (active ingredient is calcium hypochlorite). This will also help raise your calcium level but you should you use calcium carbonate for this. CYA and calcium carbonate can be found at home depot/lowes. Your pH and TA are perfect.