There are 2 SIMPLE and EASY things you can do to slow down calcium buildup. . . and neither one costs you a dime!
The first way to slow down calcium buildup is to brush the tile line (water line) weekly. This two minute job has a big impact on slowing the calcium buildup, but yet it is something that many pool owners neglect to do.
Before I give you the second way, I want to talk a little bit about the cause of calcium buildup (as it will help the second way make more sense when I talk about it). Calcium buildup on pool tiles is a direct result of the amount of calcium in the water.
That calcium in the water can come in the form of hard water. Every geographical area wil have different levels of hardness in the water.
Calcium in the water can also come from the chemicals you regularly add to your pool. You are adding chemicals to your pool every single week (even if you have a salt system).
Think of your pool as a cup of tea. If you keep adding sugar to that cup of tea, at some point saturation takes place and our tea can’t handle all the sugar you’re putting in it. When that happens, absorbtion becomes more and more difficult. The same is true with the chemicals you add to your pool.
Calcium buildup can therefore occur in any part of the pool that is under water. The most common place it occurs, though, is at the water line.
Another way to slow down the natural buildup of TDS in your pool (especially if you already have a known calcium or TDS issue with your water), is to backwash your pool frequently. That way, you are replacing saturated water with fresh water (assuming, of course, that the hardness of the “fresh” water is lower than the hardness level of the water you’re replacing in the pool).
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
If you do have calcium buildup already, use Limeaway or an acid base product and scrub the damage away. Many pool pros will tell you to replace the tile but that is not true, they are just lazy.
How do you identify calcium buildup? My fiberglass pool has some sort of buildup I hope. When you rub your hand over the walls of my pool it feels like rough sandpaper.
The floor is smooth , could this be calcium buildup?
@ Jenny,
It will feel rough…like sandpaper, however, the big giveaway is it’s white in color. When you have rough white buildup it’s likely calcium building up. The sooner you catch it the easier it is to treat the nasty stuff.
Terry
we have calcium build up someone suggested to use Limeaway and scrub will this screw up the balance of the water and then you have to put in a lot of chemicals to get it back in balance
@ jenny,
I am a chemist by carrer Jen. Here is a good tip for testing for caclium carbonate build-up. Pour a little pool acid into a cup and add about 3 time that volume of water (roughly).
Pour that onto the build-up on you pool. If it bubbles or fizzes it is a carbonate – most likely calcium. You can wet a sponge with dilute acid and hold it onto the build-up (USE GLOVES!) and it will dissolve.
If your pool is getting such a calcium build-up run it at a lower pH – the lowest allowable for your type of pool – it will reduce the chance of calcium build-up. Also run you alkalinity at the lower end of the range 80 -120 ppm – I run my tiled pool at about 60ppm alkalinity and at pH7.2 – this prevents the calcium build-up during the drought we are experiencing.
@Gletwyn
@Jenny
Please do NOT add water to acid…ALWAYS add acid to water. It elementary chemistry and basic chemistry safety!
@ Inge,
Comparatively speaking, it’s so diluted, it will have no measurable impact on the water balance or chemistry…unless it’s a plastic play tub or something.
Terry
First time on! Excellent site! I will be using this blog a lot; thanks!