Quote Originally Posted by AridZone View Post
Looks like my problem is the hardness. I need to bring that down.
Don't fix what's not broken! If you have a pool heater, or are getting some scaling, then you may need to work on the hardness. Otherwise, not so much.

You have to realize that hardness is not that easy to remove -- you have to precipitate it and then filter or vacuum it out. You can drain and refill, but in Arizona, there's a good chance your fill water won't be a big improvement. You CAN use a modified version of a potable water treatment method called lime softening. But you want to be 100% sure it will work BEFORE you start on your pool.

This bucket test will give you those answers: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?16992

Good luck!