? regarding the Walmart/Aquachem 6 way

[drband]

Interesting... I used one of those kits last year and NEVER could get a reading on the calcium test either. However, when I got one of Ben's kits this spring, my calcium showed 140 ppm. I'm not sure why the AquaChem test will not work. The rest of that kit seemed OK.

Save for one of Ben's kits... they're easier to use and much more accurate!

[les_smith]

I was told on the forum not to worry about water hardness if you have a vinyl liner. My pool is an AG pool, maybe there is a difference with the IG vinyl pools. I don't think so, but I'm not a pro either.

[bradjo]

Hi jnorris;
I use one of those AquaChem kits and it matches the results of my Taylor K2006C pretty closely. The test for hardness isn't as finely titrated as that in the Taylor kit but it works.

My water with the AC kit turns a sort of pinkish. I wouldn't really call it violet. Further mine doesn't really turn blue it turns Navy! Which is essentially in the blue family I suppose but if you are seeing those colors you are doing ok.

Essentially Calcium isn't really important in a vinyl liner pool. But it's not precisely of no value. In some instances Calcium can precipitate out (scale). With some heaters that might be a problem if you can't clean them.
Jo