Is your calcium build up actually silica?

Be aware that the build-up occurring could be calcium or silica. The water softening devices that have been around for a long time cannot cure a silica build-up.

Backstory

Last year I was talking to a lady about scale build-up on bathroom fittings in the Western Bay of Plenty. She was adamant it was calcium (lime) scale and wanted a system that "would remove calcium" as she was moving into a gated community and wanted good clean water that didn't mess up the shower glass. I tried to explain that there was little (if any) problem with calcium scale in the area and she really needed a system that would address silica scale.

Silica scale is a well known problem throughout many parts of NZ, especially in the Bay of Plenty & Whanganui and is often mistaken for lime scale. Silica is virtually impossible to remove from glass once it has formed a molecular bond, which is almost instantaneous once the water evaporates leaving the silica in direct contact with the glass. Glass is made from silica and thus they form a powerful bond under the right circumstances. The only 'in-line' filter that we have personally seen reduce the nasty effects of silica (other than RO - which is expensive and slow) is the KP Water 'Ioniser'. It has a unique design that uses rare earth magnets to produce a very strong 'focused field'. Our happy customers have reported that this reduces the appearance of lime scale. It was originally designed & developed in Tauranga, initially to reduce lime scale, but over the last few years we have modified the design for use in areas with silica scale.