[notmytarga]

This is similar to pool water management. The scaling is because of hard water - Calcium hardness and evaporation. Yes, a water softener will replace the calcium with Sodium (salt) and this will make the scaling less of a problem - BUT - you want a reasonable level of hardness and alkalinity or the water will degrade metals, and ceramics as it pulls ions from those items. The task is to balance the the pH, alkalinity and calcium hardness so that salts do not precipitate at the temperature of the water. This can be done with pool test kits guiding the addition of acid, baking soda and possibly Calcium Chloride. The Taylor kit has a handy nomogram dial that indicates if the balance is likely to cause scaling. A pH of 7-7.6 will be easier to maintain if the Total Alkalinity is raised to 70-100 ppm because it acts as a buffer.