Vista_Life

On the side of a any cola can, I can see a list of ingredients. Why can't I on Silk Balance. I don't need to know their exact recipe. It would be nice, however, if consumers knew what they were putting in their tubs. Why the sarcastic response? It's a fair question. What's in the bottle? What are the alternatives?

I know this stuff has mixed receptions around here. I like how it makes my water feel. It also does something to keep it clearer than without. Without knowing what is actually in it, I can't mix my own concoction. They won't give me the details of the ingredients. Hmmmm... Seems strange. So, I can either dish out another $169 for 4 more months or find an alternative. I can't believe how expensive the stuff is. Any suggestions? I've heard Sea Salts used before to help the water feel softer. BTW -- I use Nature2 with Ozone and MPS and once a week dichlor shock as treatment.

I do about the same thing. We use ours a couple times a week but same treatment method. If it ever gets to be too long between soaks, I'll put MPS in it just to be sure there is some residual. The silver ions should keep some level of sanitation, as I understand it, but I consider that back up. I still do once a week dichlor (1 TBL)

Thanks for the info. I'll get some strips and start testing for MPS. I did read the Nature 2 manual but I guess I had put trust in my dealer to tell me what I needed to do. They made no mention of testing for MPS. That was one of the questions I asked them later. They made it sound like I didn't know what I was talking about. They said the strips we gave you at start up test for everything you need to test for. They are chlorine test strips. Is the Taylor kit overkill for what I'm doing? I'd still like to have a more accurate way to measure PH and Alk since I can't tell anything on the strips. I'll read the Silver\MPS thread. Again, thanks for the help. The last thing I want is someone getting sick.

Hey all, I'm new to the hot tub world. I've had mine about 3 weeks now and things are going well thus far. And while things are looking good, I'd like to know the "why" part of what I'm doing and be certain that my water just doesn't look good, but is indeed clean and safe. I have 2013 Hot Spring Vista Ozone \ Nature 2 My dealer gave me starter chemicals and a procedure of hot tub water care. They told me they would give a "class" on how to care for my water. That turned out to be the installer spending 5 minutes with me and putting chemical treatment amounts on the side of the bottles with a marker. That was it. Now I'm on my own. I want to know if I'm getting good advice from my dealer. Here is the procedure they recommend: 1 Tablespoon of Dichlor per week (I do this on Wednesday) 4oz. of Silk Balance per week (I do this on Sunday) 1 Teaspoon of MPS shock per bather per use - But no more than 3 teaspoons I also test my PH and Alk. with test strips a few times a week. So far, this procedure has kept things looking and feeling good. But I'm just going through the motions with no understanding of the why I do what I do. It all seems rather arbitrary when, to me, it should all be very intentional instead. I'm an Engineer and this is how my mind works. I called the dealer one day with a load of questions about "why" I do things. I asked if I should be testing for MPS level. I asked if I should test for CYA. My dealers respsonse was "Look, I'm not a chemical engineer. I'm just telling you how to treat water they way I was taught." With a statement like that, I don't expect any additional help from my dealer. Terrible response, IMO. The dealer says with Nature 2 and Ozone, I don't need to do anything else and I shouldn't over complicate things. So, a comment and a question: I've ordered the Taylor K2006 after reading this forum. Test strips suck and I want more information. Is the procedure above remotely close to the way I should be maintaining? Or should I be doing things in response to data and readings? Thanks for the help! My head is spinning with the information available. Dean