New Tubber -- Chemistry Not Working For Me

[SiriusPwr]

Ok first off I've been reading some great reviews on this forum from a lot of knowledge people.. Great that people share their experience..

I recently purchased a used H2X crosstrainer 2 swimspa.. It's roughly holds 5000L of water.

It has an corona discharge ozonator.

Went to a dealer and they got me started on all the chemicals..

All of the products are from spaboss lithium, non chlorine spa - shock, prevent 2, filter cleaner.

So I was told to spa- shock and prevent 2 (removes metals, cloudy water, helps to keep parts clean)once a week. 3 or 4 teaspoons and 3-4 small cap fulls of prevent 2. If I read what the directions say for my size spa I would need like 30 teaspoons and about 10 cap fulls ..

After each use 1 teaspoon of lithium per person.. If I go by the products direction I would need about 7-8 per use. I questioned the dealer and he said that because it has an ozonator I'm ok using less chemicals.. Also questioned that when I was using the test strips that chlorine didn't even registered, said that's normal because I'm using lithium and it only has 35% chlorine..

Alright so I continued to do what he recommended for about 2 weeks until my daughter got red little pimples behind her ears and a little on her neck.. We both stopped going in and I started doing research.. The pimples never got worse and cleared up after a few days.. So I don't think it was the hot tub itch but maybe another form of bacteria.. I got tired of using dip strips that I was unsure of results and bought a lamotte colour q7 liquid tester.. So my findings so far is ph is around 8, alkalinity about 75ppm, calcium hardness 80ppm, free chlorine 0.10 , total chlorine .20 and cyanuric acid 2ppm.. I got a ph reducer because I'm using the lithium which is not ph balanced , I got a alk-rise and a cal-rise. I started off small.. If I go by the instructions on the bottle I would pretty much dump the entire container 700mg because my spa is 5000L.. I also added about 7 teaspoons of lithium, I did another water test after a few hours and noticed ph was good 7.5, alk-86, ch-98, free chlorine was .30 and total chlorine was .60 , I then added a few more cap fulls of cal-rise and alk-rise, checked after a couple hours alk- 86 and ch-110

Water looked good so me and 2 buddies jumped in.. I keep the water at 98F because my 4 year old daughter comes in with me and I don't want her over heating.. So after about 2 hours we all got out..

I checked the levels again - free ch -0 , total chlorine .06 , ph 7.7, alk 80 and ch 93..

So I'm thinking because we were in the tub our bacteria ate all the chlorine??? What about alk and ch why did that drop?? About 2 hours later without putting anything in the tub just the jets on moving water around I tested again, and alk is at 93 and ch is at 117. Free chlorine .07 and total chlorine .14 , ph 7.9.

Is this normal? The levels raise on there own? Why is the alkalinity so low and the calcium hardness so low? If I go by the products recommendations I will be using chemical containers every couple of weeks..

Is this normal for these swim spas?

Just some more info, it was a used unit not even 2 years old, looks brand new, replaced filters with brand new ones, freshly filled with potable water from a water truck, I keep temp. about 98F, it has a corona discharge ozonator which I haven't checked if its producing enough ozone but I'm getting a kit next week..

I must be over thinking all this because I've talked to a few spa shops and they don't seemed concerned with low alk or ch.. Even though I read that it needs to be in the range of alk=80-150 and CH=180-250

They basically say if the water looks good get in.. After all the reading I've done in the last 2weeks, I disagree.. All the levels are important..

One last question my cyanuric acid is low at 2 and I red that should be around 20-30..

Was thinking if I use dichlor once a month just to increase CYA and then continue with lithium???

Any help would be great..

[chem geek]

Your dealer doesn't know what he is talking about. You were simply using too little chlorine after each soak. The rule is to add enough so that you measure at least a small residual (1-2 ppm FC) for the start of your next soak, or a higher amount of you want more disinfection. An ozonator will react with chlorine so if you don't use the tub every day or two the chlorine level will drop faster than without an ozonator.

[SiriusPwr]

Hey chem geek, thx for response. I've read a few of your comments on other topics and you know your stuff! Ok so that makes total sense, My ozonator is running with a filter cycle..

By default It's programmed to come on every 2 hours.. Not sure how long the cycle last but I'm thinking around 20min or so..

I will change setting to every 6 hours and watch for change in free chlorine.. Also I will start to add more lithium after each use.

However why is my alkalinity and calcium hardness low?? I'm adding the alk-rise and cal-rise and it will go up after about 2 hours but then 6 hours later or next day it's 20ppm lower.

I read that ph levels will be bouncy until alkalinity is in proper range.. So I want to get alk and CH in proper range..

[chem geek]

The non-chlorine spa shock is acidic so that will have the TA drop over time, but if you are seeing such a short-term change then you're probably using test strips that are pretty much useless for testing or you are relying on your dealer for testing and, like their advice, they aren't doing a good job with testing.

Lithium hypochlorite is very expensive. It does the same thing as bleach except it's in powdered form. Also, you don't want to use that without any Cyanuric Acid (CYA) in the water since the chlorine will be too strong and will outgas too quickly and get broken down by ozone too quickly. That's why we say to start out using Dichlor to build up the CYA level before switching to bleach (or lithium hypochlorite if you've still got some of it you want to use up).

You shouldn't need to use those other products -- the non-chlorine shock, the metal sequestrant (prevent), the filter cleaner. Chlorine alone with proper dosing should be sufficient.

If you go with the Dichlor-then-bleach method then you'll want your TA lowered to around 50 ppm and you'll want to add 50 ppm Borates (boric acid) as an additional pH buffer.