PoolSpaNewb

Awesome. Thanks a ton. I have a bunch of other chemicals that I will eventually get around to posting about but for right now, thats a great start.

So, I have gotten a handle on the balancing part of the hot tub. Its pretty easy now that I have everything settled. Rarely do things get out of whack. Big thanks to the info on this site. However, when I first got the spa and before I found this site, I was roped into buying a crap ton of chemicals that are just sitting in my storage room. I would like to at least use some of them. The one Im curious about is Spa Zap. Its a packet that contains 30g of sodium dichlor s triazinetrione and is labelled as a clarifier and eliminator. From what I can see, sodium dichlor is a type of chlorine. Since Im using Bromine, Im not entirely sure if I should/could still use these packets or not. Again, just dont want all this stuff to go to waste. Any advice would be great! PS. Just for reference to avoid reading back .. have a 330g spa with an ozonator and using bromine tablets, 5.25% bleach, borax, baking soda.

It's really no different than when you were testing with strips and the levels were not where you wanted them. The test tells you where you currently are and then you look up in a table or use a calculator to see how much to add to move the level by the desired amount FOR THE AMOUNT OF WATER YOU ARE DEALING WITH. The ONLY tables in the book that are based on the number of drops used are the acid and base demand tables used with the acid and base demand tests (which are not used that often). In these tables you look up the drops of demand reagent used to determine how much acid or soda ash is needed to move the pH by a certain amount. (You can also substitute borax for soda ash in the base demand test by using twice the weight of borax, the advantage being borax will raise pH without messing up the TA. Soda ash will raise pH and usually causes TA to go way too high). Said soda ash. Meant Baking soda. DOH! oops. Yep. The column heading didnt jump out at me. Got it all squared away. Thanks.

Hello again all, Dont mean to hijack/revive an old thread, but ... I have been using test strips to keep my water balanced. Thus far, its been a slight challenge but I feel it hasnt been too bad. However, I have purchased a K2106. I read through the book and got a quick question regarding topping up of chemicals. Lets take page 59 as a reference. It has the matrix chart on it for ALK. So, on the lid, its got the 5 steps for testing ALK. Step 5 says "multiply drops in step 4 by 10." Lets assume that I put in 6 drops x 10 = 60 = 60ppm. Now, I go to the chart on page 59. I find 60ppm. It shows 5.38oz next to it. My question is .. if I want to raise the TA to 80ppm, how much soda ash do I add? The amount that is beside the 80ppm (7.17oz) or the difference between the two (1.79oz). I think I know the answer but I just want to make sure before I start testing and wasting reagents. Thanks a ton all.

Oh gosh, its totally not a matter of cost. I just didnt want to dump 4L of something and have the water be just as bad in a different way come the spring. I trust your judgement and I'll just dump away As for the tying, duely noted Thanks a ton for the advice.

Hello again, As a follow up to above ... I bought a "winter closing kit" from Costco. It was a really good price. The kit contains: 4 Litres - Antifreeze -51 degrees celcius 1 Litre - Formula 6 Closing 4 Litres - Algae preventitive 1 Litre - Stabilizer Now, the packaging says the kit treats up to 80,000 liters of water. Obviously I have nowhere NEAR that amount in the pool (again, 15x30x54" oval - drained to 13" below the skimmer). At max, I believe the pool has about 40,000 liters. Right now, probably around 30,000 or so. The instructions for the closing kit just says "poor this chemical, pour this chemical, etc." My question is .. do I need ALL the quantities of the chemicals? Or do I gauge down based on the amount of water. Ie. 4L of antifreeze can treat up to 80,000. I have less than 40,000 liters so I only put in half? I just dont want to get into a situation where I am over saturating the remaining water with a bunch of chemicals it doesnt need. Any advice would be awesome. As usual .. thanks a ton.

Greetings all, When we first purchased our spa, we had little idea of what we were doing (like most people I would imagine). We were told that we absolutely needed to clean the filters once a week and needed a special product to do so. As with other special products (PH Up, Alkalinity Up, etc, etc), some of them arent so special and can be replaced with other household items. Our current bottle of filter cleaner is almost empty (its only a one liter bottle - have to use a cup each time you clean) and was curious to know if this is in fact, required. Its called Spa Prolong by Aqua Pro. It has no ingredient list but is a hard surface cleaner (with a CCD 146 certification). After some google research, I have found that this essentially is a classification for many household cleaners. So, what I would like to know is .. can I simply use a combination of a mild detergent and water? If not, are there any household products that I can use instead of spending $17 a litre for a cleaning agent? Thanks a ton, as always.

Awesome. Thanks a ton, man. I really appreciate the time taken to write that out. Sounds like I had a better handle on it than I thought

This is exactly the right stuff! (There are other brands also but this one is just fine.) Awesome. Thanks Waterbear. The only reason Im going with this stuff is because I believe that same site has really good prices on winter and solar covers. They also have free shipping which is nice

Dont mean to hijack but my question also relates to the OP's issue. It is mentioned that one is to use granular or liquid bromine to create a reserve. Could a product like the link below be used to do that? It says thats what its for but we all know how midleading advertizing can be. h**p://www.poolgeek.com/HTH-Spa-Brom-Start-P3887.aspx

Hey guys, Got a 15' x 30' x 54" oval above ground pool. All resin exterior. Salt water. Cartridge filter. 1.5 hp two stage pump. As the title suggests, Im curious to know what is actually needed to close the pool for the winter. I went to the pool store and obviously, they tried to sell me a ton of stuff (none of which I bought). I stopped listening but I think the soon to be decommissioned MIR space station was on the list. Anywho, some of the things mentioned were: - a leaf cover or solid cover for the pool - 3 different chemicals to put in the water so it stays stable over the winter - a foam insert thingy for the skimmer - a cover for the skimmer (rectangular, plastic) and Im assuming its to put over the skimmer so nothing gets into it So, what do I actually need? I guess, whilst I am at it, a couple question on pool draining: how much do I drain it? Ive heard everything from just below the skimmer to half way .. what is true? I have heard of a trick where you get a couple of big beach balls, put them in the water and when you put the winter cover on, its peaked in the middle so snow, ice, leaves, etc, have the potential to slide off .. as opposed to all sitting on the tarp. This true? Accurate? Will it work? Anywho .. just want to get some information as Id like to get stuff squared away before last minute. Thanks a bunch.

Yeah once I found this site, I realized that the instructions they gave me were incorrect. I have no bromine reserve. Given the condition of the water now, would I be ok to add some bromine and shock with bleach, or just drain and start over? Also, what is "best practice" with regards to motors running over night? I have it scheduled to run for 1 hour every night at 4am. Should I have it run more often?

Hello again, Ok, Im having a very frustrating time balancing my hot tub water. Before finding this amazing site, I followed the manufacturers recommended directions which involved using various chemicals (of course, none of which, have any of the ingredients on them so posting them would be pointless. But they are chemicals from Mermaid Pools and the chemicals are "SpaProtect" by Aquapro. After hitting with the inital chemicals, I brought a water sample to the pool place and they told me to add a few other chemicals. After getting readings that were close to accurate, I brought another sample and there was some adjustments. 6 days later, the tub has been used by two people, 3 times, for a total of about 90 minutes. Yesterday, after use, the tub was still within recommended parameters. Today, the water was fairly cloudy. Did a test, and the levels are ALL out of whack. Ph was suddenly at 6.8 (it was 7.4 yesterday), alkalinity is 60 (yesterday was at 11), calcium hardness is 320 (yesterday was at 205), and bromine is at 1 (yesterday 3). Another reading, Borate is at 50. I have a floating bromine dispenser with 5 bromine tablets and the floater is opened just over halfway (3 tablets are visible). What. The. Heck. is going on? SO, they suggested Spa Zap (which is a shock). Waiting two hours then 48ml of Spa Clear. At the same time, using a cup of Spa Prolong to clean the filters (for 6 hours). Tomorrow, I am to use 288g of Spa Balance to raise the alkalinity. Then wait two hours and use 96ml of Spa Stain Protect. Ugh .. any ideas? As I feel I am just endlessly throwing chemicals in the tub with unpredictable results. Thanks a bunch.

Hey all, Spa newbie here .. the name was picked for a good reason. Its been a tough go the first week, getting the water stabilized but its finally there. After a few good soaks, its been worth the "trouble." I have a question about the schematics of said hot tub. Why? Because .. im just THAT guy. See the hot tub we bought at this location: h**p://www.mermaidpools.com/en/hot-tubs/mermaid-gold-series/f-571-laguna-beach As one of the specs dictate, it has 4 speakers, a subwoofer and an mp3 connection. Im just curious to know if anyone has ever "Tim the Toolman Taylor-ed" their hot tub and put a better subwoofer/speakers/amplifier in their hot tub? I have always been an audiophile and the idea of doing this is interesting and sounds a wee bit fun. Now, I will say this ... im not ACTUALLY all that serious about doing this. Again, more just curious. I called the place where we bought it AND the 1-800 help line and neither were very helpful. Anywho, just curious to know if its possible is all Thanks a bunch.