tubbin it

Thanks, chemgeek!! I will try the trichlor method on the next fill and I will document how it goes. I really want to stay with chlorine as I hate the feeling and smell of bromine. Cheers!

Alright thanks! No ozone.. But sounds like I screwed up. When on dichlor, it was a fresh fill. Sat in tub for like 3 hr and had a party the night before. Then on Sundays morning I had 1CL and raised it to 10, but maybe there was residue from the weekend? Live and learn... Thanks! I really want to use the Trichlor tabs that came with the tub, as I travel a lot for work and can't be home to dose... My tub has a Trichlor dispenser in the basket. If I raise the TA to like 120 and use 50 ppm borates... Is there an issue? I do have a beachcomber and they market Trichlor tabs, mini disc's, as part of their treatment. Funny how it is not a concern with Beachcomber. The dispenser is completely sealed with adjustment from 1-10 so I figure it can be easily adjusted... Then using the tub should compensate for the drop in PH.. Might have to add mule team to raise the TA when it gets low... But do you see a problem??? Thanks so much!!!!

Thanks so much ChemGeek!

Okay bad title, but I don't know how to explain... Here I go, I was on dichlor building up my cya. I shocked to 10ppm, lowered the temp to 90, and went on holidays for 4 days. When I returned it had a CL reading of like 5ish. 1 week later (now on bleach) I raised the CL to 10, and 3 nights later it ran out and my water got cloudy. Temp still 90. So my question is, does the chlorine in dichlor magically last longer than the chlorine in bleach? Am I crazy? CL Is CL Right? Or is it different because the dichlor is stableized and the Bleach is not? It just seems that bleach CL Is used up faster than dichlor CL, not sure if this is actually possible though. Thanks!

Hello! How long are you guys leaving the cover off when just adding the 1 or 2 oz of maintenance bleach each day? Or do you only have to leave the cover for an hour when shocking to 10+ppm? Or when you add like 8oz of bleach after a soak? Thanks!!

Thanks Chem geek for the reply! Yes I find it completely odd because at 102f I had no problems what so ever! I could use all jets and blower all night... With a temp of 90, I was using the blower for about half an hour and the next day, bam PH went from 7.2 to 8! Okay, I don't mind using acid to lower, but I was unsure if a TA of <50 was okay? Really appreciate your help!! I used the tub today, finished, had a PH of 7.8 so I added 1 oz of dry acid by weight. I will check PH tomorrow... i assumed 7.8 was too high. Thanks again

Hi, Ive completely balanced my water TA 50 Cl 6 Ph 7.4-8 Ch 150 Cya 14... Still on dichlor Borates 50 ppm My problem is that my ph drifts up huge! so how can i lower it without my TA dropping below 50? Does sombody know how to have a cool Hot tub temp for the Summer months? Are there different peramaters for balancing my water to keep my ph in line at a cooler temp? Thanks!

Thanks Chem Geek! The CH is 200 out of the tap, so I just left it alone.. How would I lower it? It is an acrylic spa, but I know I may get lazy in the future haha. Right now I'm testing CL every day x 2 and TA/PH 4 times a week. When I get more used to the bather load and water demands, I'm sure I could scale back a bit on the testing. Thanks for the CYA advice I didn't know it would get depleted over time... I'll make sure to add some dichlor every month. Thanks!

Hello! I just picked up my first hot tub in April, and I didn't know how to balance and sanitize the water. I am so thankful that I found this site! The tub came with test strips, "alternative" sanitizers, clarifier, Ph up, and ph down. I tossed everything except the ph down. I got a Taylor 2006 kit, not easy in Canada! And the cost with the stirrer just over 200$ ouch, but worth every penny. I use to do water testing on boilers, so I would have freaked out trying to use test strips! They are Impossible to read, basically useless... Anyway, I read and read this forum and would like to personally say thank you for your time and excellent information. Using the bleach/dichlor method is simple, and my water is amazing! Ph 7.4 CH 200 TA 55 Borates 50ppm CYA 30 CL 1.5-2.5 I find that 2oz of concentrated clorox bleach for each 1/2 hour per person is perfect. Thanks everyone!!!! All of your time and knowledge is greatly appreciated! It's a confusing world out there! My water experience could have gone REAL Bad had I listened to some of the industry people I've run into... let's just say I got the worst info at a traveling hot tub expo. He tried telling me that the filters were so good, the tub didn't require any chemicals ever... we ran!