LaLa Land

It's a good idea to remove your mineral cartridge when shocking with chlorine. The beads are made to dissolve slowly and the high levels of chlorine can make the process speed up and the beads will clump together prematurely. How often you change your water depends on your useage. When you get used to things you'll know instinctively when it's time. For lack of a better word, your water will seem thick. We use ours 9 times a week for an hour at a time, so we drain at the 2-3 month mark, closer to 2 months. If you are only shocking with dichlor you aren't adding nearly as much as those of us who use it daily. We don't have any problems with it, so you shouldn't either. If you use bleach you definately need to watch your ph, mine shot through the roof. Shocking with bleach is a much better alternative to dosing with it daily and using it as your primary sanitizer which I've found is a big no no. I prefer not to use it in my spa period. If you want to go that route, you might want to use a liquid chlorine product from a pool store for shocking. Bleach strength can vary based on manufacturer and type. Water changes aren't so bad, except when it's really cold. It sounds like you have a helpful dealer which is great. Happy soaking. Yes I really like my dealer he is alway chearful and happy to help me, I just don't want to be a pest with my millions of silly questions. I don't plan on changing my maintainance program, I haven't even gone a full month yet. I do want to see how long I will be able to go using this program until the next change. You change closer to 2 months, does that mean you also have to change the mineral thing too, or do you just put it back in. Mine says it should be changed every 4 months but perhaps that figure is based on the expectation that you will only have to change the water every 4 months. Do they get used up with more spa usage or do they just run out after 4 months use. Have you noticed whether your CYA level is high when your water begins to turn "thick" as you called it, or is this not a factor? 9 times a week for a hour each time, is that one person or 2 or does that matter. If my husband and I jump in for 30 minutes, would that count as 1 person hr or is it 2? If it's one person I could be adding my weekly shock with dichlor to soon. Anyway I find this forum so facinating. Sure wish I knew about it years ago when I was having problems with the bromine tablets we used in our old spa. SPA MOM La La

Hi Waterbear Just tested it for you using the aquachek yellow strips PH - between 72 - 78 FC - 0 Alk - closer to the 120 than the 80 CYA- 30-50 I don't have a strip for measuring the MPS even though after just reading the small print that came with the Freshwater continuous silver ion sanitizer I found out I should be testing for it. So I just order two boxes of them, since I'm really into testing and having fun with it. I do have a question that has been bugging me, if I keep adding the 5 tbsp of Dichlor every 5 days or weekly how long will it be before the CYA is at the high level? (Note: I messed up and thought after reading the strips and seeing the ideal range for the FC ppm should be for a in the 3-5 zone. Mine being at zero I keeping dumping in more Dichlor I did this for 2 days before I called the dealer and asked him about it. So I ended up adding 10 tbsp that I didn't need.) Is it possible to substitute bleach as I've read some people are doing for the Dichlor or will that interfere with the silver ion thing? Or can I alternate Dichlor then bleach so my ph doesn't get whacked or does that happen? Is it possible to get the CYA so high that my pool isn't sanitized? Will I have to change the water sooner than 4 months if it does hit that high cya mark? Sorry for all the questions but I'd like to keep the water in as long as possible before having to change it, my husband does the spa cleaning and if we have to change it every 2 or 3 months he might not be too happy. Thanks for all the help. Spa Mom La La

Hi Everyone, and thanks for all the info. Just thought I'd answer some questions and add a little more. My Alkaline level was good this morning it was just the PH was in the High zone. But I did check it later on in the day and it came down. Tonight we hoped in after I shocked with the MPS (2 tbsp) waited 10 minutes with the cleaner button pushed and the water was great no smell no problems at all. Afterward I decided to check the water again and the chlorine (FC) reading actually showed an improvement it was at the .05 reading. Does the MSP do this to the FC reading? Tomorrow I'm sure it will read 0 again. Oh by the way the Alk was good as was the PH everything normal. Also it was so nice that I decided to get back in 2 hours later, no MPS, just popped in. I notice now that my nose seems to have a slight burning sensation when I breath in . Is that due to not running it for 10 minutes or airing it out a bit before popping it. Other than that my skin feels great and all is good. How can it not be I HAVE A NEW SPA!!! I'm so happy. I know I'm testing to much, but I find this fun and just can't seem to stop myself. I love it... I get out and can't smell anything on my skin. I don't know how I lived with that broken spa for 4 years without one, oh wait I didn't, my husband told me I turned into a nag about it. HA, well he sure made it up to me.. gotta go kiss him now. SPA Mom LA LA

Thanks so much for the information Tiny Bubbles you sure put my mind at ease. Last night (Tuesday) my hubbie and I jumped in for 30 minutes and I decided not to dose this time with the MPS. Having superdosed with the dichlor on Sunday (5 tbsps) then dosing again Monday with 2 tbsps MPS before we hopped in for 40 minutes or so. I figured that we could go without MPS last night. This morning the spas water is crystal clear even my husband remarked on how clear the water was. Tonight I'll be sure to shock it with 2 tbsps MPS just to be sure nothings in there before we get in. Another quick question, if you don't mind. The PH was reading high this morning, could not using the MPS have caused that increase or could the rain last night have anything to do with it? My dealer told me I shouldn't have a problem with high PH and only gave me PH increaser. I ran the jets a little bit and tested it again and the PH seems to have dropped back to the higher safty zone. Just wondering if its anything I did or didn't do that might have caused this PH spike. I'll test it again in a few hours. Thanks for taking the time to respond so quickly. Spa Mom LaLa

This is actually the revised and new method of using a silver/zinc system. I believe what you have is basically a rebranded Nature2 mineral cartridge with an Ozonator. Ozone or not the proper procedure for the mineral cartridge is to use either MPS or dichlor before each use and to shock with chlorine (dichlor) weekly OR AS NEEDED (which is how this system got EPA registration since 'as needed' is often more than weekly!) The old method that many are still using was a low chlorine system with FC level below 1 ppm. This was found to not properly sanitize the water so the new method (as of 2006) was developed. What people don't realize is that if you calculate the FC levels in the new method they are the same as you would use if you were NOT using the mineral cartridge! If MPS is used before each soak then shocking with chlorine is going to be needed more than weekly if the tub gets moderate to heavy use! What most people fail to realize is that these systems are money makers for the dealers! Those mineral carts need to be replaced on a regular basis and they are not exactly cheap. (Yes, I sell them also but I do NOT recommend them.) ..................... What you are saying is what I was questioning, I've found the usage of weekly hard to follow (2 or 3 people daily) for 5 days. What if 2 people get in in the afternoon then two get in at night, is that 2 days or 1 day usage? Must I use MPS before each usage or is the one dose enough? What if 3 people stay in for several hours does that count for more than one usage or is it 3? I'm wondering why I need so much MPS since isn't it there to mostly help the CC buildup after using Chlorine (or am I wrong) and if so why am I doing it constantly after the Chlorine is gone (since I'm only using chlorine/dichlor once every 5 days, as you said it has been less than a full week for me) Plus isn't the ozonator also helping with the CC, so why the continuous MPS dosing? Also the high dose I use (5 tbsp dichlor weekly every 5 days for me so far), goes right back to a FC of 0 reading the very next day, so what good does this weekly high dichlor shock do is there isn't any chlorine left for the next 5 days? Is it just to make sure that something the ozone, silver thing, & the MPS won't kill gets taken care of weekly? How good is that if something can grow and spread for 5 days if me and the kids are using the spa daily? I agree with you that my usage of Dichlor will be the same as the old system that you referred to, especially when guest come over, or we begin using the spa more than once a day which we do. Still I wonder why such a high amount of MPS since the other method used doesn't require that much? Seems as though I'm going to be using as much Dichlor and a lot more MPS than the old method. Does the MPS disapear or just hang around, can you have too much in the water and what will that cause? Sorry to ask so many questions but its been a while since I've taken care of the Chemicals in a spa (4 years) and we have never used the Chlorine before (Baquil and later used the Bromine). I was pretty excited about using chlorine and so far the spa is great and the water is and seems fantastic. I just wonder if it could be simplier. Looking forward to more advice, and wrapping my brain around this puzzle. Spa Mom LaLa

Hi Everyone, I'm new here and have been really enjoying this Water Chemistry Forum for the past Week or so since we got a new 2008 Hot Spring Spa. My question is why does everyone seem to have a different way of maintaining their water? I've seen other Hot Spring owners on this forum that use various methods yet rarely have I seen anyone here that is using the method I was told to use. Is it up to each dealer to tell what method they perfer or is it something the factory suggest? Here is what I was told to do for my 500 gallon spa. (It has an ozonator and a silver ion thing in the filter system... I believe they call it the Everfresh system) 2 tbsp MSP before entering spa 5 tbsp Chlorine (Dichlor) once a week or earlier with heavy use. Most people here seem to reverse this using the Dichlor after each use & the MSP once a week. I've checked the directions several times thinking I was doing it backwards but no I'm doing what they tell me to do. The water is still clear and sparkling without much odor or none at all. Does anyone else use this method? Is it possible to use chlorine (bleach) once more during the week instead of the MSP? Does MSP build up in the water so that its possible to have too much in the water? If so how does one know? Whew that's a lot of questions so I'll stop now before I drive you nuts. Anyway so nice to have a new hot tub again since the old one broke years ago and hubbie and I have been without... I'm in LaLa Land again and in love with our new HS Grandee. Hot Tub Mom LaLa