Nitro

Yes, at a chlorine level of 50 ppm, it won't matter. FYI, on step 5 you can also add 2 oz MPS (non-chlorine shock) right before you add the chlorine. That will really give it a good shock. I think you will like Chlorine.

Be careful with that Hydrogen Peroxide you use to oxidize waste. It's nasty stuff at high concentration. In truth I hope it works out for you. If so, maybe I'll try it. j/k

Ok, let's hear them.

Yes, you can. However you should have at least 20 ppm CYA. Dichlor adds CYA, so if you have added over 4 TBS total so far, you should be ok. If you want the cheapest method of sanitation, check out my link below. You can use regular Clorox bleach, after using Dichlor for about a week or two.

Chem Geek beat me to it.

Excellent! I really recommend getting the Taylor kit, not for just measuring CYA, but for TA/pH/CH. Getting the TA/pH correct is difficult without it. With that said, if you want to get your CYA correct, you can calculate your CYA by how much Dichlor you have added. For every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) you add, you also add 9 ppm CYA. Also, CYA doesn't have to be exact. Anywhere between 20-50 ppm is fine. Chlorine does two things, it kills bacteria, and oxidizes bather waste (sweat, urine etc.). MPS only oxidizes bather waste, but does it very well. During a soak oxidizing bather waste is what the sanitizer does the most, especially if you're sweating alot. i.e. after playing tennis. Therefore, using MPS will help oxidize waste, and your FC will stay around the level you started at. A couple caveats though: MPS is acidic, and if you use alot, it will lower your TA/pH. Therefore you need to keep an eye on your pH. Also, some people are sensitve to MPS, so be aware if anyone gets itchy skin afterward. If it's just you and your partner, you can keep the FC around 1-2 ppm. If you have guests, you may want to raise it to 3-6 ppm. If you use MPS before and durring the soak, the FC will stay close to the same. I usually just use MPS for shocking once a week (or as needed) to clean up Combined Chlorine (CC) etc. After a high bather load is when CC can really build up if you don't use enough Chlorine, so I may use a little MPS before and during a party. That really helps keep the Chlorine Demand (CD) and CC down. I've never needed to. An Ozonator will raise your IDLE CD, but will help oxidize waste after use. That means your FC will drop a little faster with it running. Hope that helps.

There has been some discussion about Biguanide (Soft Soak, Baquacil etc) lately, so I thought I'd post some important info. Anyone considering this method of sanitation needs to read this. Here is a post by Waterbear (the expert on the subject) from this thread.

Because it's more expensive, harder to use and causes more problems. I know more people that stopped using biguanide than I do currently using it. You seem to be the only one on this board (and that I know) that uses biguanide. What does that tell you? Probably because he was duped into thinking biguanide is better. Well he just figured out it's not. Maybe because alot more people use Chlorine and Bromine than biguanide. Even if biguanide is used correctly it can cause problems. Not so with Chlorine/Bromine. Again I'm glad biguanide is working out for you, and hopefully you won't have problems. But it is the LEAST (of the 3 FDA approved methods) recommended way to sanitize a hot tub. My advice to anyone reading this is to stay away from it, UNLESS as a last resort, which would be very rare. Happy tubbing!

If you were using Chlorine and you developed White Mold, you weren't doing it correctly. i.e. you weren't using enough Chlorine. OR if you were using Dichlor only, your CYA built up too high diminishing it's ability to sanitize. Check out my link below for info on how to use Chlorine correctly. Also, check out my Decon link on how to clean your tub up.

What method of sanitation are you using?

Yes, try to get as much goo off using scrapper, Spa Flush, etc. Afterward I would do a Supershock to clean it all out from the tub, pipes etc. First add Spa Flush (Purge etc) to the tub and let sit overnight. Drain, clean again and refill. Then supershock with Chlorine Bleach (2 cups Clorox) AND MPS (Non-Chlorine Shock 4 oz). Let the jets run for an hour, and let sit over night. This may be an overkill, but it should clean your tub up like new. If not, drain, clean, refill and repeat supershock. Lastly, buy a new filter, because yours is most likely a mess. Then decide which sanitation method you want to use. Hopefully it will either be Chlorine or Bromine. If you do decide to try Soft Soak (not recommended), you'll need to drain the tub, suck the jets out with a wet vac to remove as much water as possible. Otherwise any Chlorine in the water will react with the Soft Soak and you'll be right back where you started, which may happen anyway if you have Chlorine in your tap water. Hope that helps.

My advice is to forget Soft Soak and any other biguanide products. Otherwise, you'll have these (and other) problems. Why did you switch from Bromine?

Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones, and won't get any funky Pink/White/Mold/Slime stuff.

If I were to add up the total amount of time per week I maintain my tub water, it would be about 5 mins. I bring a bottle of Chlorine to the tub when I soak. Then I squirt in the right amount after I get out, and cover it up. I'm at the point where I only check the FC/pH once a week. It doesn't get much easier than that. On my next water change I'll be trying out a SWCG. That should be interesting. I'm glad BaquaSpa is working out for you (for now), but to consider it much easier to use than Chlorine is a mistake. It really isn't. Happy tubbing.

PS, I'd be willing to bet if you soaked in my tub, you wouldn't even know I'm using Chlorine. I'd also be willing to bet I spend less time (and a lot less money) maintaining my tub than you. The biggest reason people get turned off from Chlorine is because they don't use enough. If your tub is well disinfected, you won't notice ANY chlorine smell. To be honest, I find it silly (sad really) that all these people are looking for an alternative to Chlorine (maybe Bromine). Chlorine is the safest, cheapest and easist to use sanitizer there is, PERIOD! The ONLY reason to use bromine is if you leave the tub alone for long periods. Even then I believe a SWCG is the way to go. IMHO Chlorine is King. But what do I know.

I'm bumping this thread because there has been some recent talk about AquaFinesse. Here's my opinion on it. AquaFinesse is nothing more than a Spa Flush, Purge etc. that you add to the tub before refilling to clean the plumbing. There is nothing wrong with that, but remember it is NOT a sanitizer by itself. You still need to use Chlorine to kill and oxidize bacteria/waste. (i.e. it's NOT Chemical Free) Don't think just because your pipes are clean you can keep a lower Free Chlorine level while soaking. All it means is your Chlorine Demand is low, and you won't need to add as much Chlorine to keep the level up. But as Check Chem mentioned above, most of the work goes to oxidizing waste, not killing bacteria. HOWEVER, if you use enough chlorine, your tub will not form biofilm, and your pipes will stay clean (i.e. low CD). My recommendation is to use plenty of chlorine (or bromine), and clean your pipes once or twice a year with Spa Flush/Purge etc. If you do this you won't need to use AquaFinesse on a continuous basis, which isn't exactly cheap. Bottom line: the less sanitizer (chlorine/bromine) you have in the tub during soaking, the riskier it is. Nature2 (Silver Ion's and MPS) is the only possible exception at this time. But IMO you still need some Chlorine, especially during high bather loads. Be safe.

If you're using bleach, the TDS that you're adding to the tub is plain old Salt. Salt is not a problem as say CYA and other TDS. I'd say you can safely go 6 months between water changes when using bleach. My last water change was almost 7 months, and my water was fine before.

Here's my opinion. If it's just me and the misses, I'll let it drop to 1ppm without worry. However, if I have quests, I won't let it drop below 3ppm. 4-6ppm is fine. Remember, if you have 20-30 ppm CYA, even 10 ppm FC is less Active Chlorine than a public indoor pool.

Just imagine if you were using a sanitation method that doesn't kill bacteria very well, "Peroxysan" (i.e. Hydogen Peroxide). This poster is trying to convince you to do just that.

Anyone, who wants to try using only hydogen peroxide as a sanitizer be warned, you will be at risk of getting a nasty bactera infection. Sounds like this poster is a sales person for "Peroxysan". SPAM

There are advantages and disadvantages to both Chlorine and Bromine. I would stay away from bigaunide though. Here is link with my opinion on the subject. BTW, I wouldn't leave a Bromine tub for 3 weeks, without checking, maybe 2. You can safely leave a Chlorine tub for a week if your Chlorine Demand is low (~25%). I'd say you can go about twice as long with Bromine than Chlorine. However, I know people that had trouble going a week without checking their Bromine tub. Bottom line, if you learn to maintain your tub water correctly (irregardless of sanitation method), you will spend very little time maintaining the water, and most of your time soaking.

Everything is fine. What's the problem? Just use Dichlor a couple more times until CYA hits 30, then switch to bleach. Don't worry about CC as long as it's under 1.0. Your TA/pH are perfect. You might consider raising CH to 150. Enjoy!

DE, that's what I was thinking of.

Man that's a cool little gadget. Anyone sell it separately? Thanks! Hey... I'm a Fungi Even better, check out The Pool Calculator. It does everything that does and much more. Except that to do that I have to run all the way into the house, upstairs, boot the computer, navigate, fill in the spreadsheet, write down the results, go back outside and get back to work You should consider calculating how much of the chemicals you need to add up front, then add them to the tub.

Yup. Concentration is everything. Eating too much salt will kill you as well. Doesn't Borax dry out the ant shells causing them to die?