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We just purchased a Limelight Flair a few weeks ago. We are very happy with it. We will see over time how it adds up, but we feel as it is from Hot Springs, it is good quality. We got a fair deal also. Very close to the price you've been quoted. Good luck with your decision! Anne

We have the "chrome" covers, but I don't know that they're really chrome. I do like the look. Especially when the lights are on in the tub at night, it reflects off the chrome and really looks cool! Anne

Hey, our tub was fixed today! It took about 2 minutes to replace the circuit. So, now we can enjoy our lights which are so cool now that they don't shut down our tub. So, I will add pics maybe tomorrow when I have a chance and then try to add them to my photobucket. Can someone remind me how I transfer them from photobucket to here? Anne

This is one reason I'm not a fan of the MPS/use method. I've seen a few people get hot tub rash from using this method. Now I'm NOT trying to sound a big alarm because chances are that's not what your husband has but keep a close eye on that rash and see a doctor if it doesn't clear up pretty quickly. http://www.medopedia.com/treatment-hot-tub-rash Thanks for that link! I did the usual weekly dichlor shock today. I have the repairman coming today to fix the lights on the tub. I'm not one to switch anything quickly. But we may be switching to chlorine daily sooner rather than later. We'll see. Anne

Haha! You guys are fun! And I'm not a "he", I am a "she", but no biggie! I brought this up out of curiosity as well as a little concern about the plausibility of proper sanitization with heavy use w/o much chlorine. My husband and I use the tub each night for about an hour to an hour and a 1/2. We shower before we get in and there are no suits. Our kids have to shower before they get in as well and all our suits are just rinsed rather than washed with soap when used. This was the advice from our dealer. Now, we shall see this first 3 or 4 months how it all goes. If I don't like the results, we will switch to dichlor after each use and shock with MPS once a week. But I do appreciate all your input. This is how we all help each other out. Jackals, eh? Hehe. Oh! Also, my hubbie just discovered the appearance of a raised rash on his lower back after we used the tub this evening? Could this be from chemicals, bacteria/fungus? He's using hydrocortisone on it to make it go away, but we need to get to the bottom of the cause. Anne

Well, there's been a lot of debate here on the "LaZboy edition" thread about whether to use MPS shock daily in conjunction with ozonator and silver ion cartridge and then dichlor once a week, or use dichlor daily with each use, and shock with MPS once a week. Well, my dealer has told me to treat with 2 1/2 tsp. or dichlor once a week. And use 5 tsp. of MPS shock after each use. Now, at start up, we used all the chemicals in the recipe they gave us, according to our local water table makeup. And then about mid week, I got my test strips and found that there was no free chlorine, so I added the amount needed and voila! Perfect! But then I was thinking later that they told me only to add chlorine once a week. So, I called their hotline and they told me indeed only once a week. You wanna hear something even more confusing? Try reading the handbook that came with the hot tub! It tells about keeping appropriate amounts of chlorine levels as well as shock. So, do I go by what the dealer says, what the handbook says, or what I read here? I'm thoroughly confused! All of that aside, I like not having strong chlorine(or as I'm reading is actually chloramine) odors in my tub. Chlorine irritates me and my husband's skin. We don't have any irritation with the current regimen we use. Our water is crystal clear, but I can't measure whether there's bacteria growing in there. So, what now? Anne

Whoa, Whoa! Let's take this down a notch. I think I'll give this discussion it's own thread, and hopefully without arguing. Anne

It's funny. My husband used to work for the company who started SeaKlear when they were developing it, I don't know who they are owned by now. Thanks for that info as well. It shows that not all company's chemicals are created equal and to read labels to make sure you're getting the same as you have been using. I am thrilled that I can use baking soda and Borax instead of paying an arm and a leg for different packaging. Anne Sea Klear is a Vanson company. They have great products and fairly reasonable prices. Still baffles me that clarifier can be made from crab shells and work so well! That is correct. My husband worked for Vanson as their chitin and chitosan manufacturing plants were here in our tiny litte town. He was at the first part of the process, the nastiest part too. He would have to move rotten stinky crab and shrimp parts shovel by shovel to huge tanks to break them down. The ammonia fumes were so bad he'd have to wear a respirator! They do not process into chitin here anymore, but apparently make products from chitosan here still. There are these medical pads used during surgery that can stop bleeding quickly, that is if you're not allergic to shell fish, of course. They were talking about how they were going to start making SeaKlear soon when he was there, that was about 6 years ago now. And here it is! Kind of cool! Anne

That is a beautiful tub! The cabinet is pretty. I'm sure you are very excited! I want an umbrella like that also as living on the beautiful coast of Western Washington, we get a whole lot of rain. For now, my husband attached some pipe to the table he made for next to the tub. We can just slide a golf umbrella in there and at least a few of the seats are covered. We're going to get a patio umbrella eventually and that will be larger. But we can't spend $3-500 for a spa umbrella. Anyway, awesome tub! I can see you're really going to enjoy it for years and years. And it sounds like Apollo did very well helping you out right away. I'm glad your problems were worked out so well. Goes to show that Arctic and Apollo are good companies to work with. Thanks for showing us the pics! Anne

It's funny. My husband used to work for the company who started SeaKlear when they were developing it, I don't know who they are owned by now. Thanks for that info as well. It shows that not all company's chemicals are created equal and to read labels to make sure you're getting the same as you have been using. I am thrilled that I can use baking soda and Borax instead of paying an arm and a leg for different packaging. Anne

Thank you! I read it and have learned a lot! I appreciate everyones' responses to my threads, I've learned so much from this forum. Anne

A chlorine level of 3-5 PPM will kill bacteria. If your tub is not circulating then until it is and you have achieved a 3-5 PPM level of chlorine in the lines I would not use the tub. If your tub was down for an extended period I personaly would have drained, refilled, sanitized to 5-10 PPM then once dissipated used the tub. You could of probably sanitized and cleared up your water after your extended down but it may have taken a few days to a week to do it. But one thing remains certain, a PPM of 3-5 of chlorine will kill all the bacteria. But I would not have used the tub untill I achieved that PPM for a couple days. Of course there are alot of factors involved, If your level of bacteria is so high that 3-5 PPM does not kill it before dissapation then a second or third attempt at 3-5 PPM would of been required or just shock to 10PPM, maybe even twice. But if you look at your water and assume no matter how clean it looks that is has bacteria. Then 3-5 PPM of chlorine will be required to sanitize it. Give us some more information Anne? How long did the tub remain stagnant? How old was the water before it stopped circulating? What is your sanitizer of choice and what levels did you achieve daily and for a shock before your tub went down? We use our tub daily, sometimes twice a day, but our dealer tells us to only use chlorine once a week and then shock after each use to work with the Everfresh system on our HS Limelight Flair. It has the ozone and silver cartridge. They tell me this is enough to deal with bacteria and wastes. What do you think? Anne

Congrats on getting your tub! Sorry you're having a few minor set up issues. We ended up with a faulty light circuit on our Limelight Flair, but the service man will be here on Friday. We can use it without the lights and it's fine, but the lights are really fun, so it will be nice when they work. What can I say? I guess this is the fun of tub ownership. It's not always perfect right off the bat I guess. Although it should be if you ask me. Hey, I'll tell you what I did, I pushed for some sort of compensation for things not being perfect and we got a free fun item for our tub. Maybe you can push for them to throw something in for your inconvenience! Like my husband says, "you can't get things for free if you don't ask!

Wow! Thank you! This helps a lot. Now I know what to look for when buying my chemicals and also that some common household products work as well as the spa chemicals. ANything to save money as I know this tub is going to take a good bit of funds each month to run. Anne

No, it doesn't. Learn what the actual chemicals are and use the proper ones. To give you an example, non chlorine shock is potassium monopersulfate (MPS). It was developed by Dupont under the name of Oxone and they hold all the patents on it. Doesn't matter who's brand you buy, you are getting Oxone! Likewise, there is a pool algaecide called Polyquat (the only kind I really recommend). It was developed by Buckman Labs and it doesn't matter what brand you buy because it all comes from Buckman Labs! Total alkalinity increaser is sodium bicarbonate and pH increaser is sodium carbonate. Just about all the sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate available comes from a company called Church and Dwight. You might be very familair with one of their brands, Arm and Hammer. Yep, the total alkalinity increaser is just plain old baking soda at a VERY inflated price and the ph increaser is Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda at an inflated price! (Washing soda is also called soda ash or sal soda, btw.) Most pool and spa chemicals are the same way. If you are usng dichlor, for example, the brand really does not matter. Dichlor is dichlor. Thank you! So, really, if I run out of alkalinity increaser it's fine to use baking soda? Well, that saves a bunch of money! I did find a site called Pool Geek that sells the same brand of chemicals we were given for about half the price of the dealer. Though Spa Depot and another site sell other brands for even less. I guess it will come down to who has the best shipping deal. MPS is the one we go through the fastest. But I'm really happy with it! We don't have that nasty chlorine smell, well I guess it's chloramines I'm smelling in that instance, but it gives me a headache. Well, thank you! Anne

Even though it has absolutly nothing to do with no bypass filtration. And any properly filtering tub could potentialy have problems including the brand with no bypass filtration with the proper water care and maitenence not followed. Just goes to show you how important water care can be. Well, then I guess you'll have to "school" me on how to avoid having bacteria, parasites, and germs in general from living in my tub. I know keeping PH balanced is very important and sanitizing is also important, but really what do I need to do? Anne

OMG!! This goes to show that we MUST keep on top of our water chemistry and make sure to buy a tub with a no pass filtration system. Crazy Canadian, please keep us informed of how you are doing and how things go as well with your fight. All the best wishes for you. I will keep you in my thoughts. Anne

Our dealer specifically told us to add MPS after soaking, not before. We have the silver ion cartridge and ozonator. Are they wrong? It seems to work this way. When I test, everything comes out right. Anne

Our dealer provided us with Spa Essentials and this is the brand they sell along with SeaKlear, but when we need to buy more, does it matter which brand we buy? I've been looking at a few online spa equipment stores and they sell shock along with everything else we need for half the cost of the dealer. It's really amazing the difference in price!! So, all you experts out there, what's the answer here? Anne

Good! I'm glad it's worked out well. Now you can lay back and relax in that tub! Anne

Anne Anne: They do have tabs to slip the cushions in but they don't seem to work very well. The combination of suction cup and slots should do the trick. Will do that today and keep you posted! They work fine. I must've been misunderstood. I'm very happy with the design of the headrests. They definitely stay in place. There are parts of the design of my tub that I'd like to be different but nothing serious. Anne Oops, I get what you're saying now! Anne

I hope that does solve the prob as I know Arctic is a good brand. Call me crazy, but isn't that a kind of silly way to attach the headrests? Our spa's headrests are attached by each of the side tabs being tucked under these slots. They are solidly held in place. I guess each brand comes up with their own way of designing things. My spa has some parts of the design I'd rather were different also. Anne Anne: They do have tabs to slip the cushions in but they don't seem to work very well. The combination of suction cup and slots should do the trick. Will do that today and keep you posted! They work fine. I must've been misunderstood. I'm very happy with the design of the headrests. They definitely stay in place. There are parts of the design of my tub that I'd like to be different but nothing serious. Anne

I hope that does solve the prob as I know Arctic is a good brand. Call me crazy, but isn't that a kind of silly way to attach the headrests? Our spa's headrests are attached by each of the side tabs being tucked under these slots. They are solidly held in place. I guess each brand comes up with their own way of designing things. My spa has some parts of the design I'd rather were different also. Anne

I don't know for sure about this, so the experts will need to chime in on this one, but I've been told that it's really best to have not just an outdoor GFCI subpanel, but one rated for spas. Is this really necessary or a marketing ploy? I read this on Spa Depot's instructions. And really the one they were specifically suggested, was not very expensive. That's my possibly incorrect two cents. Anne

How exciting! We've had ours for a week now and it's been wonderful! Now you have to try to be patient while they set up and you get it hooked up, filled, and then the 8 hour wait to heat it! It seems to take forever, but you might just get a soak in tonight! I'm happy for you! Anne