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i just want to thank everybody again for contributing to this site. I have been reading for hours and have learned A LOT. i am also now convinced that my local spa dealer has NO CLUE what it really takes to keep a hot tub safe (his advice, add perfect pH, then one cap full of chlorine per week,and one cap full of shock per week; THAT'S IT!). anyway, i do have a few questions as i start my journey toward the dichlor/bleach method. 1. i plan to use a borax/acid combination. at what step in the above procedure would rec'd doing this. I am going to mix the borax and acid in a large bucket of water and make sure it is pH neutral before I add it; but plan to add it all at once. Does this plan sound OK? I had also planned to do this prior to adding dichlor. 2. after many hours of reading, both from the people who love the bleach method and from the people it has failed, i am wondering if borax is the key. the two things i have noticed about the failures is that they tend to have a ozone device and they aren't using borax. just wonder if i am on to something. . . 3. will CYA leave if the chlorine drops to zero? at times, and unavoidably, we travel for a few days to a week at a time. i know we should use bromine but my wife is allergic. i want to find somebody to add chlorine (and check on the cats) daily, but if i don't and return to find a hot tub without chlorine, should i shock and start again with dichlor or continue with bleach? thanks again, i really appreciate it. Port

i am about to try a superchlorinate/biocleaning attempt myself, and am also wondering which order to do these two steps. I am concerned that doing it as outlined about would cause the extra FC to "kill" the enzymes in the biocleaning product. Also, these steps do not discuss warming the water, but my biocleaning product says to raise temp to 95 degrees prior to using the product. any thoughts? thanks.