bart6453

Ken, sounds like you have a really great start on taking care of your tub. One question....what kind of chlorine are you using?? If you are using di-chlor and are thinking about adding 2-4 ounces....assuming you have a 400 gallon tub, that's going to be about 40ppm FC....which by now you know is WAY too high. An interesting not about Nature 2....the instructions used to say to keep FC at .5ppm.....no matter what....now it says nothing about using chlorine except for shocking the tub when needed. Here are the instructions from the Nature 2. http://www.nature2.com/files/TL2700_Nature...ners_Manual.pdf Looks like they just want you to add MPS before and after you get in your tub. Like I said.....I would use both chlorine and the Nature 2 as back up. At first I was afraid of the chlorine smell and such, what I found is that a properly maintained tub with 5ppm FC there is barely any chlorine smell. Secondarily, we found that a clean tub using Nature 2 is kind of strange to be in because there is absolutely no sanitizer smell. With that said, it's like a Pavlovian response...no sanitizer smell....no sanitizer???? and this mental thing made my wife and I nervous. As to adding willy nilly.....the concern is that you would be adding based on a measurement and not on demand. You should really be calculating how much chlorine you need to add to get to a particular FC PPM. Use http:// www.thepoolcalculator.com to get your calculations right....and if you have an iPod, get the app for that too. It's great to be able to make your calculations by the side of the spa.....plus it impresses the wife because it looks like I know what I am doing. Good for you on getting a good test kit by the way.....you are well on your way to a very easy to maintain and extremely safe tub.

Sounds like a good start...but a bit too general for me. Get yourself a good test kit....NOT STRIPS. Sounds like you are setup on the Nature 2 program, which uses MPS in conjunction with the silver cartridge to sanitize. It also requires a .5ppm Free Chlorine to maintain proper sanitation. I found it much easier to just use the nature 2 as a backup safety net, and use nitro's approach to water maintenance and keep chlorine at a more traditional 2-5ppm free chlorine. Test your Chlorine every day until you get the hang of it. I need to add chlorine every other day no matter if I use it or not. If I use the tub I test the very next day and then can go to the every other day testing. It took me a couple of months to get there....at first I would test chlorine every day. Take a read of Nitro's approach to water maintenance on this board...print it out....study it...it is by far the best source of water maintenance I have ever found. I think the dealers instructions are on the right track...just to simplified...someone on this board once quoted Einstein "Make things as simple as possible, but not more simple than possible" If you just add chlorine willy nilly and not based on demand you could be woefully overchlorinated or woefully underchlorinated. You cannot let your chlorine drop to zero...which it will over the course of a couple of days even if you don't use your tub. On another note, it's always a good idea to shock (that's your MPS) only when you need it...I.E. when combined chlorine is above .5ppm...instead of because it's that day of the week. Another thing you may consider is switching to the Dichlor then bleach method as described by Nitro. Many use it including myself...it's wonderful, easy, and very, very inexpensive. I would also use borates....again...read about them in Nitro's post. I know this was a bit willy nilly, but I am just spewing what I think somewhat randomly here. good luck...and remember...FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS USE TEST STRIPS!!!!! Oh...and another note...you can get a great price on the Taylor 2006 test kit from AMATO Industries...I just got mine the other day...I think it was $55 after shipping and took a week to get. I think they are a drycleaner supply store or something...anyways..that's the best price I have found.

I simply have to have one!!!!! http://www.taylortechnologies.com/images/images.aspx?id=230 Looks like they are about $30

So....I have been using a Taylor I-care K-1005 with DPD chlorine. I just received my K-2005 from Amato Industries....and I have to admit I am a bit intimidated by the kit. I realize it's all about the learning curve and such...but I just thought I would share my feelings as I have a very good handle on water care and quality, I understand the process, the goals, and the readings, and the procedures.....but the kit still gets me a little jumpy just looking at it. So...if anyone else feels the same way when they are starting out...you are not alone!

That sounds like one hell of a great way to go about buying a tub. Nice to see someone who is reasonable! To be fair, I am not a tub dealer either...but just feel bad for how beat up some of these guys must get. Kudos to you for being fair and respectful.

Don't forget that there is some expenditure on the side of the dealer to fill a tub up and wet test it. They will have to absorb the cost of deprecation from filling it with water and pay for the water, heating the water, and chemicals for the water. And in addition to these points, there is no way a dealer can possibly have every tub wired in to electricity. Another very, very good point. It's important we respect the dealers costs on setup for wet testing. If I were to buy a tub and had to wet test, I would find a dealer I liked and settle on that dealer. Then I would give him a substantial amount of earnest money towards the tub I liked best after wet testing. From there I am sure they would fill whichever was available....of course I would also want to buy the exact tub I wet tested so that the dealer did not have to absorb the depreciation on that unit. But that's just me....I shudder when customers ask me to spend money on a lost cause.

Don't forget that there is some expenditure on the side of the dealer to fill a tub up and wet test it. They will have to absorb the cost of deprecation from filling it with water and pay for the water, heating the water, and chemicals for the water.

Not gonna lie....this made me laugh pretty hard!

I have been changing my filters once my CD goes up to 45% or at the 3 month mark....whichever comes first.

I would use some type of a filter cleaner too....I like TSP because it works and is fairly inexpensive. Just make sure to rinse the filters very, very well otherwise you will get some foaming.

I have found that on a fresh fill....no matter how quickly I re-fill my tub....it uses about 8ppm FC overnight. After that it stabilizes out to the 20% mark or so. I usually bring it to 10ppm FC and have a residual of 2ppm FC. As to filter cleanliness...YES. I have a thread somewhere on here exactly about that. I found that as my filters get more and more dirty my chlorine demand moves upwards. I change the filters when it is at 45% and it immediately drops down to the 20% mark after a filter change. I have two sets of filters, and the dirty ones I clean by soaking in TSP for about 4 hours and then rinse them off very, very well. I use my bathtub to soak and rinse. After that I just let them dry and put them on the shelf until my CD rises.

1.025 ounces of 3% hydrogen peroxide should neutralize 1ppm FC in 500 gallons of SPA water. Why would you want to add something more to water you drink??? Really???? Don't you think the trained professionals at your local water treatment plant are the best suited to decide how to handle your drinking water?

Actually having a 1/4" drop is going to help you out. If you splash water over the sides it will run away from the house. Secondarily and more importantly, if it were flat and you had a torrential rain your could flood your basement. No matter the situation a reasonable elevation drop is required for surfaces adjacent to your home. If the equipment is not capable of installation with said elevation drop....you shouldn't have it that close to your house....no matter what it is.

I would drain and refill....that is just one long time to have your tub empty. Maybe get it extremely dry using a shop vac letting it air out very, very well. When I restarted it I would superchlorinate it and install clean filters. Maybe do a flush too, but just maybe. There may be a better way...but this is what I would do.

I think that a sterile mouth is better than a half sterile mouth. A pond or river or lake may have "good" bacteria that keep the water balanced, but none of us tries to keep a spa balanced with rocks, animals, rotting wood, algae, etc. It's possible, but safer to kill 99% of bacteria. I think our teeth are the same. Ponds grow biofilm even when "balanced." Our cave man ancestors didn't live long enough for biofilms to matter (avg lifespan ~30 years) but we certainly do. Do you really thing that you are going to have a eureka moment with spa chemicals and dental care? really????? Don't you think that the various universities and dentists who have fought tooth decay on a daily basis for hundreds of years would know much more about bacteria and PH balance in your mouth than some backyard warrior that just read about similar ingredients on both their spa chemicals and their mouthwash?

Ok...now you are really freaking me out....you have to tell me the deal with dental care living vicariously through spa care in your household. What gives??? Not trying to be mean or anything, but your questions are anything but typical...to say the least.

Jesus...you are really asking this question???? Really??? umm....as my cousin always says....."Crack don't smoke itself!"

I agree.....not trying to be a jerk.....but you need to bring it down a notch or two and have an electrician get it all hooked up for you.

Chem Geek will be able to give you a little better explanation....but here is what I know from my experience... On your initial fill water seems to chew through about 10-15ppm FC just to get it going. As to Di-Chlor, it adds 9ppm CYA per 10ppm FC added... so keep your dichlor use capped at adding 20-30ppm CYA and then switch to bleach exclusively. (there seems to be some debate about CYA degradation over time, so I add 5ppm CYA, via dichlor, every 30 days just in case) Keep your TA around the 50-60 mark like you have suggested and your PH steady around 7.5ish...at least that's what I do. I also use Borates to buffer the PH, I use gentle spa from Pro-Team. This seems to keep the ph much more stable. Also, if your TA is too low, it will pull your PH Down, and if your TA is too high it will pull your PH up, I found my perfect TA varies a bit from fill to fill, so I assume it varies for everyones own water situation. You will find your perfect TA when you PH stops swinging. Another note one FC, my tub seems to use about 10-12ppm FC for every person hour of soaking...so if you had 3 people soaking for 30 minutes that would be 1.5 person hours of soak...needing 15-18ppm FC to be added to keep the FC at the same level as when you hopped in. Keep in mind swimsuits, dirt, hair products and "other organics" will change your chlorine demand during your soak. If I were you and had a tub dropping down to 0ppm FC, I would superchlorinate it up to 20 or so ppm with Bleach and let her buck....Check it after a few hours and then again in 24 hours....after that you should have killed all kinds of stuff and your Chlorine Demand should fall into place. Just don't let it drop to zero for more than a half an hour or so. In a short period of time you will have enough experience to whiskey eye how much chlorine to put in after a soak so that you will have sufficient levels of sanitizer over the night until you test it again. lastly, and most importantly. THROW YOUR TEST STRIPS AWAY! Buy a Taylor Reagent kit and never look back. Much of your issues may simply be from inconsistent readings coming from your test strips. They all suck and are for high school flunkie science classes.

This could be a story in the Darwin awards.

Making the water slightly alkaline ensures that coagulation and flocculation processes work effectively and also helps to minimize the risk of lead being dissolved from lead pipes and lead solder in pipe fittings (wikipedia) the EPA requires something like .4ppm TC as a minimum for municipal water supplies (this is anecdotal from a customer who is the water guy at a nearby small town)

Hmmm.....do you think you could tape the cover on real good and put some explosives inside???? That might really be fun, and quick as all hell!

A reciprocating saw will work wonderfully. I have cut a few cars in half with them and I can say that a hottub will not slow it down for a second. For more fun, use a chainsaw....now that sounds like fun to me!!!! (Just hold on, don't want you cutting your face off when it kicks back.)

I just realized that you probably mean bathtub, not hot tub. Just wanted to point that out in case anyone else might have misunderstood. Oh yeah....the BATHTUB. Too funny... I just had a flash of someone draining and refilling their hot tub about 6 times to clean their filters. Good catch, Thanks.

I use my tub tub to rinse the filters. I just fill it and let them sit in clean water for a while...then drain and repeat....and do it again and a again. Usually about a 2 hour process...but then I have no foam issues at all.