chk57

If a moderator could move this to the appropriate forum, it would be appreciated. Just noticed I'm in the "portable" hot tubs and spas

Had some work done to the spa lately and not sure if I really trust the guy that worked on it 100%. At least his memory is bad. I have two panels in my garage...one for regular house...one for the 220 stuff including SPA, and the circuit breaker has a GFCI as part of it. THEN, I have another 'panel' thing near the hot tub with breakers for the hot tub, and another GFCI thing. How many of those do I need? Spa guy says the one in the spa panel needs replacing...says it may have been causing an issue with my spa's heater basically never turning off. First time he was here he looked at the one in the main panel and said I was all good. Now he says that other one needs to be replaced for fear of electrocution. Thanks in advance.

thanks again for everyone's help. Got home and had SUCCESS! Not sure if this is right...or bad...or what...but my TA is pretty low...40. The pH is holding pretty well right around 7.6 after aeration...is that okay? Now onto Chlorine....

You shouldn't be checking the pH during or shortly after aerating. Aerating disturbs the equilibrium between carbonic acid, bicarbonate and bicarbonate, and the pH will go up, but when aeration ceases, the equilibrium will gradually be re-established. You should run the pumps for a few minutes after adding acid, but leave the air injection off. When you add acid (assuming you're adding enough to make a difference) you permanently destroy some of the alkalinity, and the pH **WILL** go down. The equilibrium shifts away from carbonate (high pH) towards bicarbonate (moderate pH) and carbonic acid/carbon dioxide (low pH). Aerating will always raise the pH temporarily, but the new balance will take effect after aeration ceases for a while. When I add acid to my spa, I don't aerate, but just run the pumps for a few minutes. The pH always goes down, and stays down unless I check it during or shortly after aerating. It is, after all, the equilibrium pH that you are interested in, since most of the time (I'm assuming here) you are not aerating your spa. It is that equilibrium pH that determines the effect that your water has on bathers and on the equipment. Try checking it first thing in the morning, and don't aerate after adding chemicals to adjust the pH. The carbon dioxide fluctuations that can cause rapid temporary pH changes can mislead you. Okay that makes sense. Will try again this evening once I get home...thanks for everyone's help.

Yes. I started and it was too low...40ppm. So I raised it to 100 using baking soda. Thats when I began the process of aerating, etc. thinking that was how I would get to the "best" level of TA. It took A LOT of acid to bring it down to roughly 7.0 pH. Then it took a LONG time (>60m) to get it to roughly 8. Should I be checking TA after every pass? Here is another question that I think I know the answer to....when adding acid to lower pH...should I be running the pumps? I would think it needs to "mix" in someway. Thanks for your help...if nothing else...I feel like a little kid again playing with chemicals!

I'm trying to follow NITRO'S approach for water chemistry. Here is my problem. It doesn't seem to want to balance? I open up everything to aerate...get it around 8.0...throw Dry Acid in there...bring it back down. Aerate it goes back up...Dry Acid again... it just doesn't seem like I'm getting any closer though? I've got up and down probably four or five times now....how many of these ups/downs does it normally take? It IS my first time trying to do this stuff CORRECTLY...maybe its just my inexperience?

I've had our tub for about a year now...and had a very limited test kit and some spa kit they sell at the store to get things going. Had minor issues here and there with clarity...bubbles...finally decided to do some research (here) and come to find out I really haven't been doing much correctly. So now I have myself the Taylor k-2006 kit and I'm ready to go. I emptied the tub last weekend since it was probably time and I want to start fresh and clear. I intend on buying one of those pre-filter things and fil the tub through there. My question...is that once its filled...what ORDER do you check things in? Sounds like I should only have to check Calcium once so I was thinking I should do that first. What do I move onto after that? Is chlorine (that is what I'm planning on using) the last step? I've read Nitro's writeup on proper care and hope to live by that but I'm just not sure what comes first as far as water chemistry. Great site...thanks for all the help.