Koolbreez

First off let me say what a godsend this forum has been to guiding me through the minefield of new hot tub ownership. I've been using the dichlor-bleach method for about a month now and feel pretty good about where my water balance is at, but still am a little shaky with the sanitation side of things, although it seems that I'm getting into a bit of a rhythm with that now. One thing that has been bugging me though, is why is CD measured as a percentage and not an absolute number? Based on this it would seem that FC would never reach zero (keep putting your hand halfway to the wall and you'll never touch it.) I have a CD of about 50% with an ozonator that runs 24/7. After an evenings use I'll bring my Fc up to about 10, then when I get in the next night it's at 5 and I use up about 4 during my soak and then start over. Now for arguments sake, if I were to raise it to 100 ppm, the next night it would be at 50? What is using up all this FC? Sorry if this is a silly question, but I guess I just don't get it. I know I don't need to get it to enjoy my tub and keep it clean, but if anyone would like to explain it that would be awesome.

I'm starting the bleach/dichlor method with a new fill and have been adding dichlor for about a week and calculate that I have added approx. 33 ppm FC using dichlor, which I believe should give me a Cya level of around 30 (33 x 0.9 = 29.7.) I had not tested the level yet, just calculated. Today when I tested it with the Taylor Kit my result is less than 30 (the black dot never disappeared and the cloudy solution didn't appear very cloudy.) As I understand it, based on my calculations I should be switching to bleach now, but my test results have left me wondering. Should I just go with my calculations and switch to bleach now, or continue to add dichlor until I can test it out at 30 ppm. TIA.

@Bart - I'm glad to hear your experience with a fresh fill, I'm hoping mine is similar. I think I will add to 10ppm FC again tonight and see if it stabilizes to a more reasonable CD. I was kind of wondering if it was something from the hose being eaten up on the first "shock." I think I'll also give my filters a little better going over with the hose, pleat by pleat. A second set seems like a good idea, as well. Any links to good (cheaper than my local dealer) online places to get filters?

Another thought just occured to me. What about filter cleanliness? I've just been hosing them off about every other week and with my refills and not really spending a ton of time about it. I know I'm getting the surface dirt, but it seems possible that there may be some deeper dirt I'm not getting cleaned out with the hose. Could this be part of my problem?

Thanks for your replies. I do have an ozonator which runs continuously, so that could account for some FC loss. I was usiing Dichlor only previous to this fill and was honestly not measuring frequently and then with strips. I had been led to a "set it and forget it" approach from my spa dealer and was just shocking with a capful of dichlor weekly. So it seems possible that there is some biofilm build up from low sanitation. (This is actually my second refill, once at 3 months and a second time now at 6 months, which I thought was a normal amount of time.) Now my question is how to eliminate it? Can it be gotten rid of with good sanitation practices from here on out or shocking to 10 on subsequent days until I see my CD go up?

I've had my spa for about 6 months now and have just done my second refill. After much reading here I am planning on implementing the dichlor/bleach method, and though I may have some questions regarding water balance later, my concern now is the sanitation part of the equation. After my refill, I got my water close to balanced with a CSI from the pool calculator of -0.19. I will continue to work toward 0 but I thought that this was close enough for now and shocked with dichlor. My aim was 10 ppm FC, but I wound up at 12 ppm. After sitting unused for ~24 hours I retested and my FC was 4 ppm. This means my freshly filled, 6 month old spa is using 66% of the free chloride I introduced last night. This seems troublesome to me and I wonder what might be causing this. My Combined Chlorine was only 0.5, so that seems ok. Any thoughts on what might be happening or follow up ideas would be appreciated. Secondarily, when I test FC with the Taylor kit I reached the clear color endpoint, but then when it sat for a couple of minutes a pinkish hue developed and I added another drop, and then again, adding another 1ppm. Is this right or should I have ended at the first stop?

Hello, new forum member here, doing my research before I buy a spa. I've found lots of great info on the board and now I've narrowed my search to these two spas and was hoping to get some final details before pulling the trigger. We wet-tested the Prodigy and Sovereign at our local dealer and we were surprised that we liked the Prodigy better. We just thought we wouldn't use the lounge that much and liked the more defined upright seating of the Prodigy. We will be wet-testing the Jacuzzi 325 in a couple of days and I haven't found much on the boards about this model. The sales guy tells me that the jets on the 325 are "the best in the industry right now." Just sales talk or any truth to this? Would anyone like chime in on your opinions of these two models or make any comparisons you may be able to? Also hoping someone will tell me if the prices I've been quoted seem in line. The Prodigy was quoted at $6400 and the Jacuzzi at $6895. Do these prices seem right? I got the impression I might be able to haggle a little more with the Jacuzzi guy, but will certainly try it out on either one depending on our impressions of the 325 in a couple of days. Thanks in advance.