DerekJr

Where is the cheapest place online to buy Taylor reagents and spa chemicals like dichlor, mps, and acid? Or where do you guys buy your chemicals online? Thanks! -Derek-

I found the same thing with test strips. Completely worthless! Yesterday when I put in 10PPM of dichlor (reading for the k2006) my test strips said very little chlorine, like 1-2ppm. My PH does the same thing with strips. When the k2006 says over 8+ the strips will say like 7.6 or somewhere in there. I find strips to be completely worthless and had it not been from research I would have never known better. Strips should be outlawed and seriously if a dealer is reputable and knows there stuff, they will educate customers. Seems like most don't cause everyone I know that has a spa uses strips! From reading the Nature2 manual, you are doing it correctly. However you can also use Chlorine (dichlor) as your main source and use MPS once a week to shock. I believe it takes roughly 1/3 less chlorine then MPS if you go that way. Right now I am going to keep a little chlorine in at all times - 1-3PPM and I use MPS before and after soaking. I feel safer having a little chlorine in there. Then once a week I am going to shock with dichlor to 10ppm. That is what I am doing right now but since there is so much to take in with all this new learning I may switch to Nitro's bleach method. I like that idea but one step at a time for me. The main thing I like about his method with nature 2, is the nature 2 acts kind of like a backup, just in case you forget to monitor one day, etc. At least that is how I feel about it, and I really like that your CYA doesn't skyrocket! So well see what route I am going to take. From my testing as you can read, so far when I run the jet's it does indeed raise the PH, but if you read Nitro's post about water balance, when your TA is where is wants to be the PH will rise and then stop at a certain point. For me the TA is just really low.

You guys are sooooo hepfull! Anyway today I decided to add nature2 cartridge (for backup purposes) and put in some dichlor to ~10ppm. Wow! My PH went down to 7.2 from the dichlor being added. I thought well let's aerate and see what happens. 7.5 and the PH stabilized. What in the world? TA is at 30ppm. I aerated for an hour to see if it would shoot pass 8 and it did stabilize. The dichlor not only dropped my PH but it stabilized it. Its been a few hours and now the PH is ~7.2 and stable. So now I am thinking I did maybe overshoot it a bit, but I don't understand how the dichlor could have done this? One thing to note is my original 9-10PPM dichlor is down down to ~4.5ppm after 5-6 hours. I wonder if something in the spa is being killed that was throwing my numbers off. So weird. Were are gonna use the spa tonight for a bit and Ill of course be checking everything and see what happens overnight. If the PH stays low or where it is at tomorrow morning. If I would have added dichlor sooner, I wonder if everything would have been okay, Thoughts?

Thanks for the help guys. This morning the PH was again over 8 (from sitting, only temp cycle through the night), and TA still ~50. I think I am going to not worry so much about the TA for now and try to get the PH right (even if that means TA 20ppm). See what happens after I add sanitizer and give it some time. Next week I will receive the gentle spa and then experiment with that. I think Ill just drain the tub again and start over and try the borates to see if it will stabilize my PH at all. Ill see if I can find some muriatic acid as well even though that stuff is nasty!

What about when I am using the spa? If I run the jets the PH will go over 8. The last test I did tonight after adding more acid a couple hours ago, the TA was ~50 and the ph 7.5. Which would work but if I use the jet's at all, kiss the PH goodbye. I can get the TA and PH where I want it, I just can't keep the PH there. The only thing I can think of is to try the gentle spa when it comes next week and HOPE it can lock my PH in place.

Same thing with aeration. Got PH down to 7.0 and TA was ~70ppm. Aerate for 30 min and PH right back over 8. On our way down I guess. I just cant figure why my TA would need to be 20ppm for this PH to work! I ordered Proteam supreme plus (gentle spa) but that won't be here for a week. Down we continue to go.

UPDATE AGAIN (sorry just really want to figure this out): TA down to ~85-90 after letting spa sit for awhile. PH still over 8 It just seems like were on our way down to TA of 20PPM again. The water was fine until I use the jets at all. I guess Ill add a little more acid to see if I can get the PH to come down.

UPDATE: Ok added some more acid and then did aeration for 30 more min. TA down to 100 and PH over 8. I think I am going to wait a bit and let the spa sit and then see what happens. See if the acid continues to bring the TA down. Should I be doing that in between each aeration?

UPDATE: After aerating for 30 min, as suspected the PH jumps over 8 again. TA is stable at 110. I am going to add some more acid now. After adding should I aerate and then check again or do i need to let it come to equilibrium?

Nitro > THANKS! Doing that now!

UPDATE: Been a couple of hours and GOOD NEWS! Ph dropped to around 7.2-7.3. TA is still stable ~110. TA didn't drop but my PH finally went down! Woot! Now the question is should I follow Nitro's water balance and aerate for 30 min and then keep doing that until PH stabilizes around 7.4 - 7.6? My concern here is when I start using the jets the PH is gonna skyrocket again. Maybe not and I just didn't give the spa enough time previously to come to equilibrium. I am also thinking that predisolving the acid may have helped. If the PH skyrockets when I use the tub from the jets will it go back down?

MORNING UPDATE: TA - Dropped ever so slightly to 110 PH - Still reading 8+ Taylor k2006 acid demand test was 3 drops. So I added 9 teaspoons dry acid based on what the manual calculation says (No muriatic acid or borates available yet). I pre diluted the acid this time in a bucket of the spa water. I ran the jets on high for 30 seconds to mix. The temp dropped a little in the spa so it is also heating (cycling) on low. Is it okay to keep the cover closed so the spa doesn't lose so much heat after adding acid? I am going to test again in a couple of hours and see what happens after the spa get's closer to equilibrium.

Agreed! Tomorrow morning if my stuff is way off like it is now, I plan to do an ACID DEMAND test with my K2006 and when I put the acid in, I am going to give it a couple of hours to see what I come up with. From what I have been reading, the ACID DEMAND test is pretty accurate. Thanks for the helping out. I appreciate it a lot. Hopefully this will get solved.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Decided to test the water where it is at now before dark. Water is now at 86degrees and the PH is off the charts at 8+ from the K2006. I have had the cover on while it heats up. Ta has gone done ~10PPM to ~115. Nothing has been done to the spa except the water is cycling to heat the tub. The jets are not running just the cycling mode and low speed. It seems as though the PH skyrockets with any sorta air. I am just wondering if something else could be wrong. Could it be METALS? Should I try and use a metal remover?

UPDATE: Today I decided to drain and just try and start over. So I did that and filled the spa (by the way the filter is brand new) and the water temp was ~60 degrees. PH - 7.6 TA - 125 CH - 130 That is fresh out of the hose city water from my house with no water softener. The tub is now heating and I am going to heat to ~103 and then check again. However I may not be able to check until tomorrow morning if the tub is not heated before sundown. If that is the case I will post the next step of results. Then depending on results I will attempt to balance from there. I am going to order some GENTLE SPA for the future as nobody local sells it. Also my tub has an ozonator that was manufactured in 1997! It gives alot of bubbles in the spa, but no ozone. So I unplugged that. Do I need to do anything else, or is unplugging sufficient? Looks like a project to pull the line out.