misterwhisker

Hi All, New to the forum and this is my first spa(2006 Jacuzzi J470). After wet testing several brands, I then focused on finding a used Jacuzzi J470 or sundance Optima. The closest I ever got to owning a Jacuzzi is the Jacuzzi pool filter I own(i don't even think it's the same company) I'm in the process of finding a spa mover to get it from PA to NJ and am waiting on a reply from the first mover I called(think he may be m.i.a. now). Here are a few initial questions I have: The spa will need new pillows and speaker covers as the ones it has are a bit worn. 1) Where is the best place to get these parts? The only place I found on the internet would be thespaworks.com I will also try Jacuzzi directly but I'm not sure if they deal directly with the consumer. 2) Is their a "Spa water maintenance for dummies" guide somewhere that I can read? I know that this is a completely different beast than my pool. 3) Where is the best place to get maintenance parts such as filters, chemicals, etc? Is it best to find them on the internet or pay a little more and just get them from my local Jacuzzi dealer to develop a relationship with them? Thanks, Brian

Wow! And all I was trying to do was get some simple pool chemistry advice. Who knew that there was such drama in a pool forum. Waterbear, thanks for all the advice you have given me. I think the chlorine eating algae is hiding under my pool stairs. There is not much circulation under there and that is usually the first place it shows up. And you sir, are a real jerk who is a forum annoyance. You need to get a life! DO NOT FEED THE TROLL!

Thanks for the information. My test kit only goes up to 2.5ppm for chlorine. How do I measure huge amounts like 12 or even 20ppm? I have about 20 kids coming over for a birthday party today. How much bleach can I "safely" add before the party (in four hours) so that I don't have kids complaining about burning eyes. Bleach IS chlorine, specifically sodium hypochlorite. No different than the liquid chlorine sold for pool use and in many cases exactly the same strength! Pool chlorine is usually 6%, 10%, or 12.5 %. Bleach is 6%, 5.25%, or 3%. If you go the bleach route get the 6% or 5.25%. It is an unstabilized chlorine (same as cal hypo and lithium hypochlorite) so it will not raise CYA. I would stop the trichlor right now with a CYA level of 60 ppm or you will be asking for trouble. Ditto for dichlor, often sold as shock. Cal Hypo shock is fine but mure expensive than bleach and will cause calcium levels to increase. With a CYA of 60 ppm you want to maintain your FC at about 5-8 ppm at all times. When you shock you need to shock to 20 ppm. I suspect that you are not keeping your FC up there and have a constant nascent algae bloom consuming your chlorine. The fact that the only chlorine in your water is 1 ppm CC (TC-FC-CC) supports this. CC should always be below .5 ppm! BTW, three gal of 6% bleach would only raise your FC by 14 ppm in 13.5k gal and 5.25% by 12 ppm, hardly shock level with a CYA of 60!

Hi All, I'm new to this forum and wanted to get some advice about raising my FC levels. Pool is a 15'x30'above ground -w- a vinyl liner (about 13,500 gallons) Chlorine used is a 3" puck of trichloro-s-triazinetrione (90% available Cl) Shock is trichloro-s-triazinetrione (55.5% available Cl) I just did a complete test with my DPD test kit. FC=0 TC=1 CYA=60 PH=7.4 Alkalinity=130 Calcium=120 The problem is that no matter how much shock I put in the pool (2 lbs+) the next day my FC levels are back to zero. I put three gallons of liquid chlorine form the pool store and two days later the FC levels are back to zero again. I would think that my CYA levels are high enough to keep the chlorine level up but I guess I'm wrong. BTW-my chlorine and granule shock both have cya in it. Should I just buy one or two gallons of household bleach and dump it in? Never used bleach but the more that I read these forums it seems like a cheap alternative to chlorine. Wadaya think??