Ohio Tubber

Hi again, I finally got the pH to remain stable after following Nitro's write up on lowering Total Alkalinity, great instructions Thanks!!! Here are the numbers now: TA= 60 pH=7.6 It took alot more dry acid to lower it than I would have expected considering I started at 7.4 out of the tap. So i have a few questions; what would cause the jump in the pH when I started at a normal value like 7.4? I'm thinking it had to be the Gentle Spa but isn't that supposed to be pH neutral? Also, is there a way to check on the borate level in the spa? I noticed that that value of borates in the tub affects The Pool Calculator's recommendations on how much dry acid to use and I can't seem to find out how much the borate level rises with adding 10 oz of Gentle Spa. Thanks!

I'll report back on the pH when the FC level drops. As far as a sanitizer, I used MPS as a daily sanitizer with dichlor once a week to shock for the first 4 months. After the first refill I went to primarily dichlor for both.

Hi all, I am relatively new to owning a spa (8 months) and I've been having issues with high ph readings after my 2 water changes. During the initial 4 months after getting the spa I really did not have any water issues and all the numbers seemed stable and needed only minor adjustments. After my first water change I had very high ph readings (8.0+) and I spent a few weeks chasing the ph up and down. I attributed this to me being a new owner and probably doing something wrong. Thankfully I found this forum and all of you very knowledgeable people. I spent a lot of time reading the posts trying to get a good understanding of how the chemistry works and I saw a post encouraging the use of Gentle Spa to maintain the ph so I decided to try it to see if the initial high ph readings would be eliminated. Here are the readings from my current refill after the tub was filled (no chems added)using a Taylor drop test. The tub is a Hot Springs Vangaurd 400 gallon with an ozonator and a 24 hr. circ pump. Alk: 100 ph: 7.4 Calcium: 130 I added 10 oz of Gentle Spa per the instructions, added the Nature2 cartridge and then added 2.4 table spoons of dichlor to activate the cartridge. Here are the readings after the tub came up to temp (102 F). pH was 8.0+ alk was 110 What would cause the pH to jump up that High? The Taylor instructions say that the pH readings are protected from high chlorine levels so I don't think the initial superchlorination required for the Nature2 is causing the high readings. Could the Gentle Spa cause this, even though I had a similiar problem after my first water change and did not use it? I am not sure what is causing the pH to jump so high and I really need some advice, I don't want to keep chasing the pH again. Thanks