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walleye

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Posts posted by walleye

  1. I let my PH drfit too high and I got the same scaling sysmptoms. I vacuumed up the scale and I put the technichlor in vinegar and it cleaned right up, PH has been kept at 7.4 to 7.5 with zero issues since. Good scare for sure. Turned out I had a bad testing kit that showed PH at 7.5 regsrdless. Once I used a different kit, the PH was around 8. Never hurts to have an alternative kit to keep your regular kit honest. Anyway, I love the SWG, best thing I bought for my hot tub IMO.

  2. Laugh all you want, this thing has been worth its weight in gold. Basically no maintainence at all for sanitizer. I was gone for 8 days on a MC trip and got back a week ago, left it on #2 setting, come back to a 2 ppm Cl. I leave it set at 4 and I use it nightly, have mainted a 3 ppm for a week. I NEVER worry about no sanitizer and after figuring out how my tub reacts, this thing makes it a breeze. I highly recommend and have ZERO interst in ANY company. I am bleach, borax, baking soda and technichlor...period. Best thing I bought for my tub no doubt.

  3. When I was on the Bromine system, I bought the floater Waterbear suggested. I could easily go 2 weeks prior to the tabs being depleted. I have a 395 gallon tub and 2.5 setting kept a Bromine level of around 4-5 ppm and the tabs lasted a long time. As far as the floater, I just sat it on the patio fence around my tub, never was an issue at all. Once out of the water it did not "leak" anything.

  4. Chem Geek, it was Leisure time Metal Gone. I was in the middle of converting to a SWG when this happened. Last night I drained the tub as it was also cloudy for some reason. I really had things messed up. I rinsed toughly this AM and refilled. Added 6.5 pounds salt (5.5 pool salt and 1 lb certified mineral salt) All else I added was 20 ppm Borates with 20 mule borax, took the CH up to 150 with calcium chloride, added baking soda to raise TA, adjusted PH to 7.8 with dry acid after all else stabilized and used 6% Clorox to bring FC to 4 ppm. I have the Technichlore running now and all looks good. Just sat in it for 20 minutes and I think I am going to like the salt system. Maybe my imagination but it sure seems to feel better then the bromine system did. Skin just feels smoother I guess is the word. Felt good as the water temp is only at 86 degrees! So hot outside I thought I would just leave heat off for a bit. Current readings after getting out of tub are:

    CH = 150

    TA = 100

    Borates = 30

    PH = 7.8

    FC = 3

    Sodium chloride = 1850 ppm (SWG is showing good level with green lights, I will take to pool store to have it checked digitally prior to adding more salt)

    Do you think I should add CYA? Pool guy said not to since it is a covered spa? I will do whatever you recommend.

    THX

  5. Upon refilling my hot tub, I had the water pretty much balanced. My tap water has about 50 PPM CH. This has been the way it is each time. I added the proper amount of Calcium booster and had it around 300 PPM. I then realized that my supplier told me on all refills to add a bottle of "Metal Gone". Well, without thinking, I added after the fact. Now my CH is at zero. I have since added 12 ounces of calcium chloride and it is still at zero. (400 gallon tub) Do I need to drain and start over? Or can I keep adding till it comes up? AUHGG!!

  6. I was told that if I used Mineral Salt (Dead Sea Mineral salt to be exact) I would need more than if I used regular pool salt. I am understanding that I need 1.5 pounds of pool salt per 100 gallons of water to achieve 2000 ppm Sodium Chloride. Can anyone tell me how much Mineral salt I need to achieve the same of 2000 ppm sodium chloride? Thanks for any help.

  7. Well I am about to find out. I ordered one and it should be here in a few days. I will keep everyone posted on this. I am cautiously optimistic as I have found nothing but good reports. Trouble is it is very difficult to find many reports at all. After it arrives I will do the conversion and hopefully all goes well. I ordered a supply of Mineral salt (not needed or recommended) but since my grand daughter has excema (SP) I figured it can't hurt. One question is the manufacture says not to ad CYA inhibitor but a user of the product says I should. Any input on this? THX

  8. Dr. Spa, why is it you look to slam somebody like there is a pot of gold for doing so? Does it make you feel better? It kind of makes you look like a jerk. No doubt this is not a medical forum and they should consult a real doctor, but that kind of replies will not help membership which I would think is important. No need to be a a$#.

  9. I think your right Waterbear. I did retest last night, and the PH was decent but the TA remained low. I added a ounce of Baking Soda, tonight the PH is 7.8 and TA is 65ish. I did buy the floater you and Chem Geek recommended, and I am working on the setting. The instructions suggested 4.5 on the scale, but that keeps my bromine at around 10 PPM, I dropped to 1.5 and it went down to 5 ppm so I upped it to 3.5 thinking it was coming down, but tonight back to 10 PPM. I am now setting it to 2.5 and we will see. Once I zero it in that thing is going to be great. (my tub is about 400 gallons) THX for all the help.

  10. I have a Taylor 2106 kit, I went to do a routine test on my tub a few minutes ago, got the following results:

    Bomine = 3.5 ppm

    TA = 35

    CH = 250

    PH = off the chart low. Took 10 drops of reagent to get it back up to 7.4. I panicked and started to read on how much of what to add. I tested twice with same results. I decided to go get a fresh sample right out of the tub, and it reads 7.4. (big relief here) I always keep a close eye on things, usually daily if I am at home. Question is this, I took a glass Pyrex measuring cup and used for all tests. I did the PH last. Could the water sitting there and cooling caused this? It might have been 7-8 minutes.

  11. It says to use 1/2 a cup for 40 gallons? Does not mention what strength, but is that not excessive? Seems like a bunch..... what do you think?

    Darn Mayo Clinic...they're all quacks!

    Certainly don't think they are quacks! LOL, In fact they have helped save more than one friend of mine, nothing but respect for that organization. Just was wondering if that was a typo...... Guess not?

  12. Waterbear;

    I went to the link you provided for water baths. It caught my eye as I have a Grand Daughter with Eczema. It says to use 1/2 a cup for 40 gallons? Does not mention what strength, but is that not excessive? Seems like a bunch..... what do you think? Also, I use the 3 step Bromine system, is this bad for her Eczema, or just not as bad as chlorine? THX

  13. you want to shock to over 10 ppm, 16 ppm is fine but, as you see, it takes a while for the level to drop under 10 ppm. You are leaving the tub uncovered when you shock, right?

    I add the Bleach then circulate for about an hour with cover off. I then close the cover. Should I leave open longer?

    The purpose of shocking is to get rid of waste matter in the water by oxidizing it and to lower bromamines (they are effective santizers but can have an odor). Depending on tub usage shocking once every week or two should be sufficient.

    As far as the bromine being low after heavy use, that is normal. Your floater should bring the level back up by the next day. If it does not then add a small amount of bleach to do so by reactivating some of the bromide reserve back into bromine sanitizer. Do not try and apply chlorine rules to bromine, they don't work.

    So adding bleach via calculations on pool calculator not a good idea? Seems to be spot on as far as ppm goes. Example if I am at 1 and want to get to 5ppm, it works out by the calculations of how much to add. I only do this when needing to raise 1or 2 ppm, or when shocking as stated above.

    Does your tub have a special compartment for bromine tabs?

    It has a non adjustable compartment in the floating slide where the water goes through (over) en-route to the filter.

    If so can you adjust it? No

    If not I would still invest in an adjustable floater. My recommendation is the Pentair (Rainbow/Lifeguard) #335 floater.

  14. Can someone please give a over all method / rule for shocking hot tubs? Maybe a pinned thread on the subject? Currently I have a Sundance Altamar and use the 3 step bromine method. I normally try to keep the bromine at 2-5 ppm. If it gets a heavy bather load it will dip to .5 -1 ppm and I add 6% bleach to bump it back to 4-5ppm. I use the pool calculator site and it seems spot on for how much to add. I also keep 1-2 Bromine tabs in the compartment at all times. It seems to work OK, but I often wonder about how high to raise the Bromine level while shocking. Last night my bromine got to 1 ppm and I decided to shock it as it has been a couple weeks. I added approximately 8 ounces of 6% bleach to get to about 16 PPM. After about 13 hours it is at 13.5 ppm. I have not been adding anything else to the tub. I have Borates at about 35-40 PPM, TA is 60, PH has been decent at 7.6 -7.8 range. Is this a good method for shocking? Is it too high or too low at 16 PPM? Is bleach OK to keep using in this method? How often as maintenance should I do it? Thanks, just trying to get a handle on this.

  15. Question on the test for bromine. The Taylor kit says to add 2 dippers of R-0870. It says if it does not turn pink to keep adding until it does, then do the test as you would normally. Question is this, If that works does it work in the opposite? if it turns pink with 1 dipper, is that OK to perform the test with? Not a crisis question but just one I wonder about. Seems as long as it is pink that is sufficient? Thanks.

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