Simon Eves

Fair enough. Like I said, I haven't even considered testing the water before today. I was just using the measures of Enhanced Shock (not Advanced Shock - sorry) and SilkBalance given on their respective packaging for a 320 gallon tub, and at the intervals (both at the same time, once a week, regardless of use) as instructed by the dealer. Nobody else has complained of rash or itching, and that which I had myself was very mild, so I'm not too worried about that. I was just surprised that the Chlorine level shown by the test strips was so low, and was looking for confirmation that this is in fact to be expected in a continuous-circulation tub with ozone after a couple of days, as I have been led to believe by posts earlier in this thread, because the ozone breaks down the Chlorine very quickly. As long as it's in there long enough to do enough bacteria-killing, I'm guessing that's OK. I will do some more strip tests after I next add Shock, to get a better idea of the peak level and how it declines.

At the risk of being redundant by resurrecting this thread, I was wondering if anyone had any more recent opinions to give about SilkBalance. We got a Limelight Flair at the end of May this year - our first tub ever - and were given a starter chemicals set of SpaGuard Advanced Shock, SilkBalance, and a Nature2 FreshWater Ag+ stick. After four months of use maybe once or twice a week, with a weekly dose of 2tbsps of Shock and 3floz of SilkBalance, I have just done the first drain and refill, including soaking the filter overnight with SpaGuard filter cleaner, and then applied the regular doses of Shock and SilkBalance. A couple of days later, I removed and rinsed the filter one more time, after what I read earlier in this thread about SilkBalance pushing impurities out of the new water, and installed the new Nature2 stick. Today, a couple of days later again, I tested the water with HotSprings test strips (which I had not done before, but decided to do if only for interest's sake), and the TBr and TCl were low (virtually zero) and the pH was in the high sevens (nearly eight). I have read that continuous-circulation spas with ozone, like ours, do show minimal Chlorine levels on average, as the ozone breaks it down, so perhaps that's normal, and perhaps the SilkBalance just hasn't had time to work on the pH yet (although surely fresh water isn't that high in the first place). I guess my question is whether my dosing regime (just both together once a week, regardless of use) is enough, or if I need to be more selective with the Shock. I read that low Bromine/Chlorine can sometimes cause skin rashes, and I have certainly noticed that my skin is a little red and itchy after a long time in the tub (say an hour), although perhaps that's just because of the temperature (we usually keep it at about 101F). Should I perhaps start using the Shock before and after use, rather than just once a week, or does it not really matter. Also, should the SilkBalance take care of the pH? I'm actually wondering if the SilkBalance I have left is still any good, as it's four months old, and I actually made the mistake of leaving the bottle out in the sun for a day while doing the cleaning, and the liquid was rather grey/purple rather than the usual white when I used it. Like I said, sorry if any of this is redundant. I'm just a tub newbie and I don't want to end up with gangrene due to my ignorance!