hanna256

After decontamination, I tested my Bromine demand and it was around 2ppm for a bit more than 12 hours period. I followed the Bromine for beginners to the letter and I now have good level of bromine in the water. Of course, as JeffInPickering said, with that bather load, the floater isn't keeping up. But I do test every morning and add 2-3 tablespoons of bleach when needed, have to do it every 2-3 days. It has been only a week since the decontamination, but the water is still crystal clear and my water maintenance is a lot lower!! Thank your for all your help.

Yes, I have built a bromine base by crushing 2 bromine tablets and putting them next to the filters (dealer recommendation). It is only later that I read about the Sodium Bromide. Even then, with the 2 bromine tablets, bromine went up to 5 for less than a day. So I am starting to think that is contaminated with test water from manufacturer... As I am writing this, the spa is running with Spa purge in it. Will empty it tomorrow and continue with the decontamination procedure. I knew that keeping water clean shouldn't be that big of a hassle, my friends with spas couldn't understand why I was having difficulties, but i makes total sense. When the spa was shipped, they tipped it on the side and some water started leaking, confirming that old and dirty was inside... Didn't think much about at the time.

We had our spa for a bit over a month and we still cannot keep our water clean. We started off with Chlorine based sanitizer (came with the startup kit), where we had to add a table spoon a day. Didn't work well, the water would be really cloudy when used multiple times a day. We were tired of chlorine not working out, so we went to Bromine tablets in the floater 2 weeks ago. Chlorine always tested 0 to 0.5 during the 4 weeks we used it (Tested at the dealer and with strips), and pH was high (8 and wouldn't do down even with pH-). The new Bromine floater is open to the max, we see 6 tables in the floater. However, the bromine still tested between 1 and 1.5. When we shock the spa the water clears after 24 hours but return to dull and cloudy the next day. We have to shock again to make it clean. Alkalinity is at 100ppm, pH is between 7.6 and 7.8 (depending on the day tested), Hardness is 200ppm. We cleaned the filter every week with water and a hose. They are clean, we didn't use any filter cleaner yet, wanted to fix the water problem before adding even more chemical to the mix! The spa foams a lot as well, I am sure it is related. The shock we use is unstabilized chlorine. We also used chlorine free shock, but found the chlorine based one worked better. My question, is what are we doing wrong so that we have to shock every other day? The water is not smelly, or green or anything, just cloudy (not much, but enough). We had very good help from our dealer, testing the water and recommending chemicals to balance it, but I am looking for another opinion here to see what to do. I don't want to drain the spa and be faced with the same problem in a week. The spa filters twice a day for 4 hours each time. It has an ozonator that I am assuming is working, hadn't tested it yet... Testing the ozonator is our next step if you cannot fix the problem soon. We use the spa around 60 minutes a day, most of the time we are with kids, which make us 4 people in total. Yes, I almost forgot, we used "Spa Perfect" every week since we had it. Not 100% sure it works but it seems to help on occasion.

So here we are, we finally bought a spa that is 92"x92" (Maax Spa Elite 8000). We are in the process of getting quotes on the installation. We want to put a stone patio in and the spa will sit more or less in the middle of that new patio. However, we were told by many people (including the dealer) to put the spa on pea gravel instead of the patio stone. So my question is if the spa is in the middle, should the pea gravel base be below, above or same height as the stones? Some contractors are suggesting same level, while others are suggesting the spa be 1 inch lower. My concerns is if the spa is lower, it might cause drainage issues, wouldn't it? What is the opinion on this forum? Thanks

We finally went with the MAAX 8000 spa. We had a good deal and it had everything we wanted - Air jets, lounger, good cover and good warranty. It is was good 2011 model at the price of less equiped 2012 models. The dealer is one of the best in the area (if not the best). Can't wait to decide on the slab to get it delivered. Thank you for your help, this was a very good forum to do our research.

We are looking for a Portable Spa. What we want is good quality spa that we will enjoy for years, we don't need fancy gadgets... We narrowed it down to 3 models, the prices is similar (more or less 500$). We live in Canada, so insulation is important!! Here are the models: MAAX 8000 elite spas (2011 model apparently on sale) Jacuzzi 280 series (2012 model, with UV light) Strong Spas Vienna or Madrid. MAAX and Strong spa has the air and water jets, jacuzzi just the water jets. On paper, the Strong spas are the best. They include better insulation (similar system as the MAAX but with stronger shells), more jets and stronger pumps. However the warranty is less, 3 years instead of 5 years. The Jacuzzi comes equipped with the UVC light. Let us know what you think of these 3 models, insulation, quality and UVC light vs ozonator. Thanks