farwellbooth

Hello, I realize PH and Alkalinity are often issues and I've read a lot here, and elsewhere. After 3 years of hot tub ownership I'm still struggling with these two. Ph always goes up to a higher more basic number. I use a Taylor kit and it's often at 8.0, a dark purple. Alkalinity also creeps down. Here is my equipment, numbers and chemicals I use: -Caldera Cantabria spa with ozonator. About 615 gallons -I use Leisure time chemicals: bromine tabs, clarifier, renew and spa up. I shock every couple weeks with about 3/4 bleach. After bathing I add 1 renew tab per person. There are just two of us and not a ton of tub traffic. I use the clarifier about every two weeks. -The Taylor numbers are typical Can++ 180, Ph 8.0 (this always goes more basic), Alk 60 ish (this always creeps down), and bromine 3-5 ppm. The water is always very clear. I'm in Seattle and fill with city water, change about 2x/year. From what I read I adjust the Alk first. Most literature says over 80 however I've taken the advice here that 50 is ok. Regardless, once the Alk is in range I use and acid to get the Ph back down. I've tried both muratic acid and bromic. Both work however the Alk also comes down. If I start with the Alk higher, say 80, I can get the Ph at say 7.6 and Alk at 50 of which is fine. The problem is then a couple days later the Ph is back up to 8.0 and the Alk slowly creeps down, say 40 if I were at 50 when things were in line. So I'm constantly adding Spa Up to get the Alk at a good starting point, then acid. I have a blower and waterfalls of which with the jets make a lot of bubbles. I run these in attempt to make the water more acid but doesn't work. There is something about my set up that I can't seem to get right. Thanks for the advice.

I have a Caldera just over a year old and have been pretty religious on the water, thanks to this website. There is an Indentation of the letter C for Caldera in each of the pillows and one of them has some black gunk growing in it. I've occasionally wiped it off with a wash cloth when I wipe the edges however never scrubbed it thoroughly to get in the crevace. I finally got around to scrubbing it with a 303 cleaner, a citrus cleaner both with a brush and can't get rid of the gunk. It's as if it has grown into the pores. I let the solutions soak too and kept scrubbing with a brush with not a lot of luck. Any ideas for removing? Many thanks

I bought a Divine from Costco as my very first hot tub and ended up returning. I'm in Seattle and live close to the manufacturing facility and thought I could take a little risk. The POS tub had a cracked shell and a hole in one of the jet lines (sharp screw poking into tubing after taking side panel off. I also filled out a bad review on Costco for the tub and it is gone which also pisses me off. Ended up with a Caldera Cantabria for more money and couldn't be happier. You'll save money at Costco but the quality and service isn't there. Shorter warranty, crappy materials, I would highly discourage

I'm a bit of a newbie on my second water change after four months on a Caldera Cantabria. The current water is about 3 months old and recently changed to a very slight green color. The bromine level has always been at least 3 and I shock weekly with a cup of bleach. I shocked a couple days ago and it's a very slight green. It's not that easy to notice but the shell is a shiny pearl white and and I noticed it change from blue to green at about the 3 month interval. The new water always has a slight blue hugh. Again the green does't look swamp like, crystal clear green if that's possible. That's what I have. My ph is 7.8, alk 75, Ca++ 180, tBr 3.0. I use the occasional foam down, weekly clarifier, and occasional enzyme. Weekly shock with 1 cup of bleach, and leisure time renew tabs with higher bather load. May be time for water change although it doesn't look dirty at all. Only I would even notice the slight color change. Many thanks!

The Gleam isn't really a high end tub in the Highlife collection. I looked at this tub and if anyone wants true luxury in a large tub, lake a look at the Caldera Cantabria. I ended up with this after researching all large tubs. It's also 550 gallons. My water also took close to 20 hours to initially heat up. Kind of like an oven, if you continue to lift off the cover and peak, it will take longer to heat. On my first water change, not lifting the cover repeatedly significantly decreased my heat time at the same outside temperature.

I bought a Caldera Cantabria last November also with built in Spa Frog and ozonator. They work great together and however I believe the Spa Frog mineral cartridge is a gimmick and worthless. I add the occasional LeisureTime Renew tabs during higher bather loads and also shock with chlorine/bleach on the weekends. The larger Cantabria tub goes through the Spa Frog bromine cartridges pretty fast. I've take the top off the Spa Frog cartridge and reloaded it with bromine tabs... It's an awesome system, water is crystal clear and cheaper than new Spa Frogs. I also add occasional Leisure Time clarifier, Defender and enzyme. My alkalinity also creeps down and I add a bit of Leisure Time Spa Up weekly.

I guess this is scale... How do I prevent this? My Bromine is 2, Calcium 150, PH 7.6, and Alkalinity 50. This is right about where I try and keep my numbers. About twice a week I wipe the out of water shell and sides with a cloth. When it dries on top there is a white residue that also appears on they key pads and iPhone case. This never used to occur however I have stopped using Leisure Time Enzyme and also Leisure Time Defender since this has started. My guess is adding a bit of the Defender may make the scale go away however I'm trying to use less chemicals. I still occasionally use Leisure time foam down and Clear and Brite (I bought the Leisure Time package at start up). I've changed my filter not too long ago, 1 month and rinsed 10 days ago. Water is clear, just the white stuff when the water dries. thanks all!

Anyone? Cleaner to remove scum line? thank you

Hello, I've been using the Leisure Time Citrabrite to clean the occasional scum that appears in the splash zone. The water has always been very clean using Leisure time Bromine oxidizers. My wife occasionally wears makeup in and whatever other bather waste that is showing up is very hard to get off the shell. It has a slight yellowish color and seems oily when I try and rub off. Our shell is also a brand new pearl color which makes any spec show up. I need a good cleaner please that won't damage the shell. many thanks

Take a look at the Caldera Cantabria. It's a large spa with varying seat heights and the lounge will even fit your height. It's extremely well constructed and you can also put in a 70 amp heater vs. 50 amp for extreme cold, although I think the 50 would work for your location. I've owned mine for 2 months and went through all the vendors and ended up with a Caldera.

What's a good product to remove yellow scum line? I've tried the Leisure Time Citrabrite and it doesn't really work. thank you

I don't see the product Chas recommended above. What's the product? Thank you. A regular rag isn't enough and I also tried Leisure Time Citra Brite of which takes a LOT of elbow grease. Not a high bather load but my wife has makeup, we don't shower before etc. however the water is always clean. thks

Does this method also work for bromine? And to what level should I be shocking too? Thank you

Hello, I have a brand new (2 months now on initial water) Caldera Cantabria and running the spa frog system. My water has been crystal clear from day 1 using the inline spa frog. You have to add the little packet(s) of residual bromine bank at the start. I never did an initial super clean out whatever and it has been fine. I have my Spa Frog open at 4 (this is a large tub at 550 gallons however we don't have a large bather load) and this seems to keep up. If I don't add a little oxidizer (I use Leisure time renew tabs) after bathing the bromine will creep to zero. The Renew tabs are easy, all measured out and toss in the tub. You need to add oxidizer more often than weekly, at least I do with the Caldera and Spa Frog. Then I shock every Sunday with a higher dose/6 tabs of the renew tabs (now I'm using bleach, more below). With my bromine spa frog set at 4, the cartridge would be empty at about 2 weeks. I have taken a couple of the Spa Frog cartridges apart and now running Leisure time bromine tabs inside of 1 of them with the original mineral frog running in line at the top. I've also switched the weekly shock to 3/4 cup of bleach from 6 tabs of Renew. I still use the renew tabs midweek after bathing so I don't have to mess with the bleach bottle. After shocking, the bromine goes up to 6 ish and I don't have to add any oxidizer for a few days. Hope this helps, ping me if you want details on putting bromine tabs in spa frog cartridge. You also need to rinse your filter every couple weeks and soak in cleaner every month-ish. I throw in a splash of enzyme every week or so and this all seems to work well with the Caldara.

Hello, I'm a bit of a spa newbie (2 months on first fill) and I have taken apart a Spa Frog cartridge and running Leisure Time bromine tabs in it. A setting of 1, the lowest and least amount of holes has been keeping my bromine level at an ideal level of 1-2 ppm, testing with a Taylor kit. A few questions: -Does anyone see any major problems with doing this? I have a 550 gallon Caldera Cantrabria and it eats through Spa Frog Bromine cartridges (the original non-modified cartridges) in 1.5 weeks at a setting of 4 (this kept my bromine level at 1.2 ppm). Lost of water and a quite a bit of use being new to us. Only 2 of us though... -Do I always need to add the Leisure Time Renew tabs at non shock intervals? I shock with these once a week of which gets the bromine at 6-8 however mid week my bromine has occasionally gotten close to zero. Once I add a bit of Renew, it comes right up. Is my reserve too low (I added enough sodium bromide reserve at initial fill) or do I just always need to add a bit of Renew? The bromine tabs themselves have dichlor correct, which should activate the bromine without renew, meaning not enough tabs are dissolving? When I shock though there seems to be enough bromide ions converting to hypobromous acid. -Can I use regular bleach instead of Leisure Time Renew tabs with the Leisure Time bromine tabs? -My system has 2 Spa Frog cartridges stacked on top of each other. The top cartridge is a mineral cartridge of which I have left alone and opened all the way to 6, per the instructions. I'm assuming this will work fine with my bromine tab modification in the lower cartridge? And with or without the modification, do the minerals actually do anything? The package doesn't state ingredients. I take the cartridge out to shake once in awhile and none of the "rocks" seem to be dissolving. Being a new tub it has an ozonator and I like the idea of keeping the bromine low with the use of minerals and ozone however not sure if the Spa Frog mineral cartridge is BS and worth changing at water change/3 months? -My water has always been very clear with chemistry relatively in range. My only problem is the PH has a tendency to go up. I use the tub with 2 waterfalls, full air in the jets and often times air on/TONS of aeration. The aeration I believe is driving my PH up? I've read the alkalinity and PH threads here and trying hard to balance. Even when my alkalinity is locked in at 80, the PH will creep up. The PH is at 8 usually, is this too high? I add PH down, then alkalinity goes down, I add alk up, ph goes up, it has been a bit of a ph alkalinity roller coaster. If my alkalinity is at 80 and ph is at 8, is ph too high? Is this damaging? Many thanks all, appreciate the forum and help!