silversun

I've owned a sundance optima (same underwater lighting as the jacuzzi) for almost 2 years, and i've come to appreciate the lighting. LED underwater lighting is notoriously unreliable, and often one of the first things to stop working in a hot tub. And with short warranty, its almost guaranteed that you'll have lights go out, and those are not simple to replace.

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i own a sundance optima and can tell you the jets are great! i looked at arctic but ruled it out based on the weird insulation story and unjustified high price.

I've not had a 100+ CYA reading yet (switched to bleach around 30ppm, and usually don't like to get higher than 60ppm at any time) but I would probably partially drain it and refill until it's ~40-50 ppm. but definitely stop putting in any more dichlor. if you're not planning to drain it. switch to bleach immediately. CYA will drop over time, but I think it takes a long, long time to get back into range. likely months.

My taylor test kit came today, and I finally was able to test for CH. I had been testing the water for cH periodically at my local pool/spa store, and they kept telling me calcium was low (less than 125), so I attempted to get it closer to 200 to balance the water, based on pool calculator calculations. I kept adding more calcium based on these repeated low cH tests, but never felt like i had a good handle on what it actually was. I was shocked to find that it was 325 based on the taylor testing, which I trust to be more accurate than the pool store. Yet, when i plugged the numbers into the pool calculator (with a PH of 7.6 and 60ppm ALK) I was equally shocked to see the CSI was exactly zero! Is the high CH anything I need to worry about? or should i just accept the balanced water and keep an eye on it?

So my taylor test kit came today, and I finally was able to test for CH. I had been testing the water at my local pool/spa store, and it kept saying calcium was low (less than 125), so I attempted to get it closer to 200 to balance the water, based on pool calculator calculations. I kept adding more calcium based on these repeated low cH tests, but never felt like i had a good handle on what it actually was. I was shocked to find that it was 325 based on the taylor testing, which I trust to be more accurate than the pool store. Yet, when i plugged the numbers into the pool calculator (with a PH of 7.6 and 60ppm ALK) I was equally shocked to see the CSI was exactly zero! Is the high CH anything I need to worry about? or should i just accept the balanced water and keep an eye on it?

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yeah i can set the schedule and also turn it on with the timer. they're not mutually exclusive.

Yeah mine has the timer feature. I think this is what you're looking for:

I set up this system yesterday. So far so good. I dug around the tub and buried the extension cords and tubing. The only place it's exposed is up the side of the hot tub. I ended up placing tube directly into the tub, as you've done Ravie. I tested my BRS doser and discovered that its closer to 2ML per minute, so adjusted the smart plug to keep a +- consistent 1ppm of chlorine and scheduled a shock (10PPM) once a week. The only difference from yours (Ravie) is that I'm using a tp-link smart wifi plug instead of wemo, which I'm guessing is not significantly different. Everything else is exactly the same. I've also drilled holes into the bottom of the container housing the brs doser and chlorine bottle to make sure any condensation is removed. Now off to costco today to buy the large containers of bleach. Once i fine tune the dosing, adding chlorine should be an afterthought!! Just changing out the bleach container every so often. Ravie how's your system going?

This looks awesome!! I've been in the same position as many who've posted on this thread. I use the dichlor/bleach method, and I have a high output ozone system which burns through chlorine. I don't want to disconnect it, but I want to get off the treadmill of adding bleach every other day. Ravie - I just purchased everything I need to get started on this exact same approach and will set this up next week. One question; I'm thinking of placing the line into the filter compartment to keep it out of sight. But I have a sundance optima with a skimmer: It keeps the water in the filter and plumbing largely separated from the water in the tub unless it's circulating. I'm wondering if I need to set the timer to only release when the water is circulating, since it may be too highly concentrated otherwise, especially since the water in the filter is not allowed to freely mix. what do you think?