TedBull

I went ahead and completely drained it. Will start over using nitros method.

Well, since I couldn't get a response from the forum I went ahead and drained and refilled the tub. Hate to waste all that water. It's a shame nobody is around here anymore to guide us new guys.

Today the FC was .6 ppg. The CC was at 3.6 ppg. Its dropping. The CYA is still over 100+. Added more dichlore today. Not sure when it I can switch to Clorox bleach with such a high CYA? Can anybody answer that?

I wouldn't rely on that system. My ease chlorine canister was empty before two weeks. The mineral canister is half empty. I just bought the taylor K-2009 test kit and my tests results were vastly different then what the frog ease strips showed. I am going to follow the treatment methods mentioned here. You need a way to accurately test for free and combined chlorine. As well as CYA. And more accurate way to test CH, TA, PH, etc... I needed to add a TBS of chlorine after each soak even with my ease cartridge. Your free chlorine level is probably dropping to zero durring or after your soaks. Then creeping back up to 1.0 or 1.5 ppg. You need to shock your spa. Then maintain 3-5 ppg of free chlorine. My advice is order the taylor test kit and read Nitros water treatment write up.

I am now 3 weeks into owning and using my tub. I have been adding in dichlore daily, and using the tub daily. I have been relying on test strips for water balance and sanitation. I bought the Taylor K-2009 drop test kit today and tested and this is where I'm at: Temp - 100* PH - 7.6 TA - 130 CH - 290 CYA - 100+ CC - 9 PPG Should I drain and refill? Or can i shock it with MPS and convert to bleach or is it too late? My CC was higher this AM at 16 ppg after a soak. I added .75oz of dichlor then for a FC of 4.4. Now CC is at 9 ppg and FC 1.2 ppg. I just added .5 oz of Dichlor. what should I do?

Thanks for the replies. I did read Nitros write up on water treatment. I am now 3 weeks into owning and using the tub. I have been adding in dichlore daily, and using the tub daily. I have been relying on test strips for water balance and sanitation. I bought the Taylor K-2009 drop test kit today and tested and this is where I'm at: Temp - 100* PH - 7.6 TA - 130 CH - 290 CYA - 100+ CC - 9 PPG Should I drain and refill? Or can i shock it with MPS and convert to bleach or is it too late? My CC was higher this AM at 16 ppg after a soak. I added .75oz of dichlor then for a FC of 4.4. Now CC is at 9 ppg and FC 1.2 ppg. I just added .5 oz of Dichlor.

Oh, and it does have an ozonator.

Hello, I purchased my first Hot Tub. It is a New 2018 Caldera Cantabria. I received very vague water care instructions and was given the frog ease cartridges to use along with the frog shock packet and some balancing chemicals. I got everything setup well according to the ease test strips. The ease system kept the sanitizer level just a tad over the minimum specified level indicated on the test strip bottle for the first week of use. Then I noticed the tub walls felt gritty one day. I added a couple tablespoons of granulated chlorine and that resolved the problem by the next morning. I ordered a drop test kit, (not the nice Taylor kit though). I have been using both the ease strips and drop test kit to test my water. I dont find either one to be very reassuring as to the actual levels of sanitizer and balancin though. I use the tub every day. And sometimes twice a day. My wife joins in usually once a day also and the boy ever other day or so. We soak nude when we can and try and shower before. Usually soak for 30 minutes. The tub is 615 gallons. I keep the temp around 102. This last week I have been adding 3/4 to 1 tbsp of chlorine after each soak or every other soak if it's just me. The water smelled a little off to me the other day but the wife was ok with it. I tested it the next morning and the clorine level was below or close to 1ppg according to the ease test strip. Today. After two weeks of owning the spa I plan to add another frog shock packet and put in my clean new spare filter and clean the current filter. Can you offer some advice? Am I doing it right? How do I know when to shock? How do I know how much chlorine to add after a soak? If I add chlorine after every soak do I need to ever add it before a soak given that I have the ease cartridge "maintaining" some level of sanitation? The ease system seems very inadequate, what's your thoughts about it. What ppg level of chlorine should I be shooting for? How often should I use a flush agent to clean the plumbing lines? With each water change at 4 months or once a year? Anything else I'm forgetting? Thanks.