DelcoHotTub5518

Thanks for all of the insights! My shock states the ingredients are 38% potassium peroxymonosulfate and 62% "other ingredients...is that the "MPS" you are referring to? I generally check my TA levels at least weekly, so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks again!

Ok, so I am trying to take all of this in as there is a lot of different info/chemicals being recommended, but the one thing I do use is non-chlorine shock and based on some of the discussion it seems like you recommend shocking with Chlorine/Dichlor (which is what I use for chlorine/sanitizer in my hot tub currently). Should I just do away with the non-chlorine shock and just use the chlorine as shock after uses and once per week? I actually use the Nature 2 Spa stick as well, but that is just in addition to the chlorine I add, so it's not my stand alone sanitizer. When I do get my pH balanced it seems my TA only falls to about 60, so I guess I can just let it hover around 60ppm as long as my pH is below 7.8, and not lower than 7.6...?

I appreciate the feedback from you both! I have tried Susanj's method of elevating the TA then reducing the pH and hoping the TA doesn't go too low, but I was just curious if there was a better method because that results in using a lot of extra chemicals to elevate then reduce both levels. Cranbiz, my hardness level is good as we speak, but I still have the same issue. The only way I have gotten close to having it all in range was to do what SusanJ suggested with raising the TA slightly over the suggested range, then when I reduce pH I hope the pH level falls quicker than the TA level. I will attempt both of your suggestions and continue to monitor this to see if anyone else has any tricks/tips on the subject. Thanks again!

Hello, I am new here, so I apologize if this top was already covered plenty of times, but when I fill my hot tub, my water tends to start with a high pH level around 8 or above and a low TA around 50ppm. My MFG guideline for my 300 gallon hot tub is TA between 80 and 120ppm and pH between 7.2-7.8 (ideally 7.4-7.6). I always start by raising the TA up to about 100ppm using Sodium Bicarbonate, then I move to Calcium hardness (which is initially low with my water source, so I wait a day after raising the Alkalinity, then I raise hardness) to about 190-200ppm. After that, my next step is pH. After raising the Alkalinity to the proper range, my pH is now even higher than it started, so I need to lower that using Sodium Bisulfate. That generally takes a few additions of about 1/2 of this product to get me in the 7.4-7.6 range. This is where I run into my issue where once I get the pH lowered to the ideal 7.4-7.6 range, the alkalinity is back on the low end (around 60-70ppm), then if I raise that, the pH goes up and beyond the ideal range again, so I seem to be in a never ending cycle of either having slightly elevated pH or slightly low TA. My main question being, is there a different product I should use to either raise my TA or lower my pH without having knocking the other out of range? If the chemicals I am using are fine, is one less of an issue than the other? For example, is it better for me to have an ideal TA with a slightly elevated pH or have a TA around 60-70ppm with a perfect pH reading? For water testing I use a Taylor kit (Taylor Complete K-2006 Kit) with the droppers to identify my pH, hardness, TA, and free/combined chlorine readings. Perhaps the test kit is my issue, but I have read these are pretty darn accurate and I have gotten a wide variety of poor results trying to use basic test strips, so I don't trust those. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!!