187penguin

Just wanted to post an update; I needed to add some fill water and I am using a three stage water filter that includes a resin section. (Note: I did not use this filter for initial fill because my tap water CH is right around 140ppm) The fill water coming out has a total alkalinity of around 10, maybe less…. One drop of the alkalinity reagent instantly changed it’s color. After topping off the spa, my total alkalinity had dropped even more, and the tub pH had lowered to 6.9. I made the decision to add baking soda. I used the trouble free pool calculator and added enough to raise total alkalinity to between 40 and 50. I’m hoping the pH swing to around 7.6 or 7.7 after 30-60 minutes of aeration, then stay above 7.2. I think that is what I should shoot for going forward. I think a small amount of baking soda being added weekly to maintain TA when PH dips below 7.1 to counteract the acidity of the MPS and Bromine will become part of my normal water maintenance. My bromine appears to be holding .5ppm, so I also opened up the frog floater another notch because I want to be between 1 and 2 ppm.

Hello! I got my wife an Aquarest Daydream 4500 for our Anniversary 2 weeks ago. I have read dozens of post on here and this forum has been an incredible resource. I just want to verify something about total alkalinity that I have read conflicting info on. I’m also going to detail what I did so I can reference this post when time comes to refill. About the spa; It’s literature says it holds ~320 gallons, but the energy use sticker on the actual tub say 280, so I figure it’s 300 gallons for my math. It has an ozone system. I’m running the pump on low with ozone for 4 hours a day. Bather load is about 1 person-hour a day. I’m using the Frog Serene system, which included 2oz of Dichlor for water start up. I put that in with the fill water and let the tub come to temperature before balancing. I used the method of lowering PH to 7.0 with dry acid per the acid demand test then aerating and repeating until PH rise tops out at 7.4 after running the spa for 30 minutes. The TA landed at 50. At that point I added 50ppm borates, and the frog system floater. I also crushed and added 3x 1’ Clorox bromine tablets. After each dip, we toss in half a tablespoon of MPS. So far the water has looked clear and felt great. I haven’t yet performed a full strength MPS shock. The one thing I have noticed over the last 2 weeks is after letting the tub settle, the PH has gone from 7.4 to 7.2 to now 7.0. The TA went from 50 2 weeks ago to 40 last week to 30 today. The water still feels nice and looks crystal clear. I know everything everywhere in the industry says my TA is wayyyy too low, but I have also read on here not to sweat TA unless you have PH problems and folks on here claim to have dipped as low as 10 with no ill effects. I have also read on here to NEVER intentionally raise Alkalinity in a hot tub. Ever. Mind you these are ancient posts and stuff evolves over time… My understanding is my PH is largely going to be a product of aeration and TA. I assume the bromine floater is the cause of the TA diminishing. Is 7.0 and 30TA ok? If so, should my TA keep dropping, when do I need to do something? Or should I stay the course and see where the tub settles since the water still looks and feels good? Is bromine with the minerals and ozone effective at 7.0? Should I sprinkle in some baking soda and bump TA by 5 or 10 ppm? On a side note, many people claim that with the frog system, they never need to shock. Should I do weekly MPS shocks, or only if I see water clarity issues? I know many say chlorine shock is better, but the spa manual is very specific about only using chlorine free shock, and with this only being less than a month old, I don’t wanna do anything to risk voiding the warranty. Thanks