Spa Chemistry

[mathman]

hi,

we are close to buying our first spa and reading several of the posts on water chemistry has gotten me worried. i want to do this right so can someone please tell me like it really is, how much work do i need to do (how frequently is the big questions) to maintain the spa chemistry? the problem is that i travel a fair bit and i'm not sure my wife will want to do daily maintainence on the chems. i just need to set myself and family with realistic expectations regarding the effort needed to make a spa enjoyable (spa ick doesnt sound like find....) thank you for your help!

[cplarsen]

If you go chlorine, somebody will need to add a little every day. I throw a shot in before I go to work everyday when the pumps come on for their filtration cycle. It just becomes another routine. Get the wife to become a morning soaker and you got it made, she can add it when she gets out. I suggest investing in a bottle of Bailey's and some good coffee.

If you go bromine, you'll have a feeder and you don't need to stay on top of it as much. That's the way a pilot friend of mine runs his tub. He travels too.

Then, there's getting the water balanced. That'll usually take, oh, let's say a couple of days. A day for the Stain & Scale, then whatever you have to do to get the PH and TA in line. You'll need to check that every once in a while too. Say, every two weeks or so.

All in all, it's not a big deal.

[ncspa]

Much less work than you might gather. I've had mine for ~3months...learning curve resulted in extra effort at first, but very easy now. I use the frog floater (bromine). I felt compelled to check a lot at first. Now, I add some shock 2X per week and check my water chemistry weekly. That's it. In fact, there's a tendency to overdo at first if you're not careful. Good water balanced the right way initially will stay that way with fairly little work.

Good luck...

hi,

we are close to buying our first spa and reading several of the posts on water chemistry has gotten me worried. i want to do this right so can someone please tell me like it really is, how much work do i need to do (how frequently is the big questions) to maintain the spa chemistry? the problem is that i travel a fair bit and i'm not sure my wife will want to do daily maintainence on the chems. i just need to set myself and family with realistic expectations regarding the effort needed to make a spa enjoyable (spa ick doesnt sound like find....) thank you for your help!

[Whoneedsavacation]

I was fiddling with it daily when I first got my spa. I'm on my third water change now, using a bromine floater, and I rarely have to do much more than test with a test strip every few days, make sure the floater is stocked with tablets, rinse the filter occasionally and add shock after use or once a week, whichever is more frequent.

One thing that helped was when, after getting some good education and advice on this forum, I decided not to worry about the Total Alkalinity number until my pH started drifting. At first I was constantly pouring stuff in to try and get it perfect. Now I just wait until the pH drifts a bit too low and I add baking soda and it chugs along quite merrily for weeks at a time.

Good test strips and a well-designed floater make a big difference.

[Vermonter]

Just thought I'd add my two cents as well, although it's pretty much the same as above... the first few weeks on my first fill (I'm only on my second now, but don't ask me how long that first one lasted ) were rather frustrating, although not doing it right at first didn't help. (Not adding enough Bromine, for instance, and having to deal with the green water syndrome for a bit)... That was before I found this forum. After, oh about a month of fiddling, it was much like Whoneeds said... throw in some baking soda every couple of weeks, refill the floater, and I find I need to shock after every use or there is no Bromine left the next day. I think I just sweat a lot.

Can't say anything for the Chlorine method, as I haven't tried it, but with Bromine, it's pretty much a breeze. And you, unlike myself, found this forum before setting up your tub, which is a big step in the right direction.