So I Did My First Full Water Change / Drain

[DjPiLL]

Ok got my Epic in July. Did my first full water change over the weekend. I want to do a water change in December and I didn't want to wait till then so I figured i'll do one now and one in December.

So I think I did an OK job. But please critique my process and let me know if there is anything I should watch out for.

- Cut off power to the tub at the breaker

- Attached garden hose to the tub drain hose and drained water to street (this took a LONG time since I had no pump - like 5 hours)

- Pulled both filters out and put them in the dishwasher, ran rinse cycle for about 5-10 minutes (they didn't stay in there for long but they cleaned very well)

- Set up bucket with filter cleaning solution and put both filters just rinsed in there - soaked for 12 hours)

- Wiped down empty tub with spa mitts

- Put both filters back in dishwasher ran another rinse cycle for 5-10 minutes

- Filled tub with new water

- Put filters back in tub

- Turned on power back to tub

- Threw in half a bottle of calcium hardness (I have soft water)

- Threw in 8 ounces of the metal cleaner

- Ran jets for 1 hr

- Changed Spa Frog mineral and Bromine cartridge

- Threw in ounce PH Up (since total alk was low) & capfull of Bromine Concentrate

- Took tub about 6 hours to reach 102 temperature

- Soaked that evening

Thoughts? Did I do anything wrong? I don't want to have green water tomorrow. I may have to put more PH Up in but we'll see. Bromine level looked good yesterday.

[Whoneedsavacation]

Sounds about right to me. I assume the Bromine concentrate is sodium bromide.

I am curious about using the dishwasher to rinse the filters, has anyone else done that? Sounds like it might be worth a try!

[WaterBeast]

Yesterday I just did a water change, I'll share the process I just used, then I'll comment on yours.

First this is a 280 gal Emerald E340 spa, built-in spa frog bromine/mineral cartridge, ozonator, 50ppm borates.

Mineral cartridge is 2 months old, set to 6

Bromine cartridge is fairly fresh, set to 1.

Cleaned skimmer.

Removed filter, hosed clean and put in bucket of commercial spa filter cleaning solution.

Over-filled spa and added Spa System Flush in AM

Ran all pumps & aerator repeatedly, recirculated heavy for 1/2 day (overnight would be better)

Manually removed as much nasty yellow greasy foam as I could

Shocked heavily 4 TBS - made little impact on the grasy foam, manual removal was more effective.

Note that I used spa flush on my last water change, I have monitored water quality and bromine levels very carefully and consistently, I lightly shock after each use, and shock weekly. The inside of the tub felt clean, and there was a very small amount of white powdery deposits at the waterline. STILL the spa flush pulled a lot of gunk up, I was both impressed, grossed out, and pleased that I was getting this out of my tub and lines.

Turned off spa with controls, pulled breaker.

Drained tub with 1 hose; this took hours, as the drain built in to the botton of the spa only produces a dribble. I'll use 2 hoses next time.

Manually drained remaining water. Cleaned shell and spa cover inside and out with sponges and CleanAll. Treated outside spa cover with Aerospace 303 protectant.

Refilled tub using two hoses - VASTLY faster than draining with one hose, even with a good gravity drop.

Added 7 tsp MPS for shock per MPS instructions while filling.

Put in brand new filter. The used one will soak for another day or so, get rinsed, air dried, saran wrapped, and shelved until it's next cycle. I am currently rotating 3 filters.

Teflon lubed all seals & o-rings - filter, aroma, spa frog.

Replaced breaker, turned on spa.

Tested water: pH 7.4-, TA 100, CH 130

Added 1 tsp bromine granules per instructions. Instructions say to add, test, add, etc. until threshold is reaches. Turns out this is actually Bromide PLUS Dichlor as an oxidizer, so I should have just used this instead of the granules AND the MPS.

Added 10 oz ProTeam Supreme Plus (pH Balanced Borates) - I highly recommend this!

Re-tested water: pH 7.9-, TA 120, CH 125, Bromine 17.5, Borate 50ppm, TDS 500

Calculated Saturation Index at 0.3 for temp=102, not there yet. Will need to reduce pH a bit

Adjusted water: 2 tsp pH- (dry acid)

Re-tested water: pH 7.8+, TA 110-

Temperature was up by late evening.

Adjusted water: 2 tsp pH- (dry acid) ...should be on the money; I will re-test in AM

In the AM:

pH 7.6, TA 100-, Bromine 9.5

Saturation Index = -0.06 by the Taylor WaterGram, pretty much on the money.

Checking with The Pool Calculator I get a CSI 0f 0.01.

Bromine is still a little high but this will correct itself in a day or two.

No adjustment required this AM, next refill I will get a little crisper on the drain time and building up my bromide bank just with the brominating granules. That will probably be in 3 months based on current spa utilization level, maybe 2 months if we use it more with more spa-friendly weather finally on its the way to the south.

Basicallly, your process is fine, but you asked so I'll give some specific feedback relative to my impressions of 'best practices'.

1) Use Spa System Flush or equivalent to clean spa and spa lines you can't get to, and to remove biofilms.

2) Use CleanAll or equivalent on spa shell and cover, UV protect cover

3) Change mineral cartridge after 4 months per mfg's recommendation, not necessarily at refill.

4) Change bromine cartridge when it can't keep up at setting = 6, set the new cartridge initially at 0. If you care, you can throw the old cartridge it in the spa to float until tapped, there is still more bromine that can be milked out of it.

5) Do you know you have a problem with metals or are you just tring to be safe? Metal sequestrants cost $ and can have side effects; I wouldn't choose to use them if I didn't have a specific reason to.

6) All recommendations I see are to clean, dry and rotate filters for maximum filter life.

7) I keep my CH as low as my tap water provides and maintain slightly lower TA (maybe 70) to keep the daily pH rise to a minimum. The borates help a LOT with this. With a CH of 125, and a TA of 70, I have to keep a pH of 7.78 to maintain a CSI of 0.

WaterBeast

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

Sounds about right to me. I assume the Bromine concentrate is sodium bromide.

I am curious about using the dishwasher to rinse the filters, has anyone else done that? Sounds like it might be worth a try!

Brominating concentrate is not sodium bromide, it is a 1 step bromine/chlorine shock that is granular.

Many people use dishwashers without soap in them, you must remember to remove the "jet dry" stuff too though or it will be an issue.

[jeffr72]

I wasn't crazy about using the dishwasher, didn't seem to hit the filters all over unless I opened up and rotated.

I tried soaking using generic dishwasher soap w/6% phosphates (3/4 cup to 5 gal water) and was very happy w/results. Only soaked them for about 2hr.

jeff

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

You should not use dishwashing soap. It will leave a risidual and you do not want that in the tub water. phosphates raise heck with water chemistry. Use a filter cleaner solution or vinegar or bleach to clean them with.

[jeffr72]

TSP and Cascade were recommended in this forum. Both use phosphates.

I rinsed very well before installing and am pleased with the results. It's been 2 water changes (month each) with no problems.

jeff

[Wet in ChiTown]

1) Use Spa System Flush or equivalent to clean spa and spa lines you can't get to, and to remove biofilms.

Should this Spa System Flush cleaning be done every water change(3 months) or maybe just once a year? I have a brand new spa and have not even done my first water change yet. I wouldn't think I would need to do this because I don't have any "build up" yet.

[WaterBeast]

You don't THINK you have any build-up yet.

My spa is fairly new as well and I am only on my second water change. This is the second time I used the spa flush (1/2 bottle per change).

Try it and see - I was apalled at all the yellow greasy slime it brought up from a visually 'clean & clear' spa, and this alone is making me re-assess my shock levels. FYI the spa is new AND had been flushed on the prior water change, AND I maintained it carefully. I didn't even use it that heavily over the hot summer months int he south. The slime wasn't very impressed by MPS or dish soap when I tried to clean my sponge after menually removing it.

Even if I didn't have such obvious physical evidence, I am much happier believing that I am breaking down biofilms & deposits in the pump, lines, etc. on a regular basis.

I believe there are other products that are comparable: Swirl Away, etc. I'll probably rotate through different products just to use different cleaning mechanisms. The cost is modest, the effort to use it is minimal relative to the overall effort of a water change, and it seems like a best practice. So why not?

[Nitro]

WaterBeast,

I plan on refilling my spa in a week or two, and am going to use Spa Flush. My question is how difficult was it to remove the slime? Was it all over the shell, or just along the water line? I hate to slime my tub.

[squidly]

I was also surprised at how much yellow gunk appeared when I used spa flush.

It took some acrylic cleaner (Spray Away) and a little elbow grease to get it off.

It's just at the water line.

[Nitro]

I was also surprised at how much yellow gunk appeared when I used spa flush.

It took some acrylic cleaner (Spray Away) and a little elbow grease to get it off.

It's just at the water line.

Thanks. That makes me a feel a little better, because I'd hate to be scrubing the whole shell.

[WaterBeast]

Mine was mostly just greasy foam which could be removed with a sponge. By overfilling the tub before adding the flush, it made this more of a manual foam removal exercise than a spa shell cleaning exercise.

[Nitro]

Mine was mostly just greasy foam which could be removed with a sponge. By overfilling the tub before adding the flush, it made this more of a manual foam removal exercise than a spa shell cleaning exercise.

What did you use to clean it with, cloth/sponge, cleaner etc.?

[cashews]

Mine was mostly just greasy foam which could be removed with a sponge. By overfilling the tub before adding the flush, it made this more of a manual foam removal exercise than a spa shell cleaning exercise.

What did you use to clean it with, cloth/sponge, cleaner etc.?

the spa system flush says you can remove the scum build up by dabbing a little bit of system flush on a towel and wiping the scum off. ....that's what I'll be doing in an hour or so....after my own tub finishes draining.

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[Nitro]

the spa system flush says you can remove the scum build up by dabbing a little bit of system flush on a towel and wiping the scum off. ....that's what I'll be doing in an hour or so....after my own tub finishes draining.

I'm going to be cleaning a friends tub tomorrow that is currently a slime pit. Unfortunatly, he used the whole jug in his tub. Is there anything else we can use to clean it?