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Plese Help With My Water.


dotdog2

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I would like someone to take a look at this and tell me what they think.

We have a four year old HotSprings Envoy with Ozone.

We have very soft water here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The tub manual says not to use soft water to fill the tub but there is a dealer here so it is obviously not a problem after using the hardness increaser. Why does HotSprings say not to use soft water even though there are hardness increasers available? I used about 18oz of Calcium hardness increaser to get the ppm up to ~170

The PH is at ~7.4-7.6 and stays pretty steady.

The Alk (TA) is at 80ppm and if I dose the tub with baking soda to get it to the right 120-150ppm the ph rises as it should to about 8.0. When I then slowly add, in small doses, the Ph decrease, the TA goes back to 80ppm. I can’t get both to stay at the ideal range. I have GentleSpa in the tub. The TA is also holding pretty steady. I do understand the PH and TA are directly correlated but to what degree?

What I really don’t know about is the CYA level. When we got the tub we used a ton of chlorinating concentrate (SpaGaurd) and MPS which I have read will increase it and is why you should switch to Clorox after a CYA of 30 is achieved. Now I am using Clorox Bleach regularly. I try to add 1-2oz after we get out of the tub and 3-6oz for shocking every week. We have checked the CYA a couple of times in the last 1.5 weeks and it seems to be at ~80-90.

All measurements were carefully taken with the Taylor K-2006 test kit and verified with the test strips.

So, at the moment the tub has 1.5 month old water in it that is clear and does not smell bad. The readings are;

PH=7.6

TA=80-90

Hardness=170

CYA=80~90

I don’t know much about CYA but know that it should not be above ~30. What is the harm in a high CYA? Is it dangerous? How so? Why? What should I do? After this weekend we are going to do the SwirlAway and decontamination procedure. The tub has clouded up twice within a day of clorox and shocking. It was a white cloudyness that went away within 24hrs after more chlorox bleach and shock. I am also getting a brown waxy residue around the water line of the tub that is hard to get off with anything other than a rag with a dab of SwirlAway. I have cleaned the filters with the dishwasher and a spray hose off the house spicket. We are also getting lots of foam bubbles on top of the water with the jets running. I have had to use 3oz of foam decreaser (spaGaurd) over the last two weeks to control the bubbles. My wife and I are very clean, use the tub almost every day and do not wash our bathing suits after we use them in the spa. We often rinse off without soap in the shower before entering the spa.

Thanks, Jim

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Jim,

The manufacture is printing that info for the general population, which they believe is too stupid to add calcium increaser. If you fill your tub with soft water, then add Calcium you're ok.

CYA is like a Chlorine buffer. Without any CYA, Chlorine will be too strong. However, as CYA increases, the effectiveness of Chlorine will decrease. A CYA between 20-50 ppm is ideal. If CYA is 100ppm then you need to use three times as much chlorine to get the same sanitation as if CYA was at 30 ppm.

There is a method called Dichlor/Bleach where you use Dichlor for a week or two to get 20-30 ppm CYA, then switch to Clorox Bleach which has no CYA. Check out my link below for more info on this method.

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Jim,

The manufacture is printing that info for the general population, which they believe is too stupid to add calcium increaser. If you fill your tub with soft water, then add Calcium you're ok.

CYA is like a Chlorine buffer. Without any CYA, Chlorine will be too strong. However, as CYA increases, the effectiveness of Chlorine will decrease. A CYA between 20-50 ppm is ideal. If CYA is 100ppm then you need to use three times as much chlorine to get the same sanitation as if CYA was at 30 ppm.

There is a method called Dichlor/Bleach where you use Dichlor for a week or two to get 20-30 ppm CYA, then switch to Clorox Bleach which has no CYA. Check out my link below for more info on this method.

Thanks for the reply! You have been very helpful with my needs so far.

I have read throug all of your threads a few times. They were extreemly helpful. I have read the Dichlor/Bleach method you suggested and am now using it but I just wanted to know if the CYA at 90ppm was to high for safe soaking and what I should do about it if anything?

I know about the calcium increaser and such but I wanted to know if there was some kind of "red flag" type of reason not to use soft water. I figured that was the reason and my local dealer confirmed it today.

Thanks, Jim

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Thanks for the reply! You have been very helpful with my needs so far.

I have read throug all of your threads a few times. They were extreemly helpful. I have read the Dichlor/Bleach method you suggested and am now using it but I just wanted to know if the CYA at 90ppm was to high for safe soaking and what I should do about it if anything?

As Paul said, you can use the tub, but just be aware you'll need more (3X) Chlorine to get the same effectiveness. Just use Bleach now, until your next water change. Then follow the method at that point (i.e. CYA ~30ppm)

I know about the calcium increaser and such but I wanted to know if there was some kind of "red flag" type of reason not to use soft water. I figured that was the reason and my local dealer confirmed it today.

There is no problem with filling with soft water, and adding Calcium (which BTW makes it harder). The other benefit is the Water Softener will remove Iron and other sediment.

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