New Hot Tub - Water Advice

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hi there,

I searched around and didn't really find what I was looking for in the way of info so please forgive me if this has been asked many times (and answered) already.

I am going to be taking delivery of my first spa next Friday. My wife and I have been looking at Spas for almost 7 years now and settles on an Elite ES by MAAX spas.

As I am getting ready for delivery I am trying to get everything I need to fully enjoy my new Hot Tub. So I talked to my dealer this morning (who is from our of State) and they tell me I do not need any chemicals for my setup and that they will give me starter chemicals and then after that I should not need any more chemicals due to the filtation system in this unit.

This tub features a Clean Zone II which combines UVC Light and Ozone to sanatize the water, a Elite Spas "CleanZone" water purification system which uses ultraviolet Plasma Cell ozone technology, and finally it uses ClearMaax filtration which is a 2 filter system.

Again I have been told that after initial setup and chemicals that I won't need any additional chemicals and I will only need to change the water 2 to 3 times a year. I don't know if I buy that or not, so thats why I am asking here.

The Tub holds 375 gallons of water. And in talking with the spa company that we purchased it from we were told that the start up kit uses bromine and has no bad smell like clorine. No mention of anything such as testing he water or anything like that, he says that the technology built into the tub will take care of everything. Should i buy a test kit or does the spas normally come with them?

If I need something I want to order it now online and have it ready, even if I dont need it for awhile.

Now I am hoping that I will be able to use my tub on the first day after delivery (and the water heats up) will this be possible or do I have to wait for the chemicals to kick in?

Also I have see these liquids you can put in the water to change the scent, are these ok to use? If you use them how long does the scent last? Are any brands better then another? I know my wife has seen the scents and has asked me if we can use them in our spa.

As a new spa owner is there anything else I should look for or need that does not come with the normal hot tub install?

I can't tell you how excited I am about this, I have waited a long time for my own hot tub and soon I will finally have it. We had to wait about5 weeks for this Tub as I custom ordered it. We are going for a Mocha Cabinet with a Silver Marble shell.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

[bart6453]

My advice would be to do some serious educating of yourself on this site.

As far as I know, there is no magic equipment to sanitize water.

You will be needing additional supplies as well as a good test kit. (i.e. a dropper/reagent type, take a pass on the test strips) I use the taylor I-care home kit. Taylor also has a #2006 (I think) kit that has a bit better of a set up for testing sanitizer levels.

You are going to need to decide on what type of sanitation you want to do, I for one am not a fan of bromine, but that's just because of the smell.

You will find that the information on this forum is many times better than the spa store has.....thank God!