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1st Time Buyer - Artic Onzen Vs Hotspring Silkbalance


brian12345

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I am about to become a 1st time hot tub buyer (hopefully). I have visited several local dealers and am now trying to sort out fact vs fiction and was looking for some help. I have not wet tested tubs yet, and maybe that will make one tub stand out from all of the others, but right now I am trying to do a little comparison. One of the items that is high on my priority list is high water quality with low maintenance (if that is possible). I am by no means a chemist, nor do I want to become one. My sense is that these systems are fairly similar but marketed very differently. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

One other question, can the Onzen actually go a full year without water changes? That does seem to be a big differentiator.

Thanks.

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  • 4 months later...

I have and Artic Spa with Onzen and follow Nitro's dichlor then bleach method. My current water fill is 6 months and will be changed next week as we will be away in June and I want the next fill time not to be in mid winter. The OnZen System works very well and a setting of 2 out of a possible 6 will keep the FC level correct for me. The only chemical I have to add is about 5-10 CC Mutatic acid every two weeks. We have gone on vacations and the system keeps the FC in check for the total time. I typically only measure the water, using the Taylor test kit, about once per week and find the pool remains balanced.I have added Borates to 50 ppm, CYA at around 35 ppm, TH 220 and TA around 70.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We have an Arctic spa with the Onzen system that's 7 months old now. We changed the water after 4 months. That being said it was our first hot tub and brand new so we used it ALL the time. We had a few parties and so it was used by many people... way more than any typical day-to-day usage. I don't know if I could ever expect a year before a water change but 6 months is probably reasonable.

We're using the supplied Bromine salt with the tub. It took about a month to figure everything out, but once I did, the tub has been pretty maintenance free. I test the water once a week and it's usually right in balance. Other than using a non-chlorine shock once a week, I'll rarely have to add chemicals to pull the TA up or down.

With a salt system, the pH will naturally increase over time. I found by keeping the TA lower (around 50 in our case) it will always keep the pH below 7.8. It has never ever gone higher than that when the TA was in line.

So, if you can live with 2 minutes of your time once aweek then you’ve got a system that's about as maintenance free as possible.

The real factor here is the TDS (total dissolved solids) of the water, not the water balance... and there's nothing you can do to fix the TDS except for a drain and re-fill. Every time you use the tub and add chemicals, you're adding some sort of solids to the water. If you have parties and people use their laundered bathing suites (that sill have soap residue in the fibers) then you'll be adding more solids to the water opposed if you used the tub "au-natual". Deodorants, lotions and all that other good stuff adds to the TDS as well.

The water is so much nicer once it's changed as well that IMO it's worth it. It's easy to drain an fill, and I calculated it costs about $8 in water, another $10 in electricity and $16 in salt to refill the tub.

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