Aquafinesse And Acid Magic

[Bobalooie]

We are just switching over to AquaFinesse. We live out in the country with fairly alkaline water (off the strip). I read elsewhere here that it is not necessary to use acid to reduce alkalinity because AquaFinesse will remove the calcium.

Is this correct? Also, if it's not, can one add Acid Magic without any bad effects from mixing chemicals, etc....

Our move to AquaFinesse was to get away from chemicals... hoping this will be a solution. Thanks for your help.

[chem geek]

AquaFinesse IS chemicals, just different ones. I think you meant to say that you wanted to move away from halogen-based sanitation such as chlorine or bromine and maybe even non-chlorine shock (MPS).

As for your question, AquaFinesse will have to answer it since they do not disclose what is in their product. My conversation with them a while ago indicated that they were using mineral salts, but not a phosphate buffer (which would remove calcium) so I'm not clear as to how they reduce calcium except possibly using a metal sequestrant.

You could always fill your tub with water and adjust the TA lower with acid BEFORE adding AquaFinesse. If you were to use Muriatic Acid, then that would just increase chlorides a little and I'm sure that doesn't do anything negative to AquaFinesse. If you were to use dry acid, then that increases sulfates a little which also is unlikely to be a problem for AquaFinesse. Acid Magic, however, has some organic acid in it so check with AquaFinesse on that.

On this forum, this post has a positive review of Aqua Finesse, while this post has a negative review.

[Bobalooie]

AquaFinesse IS chemicals, just different ones. I think you meant to say that you wanted to move away from halogen-based sanitation such as chlorine or bromine and maybe even non-chlorine shock (MPS).

As for your question, AquaFinesse will have to answer it since they do not disclose what is in their product. My conversation with them a while ago indicated that they were using mineral salts, but not a phosphate buffer (which would remove calcium) so I'm not clear as to how they reduce calcium except possibly using a metal sequestrant.

You could always fill your tub with water and adjust the TA lower with acid BEFORE adding AquaFinesse. If you were to use Muriatic Acid, then that would just increase chlorides a little and I'm sure that doesn't do anything negative to AquaFinesse. If you were to use dry acid, then that increases sulfates a little which also is unlikely to be a problem for AquaFinesse. Acid Magic, however, has some organic acid in it so check with AquaFinesse on that.

On this forum, this post has a positive review of Aqua Finesse, while this post has a negative review.

Happy Sabbath! Thanks for your reply.

You're right... actually, AquaFinesse is made by DuPont, which doesn't bring me loads of comfort. But probably better than all the chemicals we've been bathing in so far. But then again... what is this new stuff?? Has it had long term testing on humans (or one week testing like the vaccines they been shoving at us....)?

I'll contact AquaFinesse. I believe it was Christian who posted here last year as a Canadian rep of AquaFinesse who suggested that adding acid was not necessary. The fewer chemicals, the better, I suppose.

Again, thanks for your reply and attention to many of the questions here.

[quantumchromodynamics]

You need to adjust your alkalinity or your pH won't be stable. If your Alkalinity is too high, then your pH will continue to rise.

[chem geek]

You're right... actually, AquaFinesse is made by DuPont, which doesn't bring me loads of comfort. But probably better than all the chemicals we've been bathing in so far. But then again... what is this new stuff?? Has it had long term testing on humans (or one week testing like the vaccines they been shoving at us....)?

AquaFinesse is not made by DuPont. I think you are thinking of non-chlorine shock (potassium monopersulfate, MPS) since that is made by DuPont (under the trade name Oxone). AquaFinesse appears to mostly be mineral salts such that they lower the surface tension of the water which tends to inhibit biofilm formation. They also include something to lower calcium levels (not sure what -- I had thought phosphate buffers, but they say no, so maybe a metal sequestrant). It does not kill bacteria shed from people so if you read their website they say you should still use chlorine and they only claim that less chlorine is needed with their system.

[Bobalooie]

You need to adjust your alkalinity or your pH won't be stable. If your Alkalinity is too high, then your pH will continue to rise.

Hi q. According to their literature, AquaFinesse is self-PH adjusting. A rep for them on this forum said reduction of alkalinity is not necessary, and will come down in time naturally.

Right now, my PH is in the 8's... so, waiting for it to come down...

[Bobalooie]

AquaFinesse is not made by DuPont. I think you are thinking of non-chlorine shock (potassium monopersulfate, MPS) since that is made by DuPont (under the trade name Oxone). AquaFinesse appears to mostly be mineral salts such that they lower the surface tension of the water which tends to inhibit biofilm formation. They also include something to lower calcium levels (not sure what -- I had thought phosphate buffers, but they say no, so maybe a metal sequestrant). It does not kill bacteria shed from people so if you read their website they say you should still use chlorine and they only claim that less chlorine is needed with their system.

Hm... could be. The salesman said it was DuPont. Maybe he's wrong.

I am using AquaFinesse's chlorine dispenser. However, I am only 0.5ppm. They recommend 1.5. I've added a dispenser to try and get that up there. However, it does seem kind of contrary to the product to start pumping chlorine into the spa, something we wanted to go away from. Perhaps ozonation is the only way, but then I've heard there are dangers there.

I think the answer is God's answer—find a mountain hotspring. :-)

By the way, the hot tub in our house is probably 25 years old. How the heck do I figure out how many gallones/litres it holds? AquaFinesse is pretty precise when it comes to how much to add based on volume...