2010 Hot Springs Grandee W/ace System: Water Chemistry?

[Joe G.]

I recently took delivery of a 2010 Grandee w/the ACE System. My dealer has instructed that the water should be shocked approximately 1 time per month. My question is for those of you on the ACE system what type/kind of shock should I use?

My previous tub was a Coleman 250; I was using a bromine based water treatment system. Can I use generic spa shock granules for the ACE System or do i need to use liquid chlorine? Something else?

Thanks in advance for your help. So far I have been very pleased with 2010 HotSprings Grandee.

Joe

[quantumchromodynamics]

I recommend that you get the Taylor K-2006 test kit (FAS-DPD). This will allow you to test FC (Free Chlorine) and CC (Combined Chlorine) to a precision of 0.2 ppm or 0.5 ppm.

You should maintain about a -0.3 CSI (Calcite Saturation Index) to prevent scaling in the salt cell. You can calculate your CSI by using the the pool calculator

As long as your chlorine demand is not excessive, and you don't have any CCs, then you don't need to shock. I recommend that you use your salt system to provide the baseline chlorine demand and that you use chem geek's rule of thumb for additional oxidizer based on usage.

Chem geek's rule of thumb regarding the addition of oxidizer is for every person-hour of soak time you need to add 3.5 teaspoons of dichlor or 5 fluid ounces of 6% unscented bleach or 7 teaspoons of 43% MPS. This can be helpful in determining the correct amount of oxidizer to add. This is just a starting point. You will need to adjust the amounts based on your test results. With the salt system, you should need somewhat less than the aforementioned amounts. The key is to maintain about 2 to 4 ppm FC and less than 0.5 ppm CC (Ideally, CC should be kept at zero).

You should test before you soak and the level should be about 2.0 ppm FC with no CC.

I recommend that you use dichlor until your Cyanuric acid level reaches 20 to 30 ppm and then switch to liquid chlorine or MPS. For liquid chlorine, you can use regular, unscented 6.0 % bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Once you get cyanuric acid in your water, you should maintain a FC of about 7.5 % of your Cyanuric acid.

MPS will probably increase your chlorine levels if you use it, so you should be careful not to add too much. It can also register on the CC test. There is a special reagent that you can get to remove the MPS CC interference.

I recommend that you read the following:

Nitro's approach to Water Maintenance

Dichlor/bleach Method In A Nutshell

Chlorine Demand

[Tubber McGee]

Joe - I recently asked this same question on the Chemical forum (tab down on the main page and you will see it)

Check out the post titled - ACE SALT SYSTEM - USING SHOCK

Its about 10-20 posts down!