Am I Caring For My Hot Tub Properly?

[stackz]

I can fix my hot tub no problem, however, I will be the first to admit I'm joe idiot at water chemistry haha.

I wanna make sure I'm treating it correctly so I dont run into problems in the future.

anyway, its a leisure bay hot tub and I just use chemicals I get from walmart.

I've got the following chemicals:

pH up

pH down

Stabilizer

Hardness Increaser (cant find decreaser)

Alkalinity Increaser (cant find decreaser)

3" pool tablets

spa shock

for the pool tablets, they are left over from my inground pool after I filled it in due to cracks from a tree. I just bust them up in a ziplock bag and add them to a small float for hottubs thats on the lowest setting.

for test strips I have:

Aquachem 6-way test strips (free available chlorine/bromine, total chlorine, total hardness, total alkalinity, stabilizer)

Aquacheck pool & spa test strips (total bromine, pH, alkalinity)

I use the 6-way strips due to not using bromine obviously and when I take a reading I will take a capfull of whatever I need and pour it into the filter housing as in the past just sprinkling over the hot tub surface would just have it all collect in the seats. then I wait 30 minutes and retest. obviously the stabilizer being in chunks just sorta stays on the filter surface until it dissolves. I will also add in the pool tablet pieces and check back every couple days to see if they are all gone in the float.

how does this sound? it usually gets all the readings into a close range on the strip but not sure if the filter add is a no-no or not?

another question. I get dirt collecting in the backs of the seat areas as I dont have a deck around the tub yet and the ground is dirt and such. how best to remove this? I've been just stirring it up and turning on the jets while turning off the water jet over the filter intake thinking it would circulate the dirt towards the filter but nope. I also normally leave the water jet over the filter on as it does the waterfall thingy but no clue if this is right or wrong.

I fill the tub to the water level thing and I still see the filter intake tube cresting the surface of the water constantly. shouldnt it be submerged to get the best suction effect?

[waterbear]

I can fix my hot tub no problem, however, I will be the first to admit I'm joe idiot at water chemistry haha.

I wanna make sure I'm treating it correctly so I dont run into problems in the future.

anyway, its a leisure bay hot tub and I just use chemicals I get from walmart.

I've got the following chemicals:

pH up

Be careful with this, it can cause the TA to go sky high and then you will have problems with pH stabilty and constant high pH. This is just sodium carbonate or soda ash. You can also use Borax and it will not have such a negative impact on TA

pH down

This is dry acid, sodium bisulfate

Stabilizer

Cyanuric Acid or CYA

Don't need much at all if you are going the chorine route should be 20-30 ppm

Hardness Increaser (cant find decreaser)

There is no such thing as hardness decreaser. You replace water with softer water if the calcium is too high.

Alkalinity Increaser (cant find decreaser)

Acid (pH down) decreases alkalinity. This is just sodium bicarbonate or baking soda and it's cheapest at the grocery story!

3" pool tablets

NO NO NO NO NO NO NOT IN A SPA. Trichlor is very acidic and dissolves way to fast in the hot water temperatures found in spas. It also adds 6 ppm CYA (stabilizer) for ever 10 ppm FC added so your spa will quickly become overstabilized and that is when problems like outbreaks of pseudomonas and other water borne illnesses start!

spa shock

What is the chemical? This could be dichlor, a stabilized chlorine that adds 9 ppm CYA for every 10 ppm FC added, Calcium hypochorite, an unstabilized chlorine that causes calcium to rise, lithium hypochlorite, which has no drawback other than its extremely high price tag, or MPS a non chlorine shock that is not a sanitizer.

for the pool tablets, they are left over from my inground pool after I filled it in due to cracks from a tree. I just bust them up in a ziplock bag and add them to a small float for hottubs thats on the lowest setting.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!

for test strips I have:

Aquachem 6-way test strips (free available chlorine/bromine, total chlorine, total hardness, total alkalinity, stabilizer)

Aquacheck pool & spa test strips (total bromine, pH, alkalinity)

Test strips are useless for water balancing. Get yourself a good test kit. For chlorine that would be a Taylor K-2006 (not the K-2005). Most places do not stock this kit so you will need to order it online from Taylor Technologies or another online distributor such as Amoto Industries, who seem to have the best pricing.

My suggestion would be to visit the hot tub water chemistry section of the forum and read all the pinned thread paying special attention to Dichlor/Bleach Method in a Nutshell and Bromine for Beginners.

Because of the elevated temperatures and the small water to bather load ratio you cannot approach hot tub water chemistry like pool water chemistry, which is much more forgiving!

Bromine is easier and more "forgiving" of ignoring the spa for a week than chlorine. If you are going to use the spa daily to several times a week then chloirne is fine but NOT TRICHLOR!!!!!!!!

[stackz]

Lol so I was screwing it up hah. Where is the best place to get the test kits and which method would you suggest for a beginner like me? Bromine?

Should I drain and start over?

[waterbear]

Lol so I was screwing it up hah. Where is the best place to get the test kits and which method would you suggest for a beginner like me? Bromine?

Should I drain and start over?

Bromine is a bit easier and does not require as much daily attention than chlorine so it is better if you are not the type to want to mess with the tub every day or two.

Chlorine is a bit less expensive but if you are using the tub on a regular basis it is very easy. pH control is a bit more difficult nut not much more.

Read and study the stickies, decide which you are going to use, and get the appropriate Taylor test kit. (K-2006 for chlorine or K-2106 for bromine). If you also have a pool and use chlorine the get the K-2006 since you can use it for your pool also. It can be used for bromine by multiplying the FC results by 2.25 to get a bromine reading. The K-2006 is a bit more expensive since it contains tests for combined chlorine and cyanuric acid and these are not used with bromine, only chlorine.

if it were my tub I would start over and do it properly.

Test kits can be ordered from many internet sites or directly from Taylor. In the US Amato Industries is said to have the best price. Many online pool and spa dealers sell the kits and they are also available through Amazon.com. IF you are located in Canada the bad news is the Taylor kits cost more there and you cannot buy them from a US source. The master Canadian distributor is Lowry and Associates and Apollo Pools is a Canandian dealer I know of that has a mailorder business.

You might also be able to order them through a local dealer but I would not hold my breath on that one!

[stackz]

Lol so I was screwing it up hah. Where is the best place to get the test kits and which method would you suggest for a beginner like me? Bromine?

Should I drain and start over?

Bromine is a bit easier and does not require as much daily attention than chlorine so it is better if you are not the type to want to mess with the tub every day or two.

Chlorine is a bit less expensive but if you are using the tub on a regular basis it is very easy. pH control is a bit more difficult nut not much more.

Read and study the stickies, decide which you are going to use, and get the appropriate Taylor test kit. (K-2006 for chlorine or K-2106 for bromine). If you also have a pool and use chlorine the get the K-2006 since you can use it for your pool also. It can be used for bromine by multiplying the FC results by 2.25 to get a bromine reading. The K-2006 is a bit more expensive since it contains tests for combined chlorine and cyanuric acid and these are not used with bromine, only chlorine.

if it were my tub I would start over and do it properly.

Test kits can be ordered from many internet sites or directly from Taylor. In the US Amato Industries is said to have the best price. Many online pool and spa dealers sell the kits and they are also available through Amazon.com. IF you are located in Canada the bad news is the Taylor kits cost more there and you cannot buy them from a US source. The master Canadian distributor is Lowry and Associates and Apollo Pools is a Canandian dealer I know of that has a mailorder business.

You might also be able to order them through a local dealer but I would not hold my breath on that one!

Man thank you so much! Um when I drain and refill should I just refill and drain again to get out any residue that's left in the lines? When I replaced the recirculates pump this fall there was a white sludge in the lines....not much just a film basically....which I think was leftovers chlorine from my incorrect use last winter. Hell its what made me post this question as it was in the back of my mind the whole time