Primary Additive - Oxidizer Vs Sanitizer

[bajabill]

I am reading a lot here and see much reference to adding sanitizer (dichlor or bleach) and using an oxidizer (MPS) weekly.

I just got a new Jacuzzi with clearray and the dealer recommends the opposite. He says to add MPS after every use and then add dichlor every week. Is this a reasonable method to attempt?

I get near 0 readings for chlorine and have been adding a small amount every day almost but my water seems to be eating chlorine rapidly and I am considering using a spa flush and drain/replace.

Testing has been with strips and I also bought an HTH kit that has drops for FC and PH that seems to correlate well with the strips. I did add both bleach and dichlor once, got a reading near 10ppm, and the next day was back below 1.

[waterbear]

Do you have a "mineral cartridge" such as a Nature 2 or a rebranded one from the dealer in your tub?(jacuzzi rebrands the Nature 2 as ProClear) IF so then you shock weekly or more if needed with chlorine and maintain a background level of MPS in the water at all times because you are NOT USING CHLOIRNE as your primary sanitizer, you are using MPS CATALYZED BY THE SILVER IONS AND HOT WATER to sanitize your spa.

Apples and Oranges.

If you do not have such a "mineral cartriidge'" then your dealer is an idiot. Period!

Clearray is just UV and is NOT a primary santizer. MPS by itself is NOT a primary santizer. UV is basically useless in a spa. IF you are using chloirne as a primary santizer then it MIGHT help eliminate persistent chloramines (but so does exposing the spa to sunlight when you shock and/or using MPS). UV is basically useless with a Siver/MPS system somce the primary use is to help break down chloramins. UV is useless as a sanitizer because the ONLY germ killing effect is in the contact chamber around the bulb so only a small amount of water is exposed at any one time. Bacteria grow very quickly in the hot water in a spa so the few extra bacteria killed will quickly grow back once the water enters the main body of spa water. I will grant that UV can help with cryptosporidium spores so if you normally have people going in to the spa that have diarrhea this might be a consideration (assuming there is enough contact time between the water and the UV light source, which is often not the case.).

Decide on how you want to santizer your spa (chlorine , bromine, or silver/MPS) and get the appropriate test kit (Taylor K-2006, K-2106, K-2006 with add on monopersulfate reagent)

There are only 4 (count 'em--4) EPA approved primary residual santizers (and you need to be using one of them if you don't want to run the risk of all the various water borne illnesses!):

Chlorine

Bromine

Silver/MPS in hot water

Biguanide/Peroxide

I really only like the first two although, if done PROPERLY, the third can work.

The following are NOT primary santizers (no matter what claims are made) and must be used with one of the sanitizers above (and many of these are NOT compatible with biguanide/peroxide):

Ozone,

UV light (no matter what catchy name they give it, it is STILL just UV and nothing new!)

Sphagnum Moss (Really? Really?!?)

Enzymes

Copper (whether from an ionizer or the addition of a liquid copper sulfate solution, chelated or not)

MPS (wihtout silver)

Peroxide

Magnets (these are not really sold much anymore!)

and all the other various snake oils designed to lighten your wallet while doing nothing for your water.

Under certain conditions UV or ozone MIGHT be useful but most likely not in a residential spa (and certainly the way ozone is normally implemented in residential spas!) They are more marketing tools used to sell spas and increase dealer profits, IMHO.

[bajabill]

can you add to a K2006 kit to make it a K2106 kit later, for a reasonable cost?, if I decide to change over to bromine later.

[waterbear]

Not necessary. The two kits are identical except for the concentration of the FAS solution and the additional CYA test in the K-2006. If you switch to bromine later then you do not need to test CYA and you can just do the free chloirne test and multiply the test result by 2.25 to convert the FC ppm reading into a bromine PPM or you can purchase the R-872 FAS reagent (bromine 1 drop is .5 or1.25 ppm) from Taylor