New Jacuzzi Owner

[spidey9]

About a month ago my wife and I purchased a new Jacuzzi J-345. In the past month I have had a crash course in spa water chemistry. It was a little overwhelming at first, but I have learned a great deal, thanks in no small part to this forum, especially Nitro's post.

The spa is equipped with the ClearRay UV sanitation system and came with a “starter kit” consisting of a bottle of Silk Balance, pH increaser and decreaser, chlorine powder (dichlor), non-chlorine shock (MPS), and some 4-in-one test strips.

According to the Silk Balance brochure, all I had to do after filling the spa was add a tablespoon of chlorine powder, adjust pH to 7.2 – 8.2 and total alkalinity to 80 – 120 ppm (using the test strips), and the next day add 4 oz of Silk Balance. Then, add one tablespoon per person of MPS shock after each use of the pool, and once a week add a tablespoon of chlorine and 4 oz of Silk Balance. That's it - no testing and monitoring necessary.

This scares me to death.

The first thing I bought was a Taylor K-2006 drop test kit (based on recommendations in this forum). I determined that within a couple of days after adding the chlorine I had no detectable FC, and pH tended to creep up to above 8.0 over the course of the week.

So, now I add a half teaspoon or so of dichlor every night or two, just enough to keep FC above 1 ppm, and a teaspoon or so of pH decreaser to maintain pH at 7.4 – 7.6. I continue to add the MPS after each use. Fridays after we use the spa I also add a teaspoon of dichlor, and Saturday mornings I add the Silk Balance.

Here are my readings this morning: pH – 7.4, FC – 5.4, CC – none, TA – 100 ppm, CH – 140, CYA – less than 30 ppm.

I have questions:

Am I doing this right? Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated.

The Silk Balance came with the spa, and my wife and I have both noticed how nice it makes our skin feel. However, it is priced about the same as Dom Perignon. Are there other (less pricey) additives with similar results? Nitro mentioned something called Gentle Spa.

[spidey9]

Three weeks, 139 views, and zero replies. Did I commit some breach of forum etiquette? Or am I just boring?

[arches2]

I don't know anything about the silkl balance and i bet not many do which is why you haven't recieved any replys. However it looks like you are maintaining a proper pH and cholrine level (perhaps slightly high?) so you should be safe. There are much simplier and cheaper methods you can use such as the dichlor/bleach and 3 step bromine. There are detailed stickies at the top of this forum that describe them very well and their benefits. Watchout for using dichlor exclusively as you can build up too muchCYA which reduces the effectiveness of the chlorine.

Gentle spa is great but you could also just use 20 mule team borax with acid for less money. it will help stabilize you pH as well as give you the nice feeling on your skin.

[spidey9]

I don't know anything about the silkl balance and i bet not many do which is why you haven't recieved any replys. However it looks like you are maintaining a proper pH and cholrine level (perhaps slightly high?) so you should be safe. There are much simplier and cheaper methods you can use such as the dichlor/bleach and 3 step bromine. There are detailed stickies at the top of this forum that describe them very well and their benefits. Watchout for using dichlor exclusively as you can build up too muchCYA which reduces the effectiveness of the chlorine.

Gentle spa is great but you could also just use 20 mule team borax with acid for less money. it will help stabilize you pH as well as give you the nice feeling on your skin.

Thanks for the reply. My chlorine was a little high that day because those readings were taken on the day that I add the Silk Balance. Most days, FC is around 1-3 ppm.

I definitely will not be using the Silk Balance after my free supply runs out, as $200 for a 4-6 month supply is just ridiculous. I will probably go with dichlor/bleach, since I am already using the dichlor.

Besides, the whole concept behind Silk Balance seems to be to minimize testing, and I have found that I rather enjoy doing the tests.

I do have a question that has nothing to do with Silk Balance. I will be changing the water in another week or so. The manual that came with the Jacuzzi recommends adjusting for an initial Total Alkalinity (TA) of 100-120 ppm, but the concensus on this forum seems to be lower, around 50 ppm. What to do?

[waterbear]

High TA will cause pH to rise quickly, which is the reason for the lower recommendations in the forum. This post in the swimming pool water chemistry section explains about TA and how to lower it and why we lower it and is just as applicable to spas as pools. More so, in fact, because the the greater aearation level in spas and therefore the faster outgassing of CO2 and associated pH rise.

[spidey9]

High TA will cause pH to rise quickly, which is the reason for the lower recommendations in the forum. This post in the swimming pool water chemistry section explains about TA and how to lower it and why we lower it and is just as applicable to spas as pools. More so, in fact, because the the greater aearation level in spas and therefore the faster outgassing of CO2 and associated pH rise.

Thanks for the link. It all makes perfect sense, and leaves me wondering why the manual and some other sources I have come across would recommend the higher TA.