Newbie Bestway Spa Help Please!

[xfawkes]

We bought a Bestway Monaco spa at Christmas and aside from one brief outing in March, the temperature hasn't been "safe" enough to leave it out for longer. It seems like the temperature is finally settling in to a consistent safe zone so we can probably get the hot tub out and keep it out until the temperature starts to top again in Autumn.

When we used the hot tub in March I don't really feel like I had much luck with chemical levels. After I'd filled the tub, I immediately set it to heat and added a shock treatment of Chlorine right away. Once I'd left that for 24 hours, I tested the water and saw that the Alkalinity and PH were very low and so I started adding PH plus but basically I was guessing at the amounts and so I would see the PH rise but didn't see much change in the Alkalinity. The PH would quickly drop off again and it was only after a couple of days of trying that I managed to get the PH to a level where I was happy for us to have a dip but even then, the Alkalinity was still low and I had to add PH plus every day for the few days we had left to use the tub. I was also adding the recommended amount of Chlorine before bed every night to make sure the Chlorine level was okay.

When I get the tub out later this week I'd really like to do things right and get a good balance as efficiently as possible so I'd love any advice anyone can give me. I can post the levels I find as and when I test but at this point, how would you start? Am I right to fill the tub then turn on the heater and shock at the same time? Should I be working on my Alkalinity before anything else? I'm lost!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[xfawkes]

I filled up the tub this morning and it's currently heating up. I've added 60g of Clearwater Chlorine granules to shock the tub.

I'll test the water tomorrow morning to see whether I need to add PH plus again.

[xfawkes]

I tested the water this morning (pics below) and found there to be very low PH and very low Alkalinity.

I've added 30g of Clearwater PH plus to get things started. I'll retest in a couple of hours and see where things are.

Any advice at this stage is greatly appreciated

[xfawkes]

Two hours later and my PH is up in a reasonable range but unfortunately my Alkalinity is still very low. This is where I get really stuck because if I add more PH plus to increase the Alkalinity, my PH will go too high

[xfawkes]

After the last test, I did some reading and as a result added 3 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda to tub to try and raise Alkalinity. I've just retested and Alkalinity has gone up but I've added another tablespoon to hopefully hit exactly the right level. Once that's done, hopefully I can get PH down since it looks like that's falling in to the Very High region now.

[xfawkes]

Another test and the Alkalinity hasn't changed so I've added two more tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda to hopefully get me there...

[xfawkes]

I ordered a new testing kit because I felt like I was probably being led astray by those basic test strips. It arrived today and (see pics) everything looks great now. The alkalinity is potentially a little low still but I've got a better tester for alkalinity coming later in the week so I'll deal with that then. For now, PH looks good and Chlorine levels look good so we'll be giving it a go tonight

[apostlej2015]

To raise your TA, use baking soda. Use the http://poolcalculator.com/to determine the amount you need. Keep in mind TA is not instant. It will take 2-4 hrs to get a real reading.