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First Fill - Water Chemicals and Testing


Rayf01

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So, I got my hot tub back together with the new motor/pump and seals. This is my first time filling it, so I had the local store test my tap water, results below:

 

TDS: 250 ppm

Alkalinity: 110 ppm

PH 7.4

Calcium: 130 ppm

Free Chlorine 4ppm 

Combined Chlorine 0ppm

Iron: 0 ppm

Copper: 0ppm

 

 

So with the above results I have a few questions:

1. With my TDS at 250, however my iron and copper at 0, do I really need to use any additive to remove metals and prevent staining upon the first fill? I have spoke to other people in the area and they never do.

2. My alkalinity and PH seem to be bang on out of the tap. Therefore I shouldn't need to add anything at all right now right?

3. I added some Calcium Hardness Increasing to try bring my calcium up to the 150-200 range so I will test that shortly, buts its the only thing I can think of for balancing right now that I need to do I believe?

4. Shocking and Sanitizing: Can I just use Chlorine Granules and Super Chlorinate, or should I be using an initial non chlorinated shock first, then do the chlorine later?

5. Is Free Chlorine the level of Chlorine I need in my spa to stay between 3ppm adn 5 ppm or is it the combined chlorine? My Free is already at 4ppm out of the tap.

6. A friend gave me chemicals from his spa that he just sold with a house. I have two types of chlorine granules. One says CHLOR on the bottle and is 65% Calcium Hypochlorite. The second says Stablized Chlorine Granules and is 100% Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione. Which is the better one to use to sanitize my spa?

7. Should a person use chlorine pucks in a floater to maintain the chlorine level instead of having to add granules all the time?

8. Also, how do I convert grams to something useful like cups? Or do you have to measure the weight of all your chemicals? The chemicals are all instructed in grams. Since particles from one chemical can weigh more than another should I be using a scale?

 

Will balance values change with temp? These are tested at 64 Fahrenheit as the spa heats up.

 

 

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1. With no copper or iron and your hardness where its at, you should be fine not adding any stain & scale product. 

2. Your pH and alkalinity are balanced and unless that changes there is nothing you need to do for them. 

3. I personally would have just left the calcium alone at 130, but it is fine to increase it into the desired range.

4. No need to use non-chlorine shock right away.  Use that later.  Super chlorinate with chlorine on first fill.  

5. Free chlorine is what you want to maintain between 3-5 ppm

6. Do not use the cal hypo.  Only type of chlorine that you should use is di-chlor

7. DO NOT USE chlorine tabs.  They are very low in pH and will dissolve rapidly in warm water.  

8. No idea on converting grams to other measurements.

Water temperature is irrelevant to the water chemistry.  However, chemicals will react slower and dissolve slower in cold water.  Also, aeration will naturally cause pH to rise and any time your jets run they are aerating the water.  The result will be fluctuating pH over time.

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Thank you for the reply. I ended up filling and using a bromide / MPS sanitizer instead of chlorine. Everything was good and I used the tub that night and then the bromine levels dropped right off. I added some mps and even shocked it with non chlorine shock. The bromine levels never came up. I attempted to super chlorinated with dichloride as well anf used about 37 gram got a 1500 litre tub. Then levels finally came back up and hit 10 for bromine and also chlorine in the water. I left the cover off for like an hour and the levels came back down to about 5 for bromine and everything looked good.

 

I'll see what it looks like when I get home but it's odd that it took the super chlorinatation with dichloride to get the levels back up again.

 

I have noticed some white paper like soft flakes in the water and I'm unsure if they are white mold or calcium. I tried putting some in a 1 cup jar with water/bleech and they didn't really dissolve much. Most of them I have caught in the ore filter soak which I have had to wash out three times now and I'd describe it as gunk. I'm not seeing a ton more of them now so we'll see what happens. Just wondering if I should decontaminate and drain or leave it. They also Staines the top of the filter cartridge as well with a light colored ring. I'll have to try soak it eventually and clean it.

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