New Spa Owner

[pezley69]

Hello All!

I am new to the spa world (well, technically I will be in approx. 2 weeks).

I am getting an older (2000 model) Arctic Spa Cub Signature. Is there a regime I should go through to clean the spa prior to my first fill up?

The Spa is 350 gallons and I have been reading all the posts over the last few days and I feel very confused with the ppm and cya and what not and not totally understanding about adding dichlor (sp?) and liquid chlorine, and ph up and down, etc.

So, here are my comments/questions and any advice is appreciated.

First, it sounds like to me the way to go is the chlorine or bromine systems over the baqua/soft soak systems. As far as I know neither my wife or I have issues with either chlorine or bromine.

Is one particularily better or easier to maintain? Being newbies I need the easiest system to follow

Second, is there a write up somewhere with the standard procedure to follow at initial fill up and then for maintainence of the water? I would imagine we will use the tub at least 3-4 times per week (both of us but most likely no one else on a regular basis).

I get from reading that test strips pretty much suck and are inaccurate and I should purchase a kit such as the Taylor K-2006 right?

How often should I test, etc?

Basically, if someone can point me in the direction of the write up or website or something that details what I need to be doing to keep the water clean and can keep me from getting any kind of funk from getting in my tub I would appreciate it. Also, a list of needed chemicals to have on hand would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Pez

[hottub.pool_boy]

try this http://scarritt.com/spasanitizing.htm

[waterbear]

If you are going to use chlorine this is what you will need:

A Taylor K-2006 test kit

dichlor (use initially for the first shock and the first 2 times to a week then stop. This will bring your CYA levels up a bit. You don't want the CYA above 30 ppm. 20 ppm is probably better but is next to impossibe to test that low a level)

Liquid bleach (your main source of chorine after the first week of dichlor)

Baking soda (to increase total alkalinity--this is exactly the same thing your dealer sells you as total alkalinity increaser)

Sodium bisulfate (dry acid, pH decreaser--this is what you use to lower pH when too high)

Borax (the 20 mule team stuff in the green box in the laundry aisle in the grocery store. This is sodium tetraborate and is used to raise your pH without affecting your total alkalinity. It works much better at this than the soda ash that is commonly sold as pH increaser. It is used in spas in a concentration of 30-50 ppm as a water 'enchancer' under such trade names as Proteam's Gentle Spa, btw! When used in this way it acts as an algaestat and pH buffer.)

For a 350 gal spa one cup of regular or ultra bleach will get you into shock level and 3 oz (6 tablesppons) wil raise your FC by about 4 ppm. Test your levels after adding and that way you can make any adjustments to your dosing. The amounts I am giving your are ballpark (but faily close). Testing is the key to figure out how much to use for your spa. I would recommend testing daily for the first few weeks until you learn how much and how ofthen you need to add chlorine to maintain a 3-6 ppm range. Your shock level should be about 10.12 ppm. Don't go back into the spa until the chlorine had dropped below 10 ppm after shocking.

Bromine is a bit different. For bromine you don't need the dichlor and the test kit you want will be a Taylor K-2106. You will also need sodium bromide added to the water on each refill (so your shock can produce the bromine sanitizer) and might want to use bromine tabs in a floater to help maintain the levels. Tabs by themselves are too slow dissolving to maintain a bromine sanitizer level at first which is why the sodium bromide is necessary. Bleach is also your best shock. The chlorine is converted into the active bromine sanitizer, hypobromous acid. In fact, bromine tabs contain chlorine as part of their makeup for this reason! If you don't want to use bleach you can use MPS (non chlorine shock) to do the same but it is more expensive and adds sulfates to the water and causes the pH to drop.

In either case you should drain and refill about every 3-4 months.

[Wrinkles]

Thanks for that advice. Sounds like a good plan and cheaper also without losing results. I do have one question about my ozone generator. Do I still use it or is it even needed with this treatment ?

[hottub.pool_boy]

You may have bubbles, but is there ozone being generated? I'm usually suspicious of older ozone units. Have someone check it out for you.

Ozone is beneficial with any chlorine or bromine schedule.

[Wrinkles]

It's a brand new tub and ozone gen unless you are talking about it being an older model.

[hottub.pool_boy]

sorry, i thought it was an older spa.

[chem geek]

Ozone is beneficial with any chlorine or bromine schedule.

Ozone tends to break down chlorine while it does not do so for bromine (and in fact tends to reactivate bromide back to bromine). So I would say that ozone is quite compatible with bromine, but is less so with chlorine. It certainly works, but you may be adding more chlorine with an ozone system than without. If you've got lots of organics and potential algae in your water, then the ozone will take care of those instead of the chlorine so you would need less chlorine, but some users on this forum who have used ozone seem to report fairly high chlorine usage/loss with their systems (even when covered with no jets on which is when chlorine is typically used up faster).

[Wrinkles]

Thanks for that insight. Right now I am just using Chlorine and it seems that I am always adding some everyday to keep the right level. The spa is covered all the time unless we use it and that would be about 3 times a week at about 30 minutes each time. Of course with the program that it's set at, it cycles twice a day for 2 hours but other than that the jets are off.

The store people had sold me Bromine Tablets and said to just put one in the skimmer but I am hesitant about that because I keep reading on posts here that you should use a floater.

[hottub.pool_boy]

Our thoughts on chlorine and ozone.

You use the spa, then add chlorine when finished. Couple days later, the ozone oxidizes the chlorine out. Great! The ozone keeps the water oxidized while you haven't used it. NO need to maintain chlorine level every day or so.

You go to use the spa, great!, practically zero chlorine. Then add chlorine when you're done.

On HotSpring or Tiger River spas, ozone it going in ALL of the time. It's easy for these to keep the water clean and oxidized by the ozone when the spa hasn't been used.

Other brands may require increased filter cycles of the main pump in order to put in enough ozone throughout a day.

[104 Degrees]

Our thoughts on chlorine and ozone.

You use the spa, then add chlorine when finished. Couple days later, the ozone oxidizes the chlorine out. Great! The ozone keeps the water oxidized while you haven't used it. NO need to maintain chlorine level every day or so.

You go to use the spa, great!, practically zero chlorine. Then add chlorine when you're done.

On HotSpring or Tiger River spas, ozone it going in ALL of the time. It's easy for these to keep the water clean and oxidized by the ozone when the spa hasn't been used.

Other brands may require increased filter cycles of the main pump in order to put in enough ozone throughout a day.

Nicely put.

[chem geek]

Though the risk is low, when the chlorine is gone in the hot tub because the ozone has used it up, any bacteria or algae stuck to spa surfaces in biofilms can grow. [EDIT] The generation rate for most bacteria is from 15 minutes to one hour so that is how long it takes to double in population. One bacteria can turn into over 16 million bacteria in from 6 to 24 hours. [END-EDIT] Only water that circulates and flows through the ozonator gets hevaily zapped with ozone. The ozone does not leave a residual in the spa water.

I agree the risk is low, but the above scenario is part of the reason why chlorine is required with ozone systems. The main reason, however, is killing pathogens introduced by bathers preventing transmission from one to another. The ozonator doesn't help there -- only a residual amount of sanitizer (chlorine) takes care of that.

[pezley69]

If you are going to use chlorine this is what you will need:

A Taylor K-2006 test kit

dichlor (use initially for the first shock and the first 2 times to a week then stop. This will bring your CYA levels up a bit. You don't want the CYA above 30 ppm. 20 ppm is probably better but is next to impossibe to test that low a level)

Liquid bleach (your main source of chorine after the first week of dichlor)

Baking soda (to increase total alkalinity--this is exactly the same thing your dealer sells you as total alkalinity increaser)

Sodium bisulfate (dry acid, pH decreaser--this is what you use to lower pH when too high)

Borax (the 20 mule team stuff in the green box in the laundry aisle in the grocery store. This is sodium tetraborate and is used to raise your pH without affecting your total alkalinity. It works much better at this than the soda ash that is commonly sold as pH increaser. It is used in spas in a concentration of 30-50 ppm as a water 'enchancer' under such trade names as Proteam's Gentle Spa, btw! When used in this way it acts as an algaestat and pH buffer.)

For a 350 gal spa one cup of regular or ultra bleach will get you into shock level and 3 oz (6 tablesppons) wil raise your FC by about 4 ppm. Test your levels after adding and that way you can make any adjustments to your dosing. The amounts I am giving your are ballpark (but faily close). Testing is the key to figure out how much to use for your spa. I would recommend testing daily for the first few weeks until you learn how much and how ofthen you need to add chlorine to maintain a 3-6 ppm range. Your shock level should be about 10.12 ppm. Don't go back into the spa until the chlorine had dropped below 10 ppm after shocking.

Bromine is a bit different. For bromine you don't need the dichlor and the test kit you want will be a Taylor K-2106. You will also need sodium bromide added to the water on each refill (so your shock can produce the bromine sanitizer) and might want to use bromine tabs in a floater to help maintain the levels. Tabs by themselves are too slow dissolving to maintain a bromine sanitizer level at first which is why the sodium bromide is necessary. Bleach is also your best shock. The chlorine is converted into the active bromine sanitizer, hypobromous acid. In fact, bromine tabs contain chlorine as part of their makeup for this reason! If you don't want to use bleach you can use MPS (non chlorine shock) to do the same but it is more expensive and adds sulfates to the water and causes the pH to drop.

In either case you should drain and refill about every 3-4 months.

I have a couple of questions:

Where do you buy the dichlor and Sodium bisulfate? I assume the dichlor will be available where you buy the chlorine products for pools and spas but I have no idea on the sodium bisulfate.

Thanks for any help.

[waterbear]

I have a couple of questions:

Where do you buy the dichlor and Sodium bisulfate? I assume the dichlor will be available where you buy the chlorine products for pools and spas but I have no idea on the sodium bisulfate.

Thanks for any help.

You can buy them at any pool supply store. Sodium bisulfate is commonly labeled pH minus or pH down or pH - or pH reducer depending on the brand. It is actually easier to find than dichlor and can even be found in the pool departents of Walmart, Kmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace Hardware! Many of these chains also carry dichlor. It is a fairly common form of stabilized chlorine.