Questions from a first time hot tub owner

[HotTubSayTay]

Hello All, 

Accepting delivery of my first hot tub and a few questions come to mind. The tub has an ozonator. 

1. Hot tub reseller provided a AquaChek 4in1 test strip package for my Bromine Spa. I notice it did not test for Free Bromine(Br) and inquired. They mentioned that its not important if I'm adding shock weekly, and keeping my total Br in check. My wife and I plan on doing two 20 minute dips a day(first thing in the morning, last thing at night) and a few times a week the kids will join us. Do I need to test for free Br? We planned on adding a a little MPS at the end of the day following our last dip. A Zorbie will always be floating in the tub. 
2. Hot tub reseller says its not important to test hardness as that's only relevant in pools with a concrete shell and vinyl liner( something about long term damage to liner). Apparently fiberglass tubs are not subjected to that.
3. I'm new to this and only recently learned about enzymes. Instead of adding MPS daily is it advisable to add an enzyme like Natural Chemistry Spa Perfect to combat whatever the bather introduces daily? (Note: We will ban anyone that does not shower before entering the tub. Bathing suits will also be prewashed in a quick water only cycle to remove phosphates. Sounds crazy but i'm trying to keep the water as natural and safe as possible with the least amount of chemicals).
4. Considering how frequently we will be in the tub, what is a reasonable frequency to test PH/TDS/Free & Total BR/TA

Hot tub start up consists of filling with cold water (through skimmer), pump & leak check, 25 minute "Ahh-some" run (cleaning sides constantly), Rinse tub while purging, wipe down, fill and heat to 99, check and adjust PH, wait 2 hours if adjusted then adjust TA, wait 1 hours then add BR.

Did I miss anything? Or is anything in the wrong order? 

Thanks in advance for helping out a noob! 

[HotTubSayTay]

Out of the tap through a new x10

PH 6.8
TA 120
Br 0
Hardness 250

Should I be worried with 250 hardness ? (assume I raise PH to 7.4-7.8)

[dashmer]

Hello HTST,

I see none of our forum experts seem to be around these days (@waterbear) and I still consider myself to be low on the hot tub expertise ladder, but did not want to see your request for help go unanswered.

I am not familiar with using Bromine, I have been using the Dichlor then bleach method for the last 6 months with excellent results. 

The experts in this forum frown on the use of test strips for anything more than ball parking your water chemistry.  You should invest in a taylor test kit.  I use K-2006 for chlorine but I know they have one for Bromine testing as well.  You will need to test your water nearly daily in the beginning until you understand how much Br you use during your daily dips and how much residual free bromine you have the next day.  

Hardness is important to your water balance and having too much or too little can cause adverse effects in your tub.  With too little your water will attack your heater and other parts of your tub to find hardness. Too much can lead to scaling and other water problems.  Your number does not look too crazy high.  I keep mine lower but I think you are OK with that.  

Your pH is low and that might be due to your use of MPS daily, which might be overkill.  MPS is an oxidizer/non chlorine shock that you would only add after high bather loads or weekly as part of your maintenance.  Where your TA is on the high normal range, you should try aerating the water to see if you can bring the pH up that way.  Adding pH up will raise your TA as well.

I understand that enzymes can help with non living organic waste, such as body oils, etc. preventing scum rings and improving water quality.  I would hold off on that for now until you get your water balance addressed.  You mentioned that you are enforcing showers and rinsed suits, etc. so you may not have much of a problem anyway. 

There are some good sticky articles on this forum on the use of bromine and how to adjust TA and pH etc.  You should have a read of those to look for good tips on water care.

Hope this helps.

[HotTubSayTay]

Thank you dashmer for you feedback! 

Looks like those who know a thing or two about hot tub chemistry are no longer available or online. I will continue to update this thread for first time tubbers so they can learn from my experience/mistakes. 

~HTST

[RDspaguy]

18 hours ago, HotTubSayTay said:

Thank you dashmer for you feedback! 

Looks like those who know a thing or two about hot tub chemistry are no longer available or online. I will continue to update this thread for first time tubbers so they can learn from my experience/mistakes. 

~HTST

I suggest you do a search in this forum for info. Most of your questions have been answered many times over. Our chemistry expert, @waterbear, is not available right now, but his advice is there to be had. 

Not a fan of enzymes. 

Hardness is only a problem if your ph is high, and there's not much you can do about it anyway.

I recommend chlorine to activate your bromide reserve, not mps.

Test often at first until you get a feel for it. Get a good test kit, strips are not reliable.

[waterbear]

I was out of town for my niece's wedding and was only gone for a week! Am I really that important?

To answer the questions of the OP:

1. Only Total Bromine is tested, unlike chlorine where we test for free chlorine (which sanitizes) and combined chlorine (which does not) since combined bromine is an active sanitizer, unlike chlorine.

2. partially correct. If hardness is too low (very soft water) there is more chance of foaming. Hardness above about 120 ppm or so should be more than enough. IF the hardness is very high (more than 300 to 400 ppm) there is a chance of scaling occurring so a scale preventative might be needed. There is NO correlation between hardness and corrosion of metal parts. This is strictly a function of pH being too low. Hardness is mostly an issue with plaster pools and tubs but both vinyl pools and fiberglass pools can have some adverse effects  with hardness that is too low (leaching of plasticizers from vinyl liners and cobalt spotting in fiberglass pools). The vast majority of hot tubs shells are acrylic,so other than foaming or scale deposits as mentioned above, calcium hardness is not a major issue.

3. Enzymes are a waste of money and not needed. Just keep your bromine in the range of 4 to 6 ppm and your pH in the range of 7.2 to 8.0 and shock once a week or  so. I recommend shocking with chlorine and not MPS.

4. Test total bromine and pH daily, test TA and CH weekly, TDS is bogus, don't bother.

On 10/21/2021 at 8:53 PM, HotTubSayTay said:

PH 6.8
TA 120
Br 0
Hardness 250

Should I be worried with 250 hardness ? (assume I raise PH to 7.4-7.8)

I suspect your low pH is because you are testing with strips. They tend to read low for some reason. With a TA of 120 (once again suspect because you are using strips) I would be very surprised that your pH does not start rising when the tub is running, Hardness if 250 is fine.

I believe you are located in Canada. The bad news is that Taylor test kits are expensive there but still worth the money, IMHO. (The Canadian prices are set by the Canadian distributor for Taylor Technologies). If you cannot get the K-2106 for bromine then you can use the Taylor K-2006 for chlorine and multiply the free chlorine test by 2.25 to get a total bromine reading. (You will not need the included combined chlorine test or the Cyanuric acid test since they are only for chlorine. The other included tests are identical in both kits.)

As an alternative you can get a LaMotte ColorQ kit. Get the one with liquid reagents if possible. Be aware that it uses the DPD method for bromine and chlorine and that is subject to bleachout at high (shock) sanitizer levels, leading you to believe that sanitizer is low when it is actually high and the pH test will suffer from interference at a lower sanitizer level than the Taylor reagent (which will give inaccurate or inconclusive pH results)

Read these posts (they should answer just about all your questions):

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/53410-how-to-use-bromine-3-step-method/

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/52522-some-truths-about-ph-and-ta/

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/28846-lowering-total-alkalinity-howto/

 

 

[dashmer]

19 minutes ago, waterbear said:

Am I really that important?

I would say extremely important to this forum 🙂  You should be called waterguru...

[RDspaguy]

11 hours ago, waterbear said:

Am I really that important?

We can't make it without you, oh mighty wizard of the chemistry stuff. 😉

Seriously, I am in trouble for spending so much time here, so am trying to short answer or delegate as much as possible. If mama ain't happy, NOBODY is happy. Happy wife happy life, or so they say...

[HotTubSayTay]

Thank @waterbear @dashmer @RDspaguy for your feedback. 

Several people advised against wasting water & ahh-some as a first purge.. I'm glad I did not listen to them. Attached are pics of the purge on a tub that's only 2 weeks old and never used. 

[Ahhsomeguy]

We are speaking with many hot tub dealers who are purging at the time of first set-up at the consumer’s home.  Many other dealers perform a purge at their shop just prior to the delivery to make sure that the new owner will start their water maintenance on a positive note without having to call them back with floaters and discoloration issues.  There are still and always will be Dealers that say “there’s no such thing as biofilm in new spas”.  No wonder that some hot tub owners get frustrated about maintaining their water so it is always clear, we’ll sanitized and refreshing.

 

[HotTubSayTay]

One lesson I learned, Its just as important to clean inside the skimmer as it is the shell of the tub. Two days after my final fill I noticed biofilm in the skimmer.. Luckily it was not too hard to remove. A second lesson I learned, the diameter of the hose is very important when it comes to draining. My 1/2 hose took forever.. I plan on finding a 1  1/4" sump pump hose for my next drain.. hopefully that's spring 2022. 

Few notes for new owners 

4KW heater raised the water temp at a rate of 4 degrees per hour.
My starting water temp was 54 degrees
Filling 430 gallons through a X10 filter took just over 2 hours. 
Draining took 2.5 hours