spamadness Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 Did I damage my new Spa? 400gallon acrylic hot tub After 4 weeks of using Dichlor (2oz twice a week), I got into a chlorine lock situation, with CYA build up. (FC .14, TC 7.25, CYA 83). (pH 7.8, TA 82) When I added additional Dichlor, the readings would come back at zero. Leslies did a water test (see attached) and informed me to add 6.9oz of Clor Bright (Dichlor-S-Trianzinetrione) granules to break to lock and shock the 400 gallon hot tub, making sure the cover was off and the jets were on for 1 hr. I waited 24hrs and the chlorine levels were still through the roof, maxing out my test strips. You could smell the chlorine across the yard. Could this super high level of chlorine have damaged the hot tub components? I was then advised to drian a few inches of water and fill it with fresh which I did ( drained 6" probably 80-100 gallon. The Chlorine was still around 8-10ppm. Any feedback or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashmer Posted October 3, 2022 Report Share Posted October 3, 2022 I doubt very much that you will have damaged anything, especially if your cover was off and you had no pillows or other items in contact with the water. High chlorine treatments are common for decontamination but the amount you were told to use certainly seems to be overkill for your situation. In any case your Cl is nearly back down in the recommended range and you should no longer have chloramines in there. You should consider switching to the dichlor then bleach method immediately. Your CYA is higher than recommended but may be OK to get you to the next water change. You will have to get the alkalinity and pH down. There is a sticky article at the top of this forum that will give you direction on what the values should be. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spamadness Posted October 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2022 Dashmer- Thanks for the reply! I will search for the Dichlor then bleach method you recommend. I did unfortunately leave my pillows in the tub, but the water was an inch below to just touching them. After the 2nd day with the Chlorine levels still very high / unreadable, I ended draining by 80% and refilling, reheating, rebalancing and bringing up the hardness. Just was upset that I may have damaged a new tub / cover / components. Thank again for replying. I am struggling the stablize the water chemistry, even with the pH/ TA correct it will still get cloudy, even when barely used and filtering 8hr a day. Filters cleaned every other week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dashmer Posted October 5, 2022 Report Share Posted October 5, 2022 You didn't mention how you test your water. I know you had the previous water tested by a pool store but you are back into the unknown when it comes to your chemistry. The experts on this forum will tell you to get a good quality liquid test kit, such as the Taylor K-2006 (if you plan on using chlorine as your sanitizer). It is very difficult to solve water chemistry problems with test strips. For the moment, if we assume your ph and TA are in range and your CH is also in the 150 ppm ish range you most likely are not adding enough sanitizer. Are you using dichlor at the moment and plan to switch to bleach? If so tell me how much you are adding after a soak and how long and how many people were in the tub. A rule of thumb that was posted many years ago in the forum is that you need to add about 7ppm of chlorine for every person hour in the tub (hot tub 104 degrees)...just to clean up (i.e. oxidize) bather waste. You need to add another 3-5 ppm on top of that to leave a residual amount of sanitizer in the tub. I use 5 ppm per bather hour since I keep my tub at 100 or less. Example: 2 people in the tub for 30 min = 1 person hour = 5 to 7 ppm + 3 - 5 ppm more for residual = 8 to 12 ppm chlorine. If you are using dichlor in a 400 gal tub that would be .7 to 1.1 fl oz Are you using anywhere near this amount? If able, please post your full test results for this water and someone will steer you in the right direction. PS. If you are planning to us the dichlor then bleach method, you will have enough CYA in the tub after approximately 3 fl oz of dichlor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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