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New Here. First Post About Wacky Water


DGmarie

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My new home comes with a used hot tub, a 1997 Jacuzzi, pretty basic but functional. We're on well water. Took a sample to the local spa guy and he ran it through his computer. Came back super high on Alk (like 300) and on pH (8.4 I think or close). Everything else ok. Printed out some tips we are to follow. One is to add 2 Tablespoons of pH down per day for 14 days.

It's been about 5 days now since we performed this daily 2 T of pH down. I am using test strips and don't see any movement at all. I also shocked with Bromine concentrate 5 days ago and haven't added since. The Bromine (per strip) is still pretty dark purple. I've not run the spa or gone in it. We just turn it on the add the pH down and after 15-30 minutes turn it off. I'm taking water back for analysis tomorrow or Saturday. My DH was wondering why this pH down needs to take 14 days to lower to normal, or is this all a bunch of hogwash in terms of the computer's "suggestions."

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My new home comes with a used hot tub, a 1997 Jacuzzi, pretty basic but functional. We're on well water. Took a sample to the local spa guy and he ran it through his computer. Came back super high on Alk (like 300) and on pH (8.4 I think or close). Everything else ok. Printed out some tips we are to follow. One is to add 2 Tablespoons of pH down per day for 14 days.

It's been about 5 days now since we performed this daily 2 T of pH down. I am using test strips and don't see any movement at all. I also shocked with Bromine concentrate 5 days ago and haven't added since. The Bromine (per strip) is still pretty dark purple. I've not run the spa or gone in it. We just turn it on the add the pH down and after 15-30 minutes turn it off. I'm taking water back for analysis tomorrow or Saturday. My DH was wondering why this pH down needs to take 14 days to lower to normal, or is this all a bunch of hogwash in terms of the computer's "suggestions."

I would suggest Muriatic Acid. It will work faster on the pH and alkalinity. You won't need very much. How many gallons is in your tub? It's also less expensive. But you must be VERY careful. Don't spill it and keep it out of the reach of children. You should not have to wait 14 days to use the tub.

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I would suggest Muriatic Acid. It will work faster on the pH and alkalinity. You won't need very much. How many gallons is in your tub? It's also less expensive. But you must be VERY careful. Don't spill it and keep it out of the reach of children. You should not have to wait 14 days to use the tub.

Interesting. The hot tub holds 400 gallons.

Muriatic acid was something I saw scribbled on a faded old instruction card in the bucket of spa chemicals I inherited. I also found an enormous cannister of Pool pH Down. It's dosage started with 10,000 gallon pools so I didn't mess with it.

Do you know how much muratic acid is required? Is it a one step procedure or does it require several applications?

thank you! You are very kind to help me with this.

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Interesting. The hot tub holds 400 gallons.

Muriatic acid was something I saw scribbled on a faded old instruction card in the bucket of spa chemicals I inherited. I also found an enormous cannister of Pool pH Down. It's dosage started with 10,000 gallon pools so I didn't mess with it.

Do you know how much muratic acid is required? Is it a one step procedure or does it require several applications?

thank you! You are very kind to help me with this.

You will need about 1 pt. of Muriatic Acid. That will bring your alkalinity down about 200ppm. So you will come down from 300 to about 100 ppm which is just about right. Alkalinity reading should be between 80 and 120 ppm. Do you have a test kit? A strip test kit is the easiest to use and read.

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You will need about 1 pt. of Muriatic Acid. That will bring your alkalinity down about 200ppm. So you will come down from 300 to about 100 ppm which is just about right. Alkalinity reading should be between 80 and 120 ppm. Do you have a test kit? A strip test kit is the easiest to use and read.

I have a strip test kit, but have been getting the water tested via computer at a nearby spa store.

Today I went in with a sample. My pH is down to 8.2 and my Alk is down to 160 from 310. The store recommended 2T + 2t of pH down and then 2T once every two weeks. The store said next time I can use 2T twice a day but I will consider the muriatic acid as well. The store did not want me to consider the acid. I assume because it would mean I would not buy their chemicals from them!

The store recommends Sunday to be "spa day" for using chemicals. Shock, stain and scale, water clarify once per week. Brominate in the tub in the floater all the time. The store wanted me to consider something called Silken but frankly I don't want any more chemicals. I haven't even stuck my foot in it yet.

We are not going to be in the spa very often. I'm glad for a once per week schedule.

By the way, this hot tub is a 1998 Jacuzzi Z140, so definately not anything fancy. Functional, but no bells and whistles.

Thanks for your help!

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I have a strip test kit, but have been getting the water tested via computer at a nearby spa store.

Today I went in with a sample. My pH is down to 8.2 and my Alk is down to 160 from 310. The store recommended 2T + 2t of pH down and then 2T once every two weeks. The store said next time I can use 2T twice a day but I will consider the muriatic acid as well. The store did not want me to consider the acid. I assume because it would mean I would not buy their chemicals from them!

The store recommends Sunday to be "spa day" for using chemicals. Shock, stain and scale, water clarify once per week. Brominate in the tub in the floater all the time. The store wanted me to consider something called Silken but frankly I don't want any more chemicals. I haven't even stuck my foot in it yet.

We are not going to be in the spa very often. I'm glad for a once per week schedule.

By the way, this hot tub is a 1998 Jacuzzi Z140, so definately not anything fancy. Functional, but no bells and whistles.

Thanks for your help!

Well, you are improving. You still need to get the PH down to 7.6

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, you are improving. You still need to get the PH down to 7.6

Muriatic acid I give to people with gunite pools with over 35,000 gallons to lower the ph and usually if it is @ 9 than 2 galons is sufficient, however in a spa you would have to use a pin drop I would think.

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Muriatic acid I give to people with gunite pools with over 35,000 gallons to lower the ph and usually if it is @ 9 than 2 galons is sufficient, however in a spa you would have to use a pin drop I would think.

I've been just using the pH down I have. I have a ton of it from the previous owners. So I'd just decided to use this up. It works. I just add some every morning and night. It is pretty simple.

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I've been just using the pH down I have. I have a ton of it from the previous owners. So I'd just decided to use this up. It works. I just add some every morning and night. It is pretty simple.

Yeah until you lower the ph enough to rot out the bearings in the pump and than you have some serious problems. Did you happen to check your PH after adding tons of it to the water? Do not add anymore PH- please. Also you might need to bring that alkalinity up too.

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Muriatic acid I give to people with gunite pools with over 35,000 gallons to lower the ph and usually if it is @ 9 than 2 galons is sufficient, however in a spa you would have to use a pin drop I would think.

Muriatic acid is more effective than sodium bisulfate (dry acid) at lowering pH but there is no reason that it can't be used in a spa. You just need to think in terms of using ounces instead of pints or quarts. How much acid you need to lower pH with either agent can not be stated exactly as it depends on the TA. That is why it is always best to add small amounts and retest the pH until you get it where it needs to be. If the TA is high you could be adding what seems to be a lot of acid and there is no movement but then all of a sudden the pH goes down. This is normal and it just means that the TA is acting like it should and helping keep the pH from moving.

BTW, I would NEVER suggest adding 2 gal of acid at once to a pool....even 35000 gal! (and WHY IN THE WORLD would anyone EVER let their pH go to 9!?!?!?!?!?!?) (Unless, of course they got bad advice from the pool store)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah until you lower the ph enough to rot out the bearings in the pump and than you have some serious problems. Did you happen to check your PH after adding tons of it to the water? Do not add anymore PH- please. Also you might need to bring that alkalinity up too.

I test the water daily. It is in the normal range after adding the appropriate amount of pH down. I "have" tons of it. I did not "add" tons of it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My new home comes with a used hot tub, a 1997 Jacuzzi, pretty basic but functional. We're on well water. Took a sample to the local spa guy and he ran it through his computer. Came back super high on Alk (like 300) and on pH (8.4 I think or close). Everything else ok. Printed out some tips we are to follow. One is to add 2 Tablespoons of pH down per day for 14 days.

It's been about 5 days now since we performed this daily 2 T of pH down. I am using test strips and don't see any movement at all. I also shocked with Bromine concentrate 5 days ago and haven't added since. The Bromine (per strip) is still pretty dark purple. I've not run the spa or gone in it. We just turn it on the add the pH down and after 15-30 minutes turn it off. I'm taking water back for analysis tomorrow or Saturday. My DH was wondering why this pH down needs to take 14 days to lower to normal, or is this all a bunch of hogwash in terms of the computer's "suggestions."

That is the oddest thing I ever heard in my life. You might as well just empty the whole water and start fresh with a neurtral PH. I would just add PH decrease in one shot liquid!

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High sanitizer levels can cause interferance with the pH test and give bogus high readings. I suggest that you let your bromine levels drop to normal range of about 6 ppm and then test pH....you might find that it is lower than you think! Also I would use a drop based reagent to test, not strips. If you can find a store that uses the Taylor Technologies testing reagents their pH indicator has a halogen neutralizer built in and will give accurate readings at higher sanitizer levels than test strips and some of the cheapie test kits.

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