Brand Specific Forums > Jacuzzi Hot Tubs
Jacuzzi delivery on Friday. Chemicals for newbies?
Calisoldier83:
Hi,
I get my Jacuzzi on Friday and really psyched. I'm trying to get up to speed on the chemical treatment stuff. The dealer recommended Chlorine. The spa comes with a starter kit. I'm wondering if I should start with the basic starter kit or something else?
I do have 3 kids and a wife and we plan on going at least every other day.
Any lessons learned, tips, and tricks would be great.
mpkelley20:
I'm a few months in with my first hot tub and have already switched from the original chemicals I started with. I have a Marquis with a built in spa frog system so started with the bromine cartridge. At startup, this is what went into the tub
1. Starter pack of bromide to create a reserve bank
2. Some calcium
3. Bromine cartridge
4. Mineral cartridge
5. I needed to adjust PH and Alkalinity so used some Al up
6. Muriatic acid - to lower PH which kept climbing above 8.0 on me
7. Non-chlorine based shock
This worked for a bit but my levels were all over the place even with my AL and PH in line. I couldn't get the bromine levels to stay consistent which is a common issue with the spa frog based on reviews I've seen.
So I drained my tub (did a purge first). And now I use chlorine which is added daily after I use the tub. Here is what I am now using
1. Dichlor (chlorine) - I am using this until my stabilizer gets to about 30-40ppm. After that, I will switch to standard household bleach. I add about a tsp after I use the tub and it has kept my levels perfect. I don't know how much bleach is needed yet but the stuff I bought is about 8%.
2. Calcium - apparently you need some in the water so I added it.
3. Baking soda - I used this to get my alkalinity in line to about 50ppm
4. Muriatic acid - I haven't needed it as my PH has been very stable at about 7.4 but I still have it on hand in case my PH rises.
Since switching, maintenance has been much easier. And by that I mean consistent. When I get into the tub at night, the water has minimal smell due to most of the chlorine from the previous day being used up. My Al and PH have been very consistent so haven't had to do anything there.
My only concern will be in the colder/snowier months or when I travel where I can't add chlorine each day. I stopped by my dealer this past weekend and picked up a spa frog chlorine cartridge which I will use when needed. It should get me through those times without messing up my normal routine too much.
This is a great read that takes you through details on using chlorine.
https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/9670-How-do-I-use-Chlorine-in-my-Spa-(or-pool)
I know there are a lot of non chlorine based options on the market. Some are EPA approved and others are not. At the end of the day, you will know if something is not working when you are dealing with nasties in your water if you start breaking out in rashes. For me, using a well known and approved sanitizer is the choice I made.
Beck0101:
I have a neighbor using the spa frog program and he looks at his tub almost exactly once a week, max, unless he has a bunch of people in there one night. He shocks once a week with chlorine and the rest of the time his spa frog does all the work.
I'm using chlorine (for now) and have started to find a decent rhythm. After needing almost 2lbs of Spa Down to get my alkalinity down I'm really only managing chlorine levels now. All of my other levels fell right in line after dealing with total alkalinity (and then increasing pH once I got the alkalinity down).
Once I run out of my freebie Silk Balance I think I'm going to switch to the spa frog or other bromine system. The big downside (to me) for chlorine is that I need to add a bit after each tub use and after doing that you should be leaving the cover off the tub for 20-30 minutes. When I get out I am ready to be done, usually headed to bed. I don't like waiting for the tub to finish up. With the frog system my neighbor very, very rarely adds chlorine after each use and usually only needs a weekly shock and a monthly cartridge change on the spa frog.
It doesn't seem to get much easier than a bromine floater and a weekly shock once the water is initially balanced. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
mpkelley20:
Yes, giving up the potential for less maintenance is a huge plus with the spa frog or similar system. It costs more but it is not exactly "expensive". I wish I could have gotten mine to be more reliable. It seemed to work for the few couple of weeks and then my levels were all over the place. I started getting really high bromine levels even without changing the cartridge setting. That threw my PH readings off before I realized that high bromine/chlorine can give you false high PH readings with my test kit. So after trying multiple settings on the cartridge and replacing it with a new one that gave me similar issues, I decided to purge and drain and give chlorine a try.
I am only a few weeks into the chlorine method. My tub has been spotless with no foaming and virtually no smell when I use it. With bromine it always smelled like I was in a hotel spa! But, again, it has only been a few weeks so we will see If this holds up.
The cold and snow weather is almost here so I might end up switching to the cartridge again. Only this time, I will be trying the @ ease chlorine cartridge from spa frog. Thankfully my built in system can use both chlorine or bromine.
Calisoldier83:
--- Quote from: mpkelley20 on November 30, 2016, 09:58:12 am ---I'm a few months in with my first hot tub and have already switched from the original chemicals I started with. I have a Marquis with a built in spa frog system so started with the bromine cartridge. At startup, this is what went into the tub
1. Starter pack of bromide to create a reserve bank
2. Some calcium
3. Bromine cartridge
4. Mineral cartridge
5. I needed to adjust PH and Alkalinity so used some Al up
6. Muriatic acid - to lower PH which kept climbing above 8.0 on me
7. Non-chlorine based shock
This worked for a bit but my levels were all over the place even with my AL and PH in line. I couldn't get the bromine levels to stay consistent which is a common issue with the spa frog based on reviews I've seen.
So I drained my tub (did a purge first). And now I use chlorine which is added daily after I use the tub. Here is what I am now using
1. Dichlor (chlorine) - I am using this until my stabilizer gets to about 30-40ppm. After that, I will switch to standard household bleach. I add about a tsp after I use the tub and it has kept my levels perfect. I don't know how much bleach is needed yet but the stuff I bought is about 8%.
2. Calcium - apparently you need some in the water so I added it.
3. Baking soda - I used this to get my alkalinity in line to about 50ppm
4. Muriatic acid - I haven't needed it as my PH has been very stable at about 7.4 but I still have it on hand in case my PH rises.
Since switching, maintenance has been much easier. And by that I mean consistent. When I get into the tub at night, the water has minimal smell due to most of the chlorine from the previous day being used up. My Al and PH have been very consistent so haven't had to do anything there.
My only concern will be in the colder/snowier months or when I travel where I can't add chlorine each day. I stopped by my dealer this past weekend and picked up a spa frog chlorine cartridge which I will use when needed. It should get me through those times without messing up my normal routine too much.
This is a great read that takes you through details on using chlorine.
https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/9670-How-do-I-use-Chlorine-in-my-Spa-(or-pool)
I know there are a lot of non chlorine based options on the market. Some are EPA approved and others are not. At the end of the day, you will know if something is not working when you are dealing with nasties in your water if you start breaking out in rashes. For me, using a well known and approved sanitizer is the choice I made.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the insightful post. Some questions do come to mind.
How much of each product do you put in your SPA on initial fill?
Where do you get your products: Dichlor (chlorine), Muriatic acid, Chlorine (Do brands matter?)
Is there any youtube videos available?
I started reading the How do I use Chlorine and it's kind of helpful but hard to follow since I haven't had any hands on with the products, etc.
I did buy a test strips, Taylor K-2006, and a spa vacuum already. Just not sure where to get the products and how much to use.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version