Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Seymourkate on December 04, 2005, 04:54:43 pm
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Our Caldera Martinique spa is scheduled to be delivered next Sat and the salesman, as well as the district mgr, heavily recommended Baqua Spa chemical kit and no ozone. Why? Their reasons were ozone is unnecessary expense. This is to be our first spa and I need to know if this is true or not before we get it started. Thanks for all your help! :)
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It would be suggested that you do a search on ozone and BaquaSpa seperately researching previous posts for some background, this subject has been discussed many times before.
Plan on using one or the other, but not both together.
Here is your first clue, you constantly are purchasing BaquaSpa products to use and consume, and it aint cheap. Ozone is an electrical appliance that you add to the spa that has a life expectancy of 3 to 5 years and reduces the need for chemicals.
In short, IF you use them both together, ozone will oxidize, or otherwise cancel and consume the BaquaSpa product causing you to use twice as much of the expensive stuff doubling your cost for chemicals.
They are both good and have their strong points and supporters, but if you refer to the BaquaSpa booklet and refer to using it with ozone it clearly states that you will use twice as much product and this only consumes your money. :-/
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Thank you for the response. I must be searching incorrectly, because when I tried searching on "Baqua" or "BaquaSpa," I couldn't/can't get anything to come up. The dealer gave us a choice of Bromine or Baqua spa as chemicals and Ozone or not. I was only trying to figure out what is best. Sorry.
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Positives: No Chlorine or Bromine in Spa.
Negatives:
1. Cost is double any other sanitizer.
2. Clogs Filters. Restricting Flow. Causing
"FLO" error problems and service issues.
3. Destructive to Plastics and Vinyl. Such as
filter tops, spa covers etc.
4. Cloudy Water Complaints.
5. Indoor Spas- Compaints of coughing.
6. Can not be used with disposable filters
offered by Sundance and other co's.
7. Less effective in spas with an ozonator.
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Sorry, forgot to mention I was speaking about Baqua Spa.
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NJ Dave- Wow! Thank you so much for educating me on Baqua Spa. Of course the dealer kept pushing it on us, but I wanted to figure out exactly why. Sounds like they will make more $$ with the Baqua Spa over Bromine. I was leaning to Ozone after reading a lot about it, but I had not found info on using Baqua spa with Ozone. The dealer wasn't giving us much choice other than baqua spa and kept telling us that we were wasting our money on the Ozone. Thanks again!
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Thank you for the response. I must be searching incorrectly, because when I tried searching on "Baqua" or "BaquaSpa," I couldn't/can't get anything to come up. The dealer gave us a choice of Bromine or Baqua spa as chemicals and Ozone or not. I was only trying to figure out what is best. Sorry.
When you search, change the default which is the past "7 days", change that to 180 or 365 to go back further.
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I used to use Baqua Spa, and it is really expensive compared to conventional sanitizers. I find it amusing that your dealer would recommend it as a way to save money. We had trouble with water care using Baqua- just couldn't get it to work. We got the famous Baqua Cough.
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Seymourkate,
Your welcome. Yes, Baqua Spa is a very profitable chemical line. But, it can really drive service guys crazy, when it clogs filters and shuts down the heater, from a "FLO" condition. There are some users that will say it works for them. But, must folks will tell you they tried it and switched to another sanitizer. Whether it be Bromine, Dichlor, Nature 2 w/Dichlor, Nature 2 w/MPS, to name a few. Goodluck and enjoy your new tub. Dave.
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I find that people either love Baqua or hate it. Many friends I know who own spas use it and love it. I have never tried it and to be honest, won't because personally I agree with the previous opinions.
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Tested Baqua years ago and also got the Baqua Cough. More trouble than it's worth.
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Well I guess we're the "odd couple" to say the least. We've been using Baqua Spa in our two year old Marquis Euphoria without any problems at all. No slime, smell, rings, scum, green water, part failures, buildup, sneezing, itching and that so-called death...."Baqua Cough".
My wife has some pretty bad allergy's and it doesn't effect her one bit. Is it for everyone? Probably not but because it caused pain and grief for some doesn't mean it will for "everyone". It's also not meant for some spas/HT especially older models. Like with any chemicals you should contact the manufacture if you have any doubts about the advice or recomendationon what to use. Likewise whatever chemicals you do decide to use follow the instructions to the letter or you'll get disastrous results no matter what. Research and knowledge is your best friend.
Kenny J.
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You are all making alot of good point. However I disagree with the statement that most people that try it switch to something else. Most of our customers that have tried it are still using and have been for quite some time. It is not for everyone though, that much is certain. The infamous "low flo reading" that everyone gets is not just the chemicals fault. People using baquaspa should clean their filters 2x as often as someone with chlorine. If you do this you should have no flo issues.
Also I didnt notice the Baquaspa telling you that you shouldnt use an ozonator. In fact they say it is ok. Obviously they do this because it does work and yes you will buy twice as much of their product.
Baquaspa is a good product if you want to pay more for less maintenance (if you do it properly), or if you are alergic to chlorine.
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I started off with Baqua Spa (which is basically the same thing as Soft Soak line) simply because it came with my tub. It was a fairly easy routine to follow, but I too developed the cough that many Baqua Spa users get and my tub was even outdoors!
A while back, I switched to the Nature 2 Cartridge, added an ozonator and use SpaGuard Enhanced Shock and couldn't be happier. Water is crystal clear all the time, smells clean, feels good to the skin and this routine is just as, if not easier than Baquaspa. The N2 cartridge gets replaced every 4 mos, the ozonator runs 24/7 on my circ pump and the SpaGuard ES gets added during my regular routine.
Definately worth the switch...for me anyway. Happy tubbing!
-Sarge
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I'd really like someone to explain to me why we were having baqua spa problems. We kept our Ph and Alk in the recommended range, kept the sanitizer level as recomended, used the shock and waterline control as instructed. After several weeks, the water got really "fizzy", especially if we put air in the jets. Then we'd start hacking and coughing to the point where we couldn't enjoy soaking. Nobody I talked to, and that was at 2 Baqua dealers, plus the email assistance line at the Baqua company, could tell us why this was happening.
I'd love to know what we were doing wrong, but nobody seems to know.
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It sounds like you are doing everything right. I have heard that backing off slightly on the amount of waterline control can help this. Even if you are using the reccomended amount. Give it a try, it might work.
Let me know if it does anything for you. Also on Baquaspa its real real important to keep the calcium hardness above 200.
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Hey Brewman,
I'm having the same issues with Baqua on my Optima as you had.
Since August, I guess I've gotten used to the Fizz, but not to the orange tar the accumulates on the water line. The dealers suggestions have been useless and his last one was to buy an ozonator. I've come to realize they, HOM, will not be a long term service provider based on their lack of service, and based on the rummor they're getting out of the spa business anyway. So I'm looking for someone new. Maybe you PM me with the name of your guy. I'm in Burnsville.
I thought the Arctic dealer in Eagan might know what they were talking about when they said I probably needed to deal with all the metal we have in our MN water so "put in this metal control".
Last time I went into HOM they had a brochure from Baqua stating........." if you've spent $50 bucks on Baqua in the last year and are not satisfied, send this form and receipts and we'll send you enough Brilliance stuff to convert you......." I'll probably limp throught the rest of this winter on the Baqua, but unless someone can convince me otherwise I'm switching for sure.
What did you switch too and why did you pick what you did?