Hi, I am new to this spa thing. I have a 220 gal Softub that was given to me. Yes FREE! Anyway when we first got it I used some cheap chlorine stuff and we loved it, but didn't like the dry skin feel. So we then went to Baqua Spa. Initially it was fine we seemed to like it a lot, not to much trouble. As time went by we began to cough when we went into the spa. So Now I am switching back to chlorine.

My question is I have a product called Aqua Chem small pool Sanitizer Ingrediants are Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione Dihydrate is this the Dichlor that everyone talks about or do I need to get something different?

2nd question is I have aqua chem 6way test strips, my numbers all look good except my stabilizer, what is that....cause mine is low.

3rd question is if I am supposed to go off of the total chlorine number or the free chlorine number and what is the difference....


Thanks so much for everything
Bobbi

That product you refer to is Dichlor. As for test strips, they are next to useless -- get a good test kit, either the TFTestkits TF-100 or the Taylor K-2006. The chlorine level you maintain is the Free Chlorine (FC), but you also see if the Combined Chlorine (CC) gets too high. Read Using Chlorine in a Spa, especially towards the end of the post for a summary of the Dichlor-then-bleach method. You do not want to use Dichlor-only since that will build up too much CYA/stabilizer/conditioner over time. These are all synonyms for Cyanuric Acid and it makes chlorine less effective, but you want SOME in the water which you can get by using Dichlor initially because otherwise the chlorine will be too strong.

Chem Geeks dichlor/bleach method is what I use. It is simple, cheap, and will give you the best quality water If you have a good test kit to implement it.

I believe you will also need to read up on decontamination as chlorine is not compatible with Baqua. A good test kit is mandatory for the conversion process.

When you are done it will be worth it. Your only regret will be not having done it sooner.