New owner here doing a lot of reading: New Fill Question

[artistickatt]

Hi there,

New swim spa owner here. 1900 gallons and hard well water. I am tossing out my test trips and picking up a Taylor kit tomorrow.

We have been fighting for over a week with TA of over 200 and pH of over 8, and obviously no chlorine. Everyone told us to adjust TA and ph into range before chlorinating. After doing tons of reading here I switched to muriatic acid from dry acid and finally, we are at TA 160 , pH 8.2 and dropping but we have not chlorinated in over a week and now after reading tonight am petrified that we have waited too long to chlorinate (we are supposed to use Dichlor).

Am I screwed?

Sincerely,

Hopeless in Texas

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
I suggest you read Spa & Hot Tub Maintenance A Basic Guide as your pool is more like a standalone spa than a pool. Also Recommended Levels
You can use dichlor until your CYA gets to 30 ppm (which will be pretty quick) and then use liquid chlorine after that.
A proper test kit is rarely available locally. See Pool Test Kits - Further Reading
TA is the last thing you worry about. Get pH in the 7's and chlorine in the pool water.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Mdragger88]

Welcome
To add to what Marty said ..
since you have been at a zero fc state & this is a new spa you need to do an Ahhsome purge then drain & refill as soon as possible to get a fresh start & rid your spa of biofilms that are protecting the nasties .
Even new spas have them as they are wet tested at the factory & things grow while the tub is in transit to you. Then you got it to your home, never added any sanitizer & things have likely really proliferated.
Keeping up with sanitation will be a continuous battle if this is overlooked.
The tf100 kit & Ahhsome are available on tftestkits.net - they have fresh regeants & fast shipping especially in the south.
The Taylor k2006c & Ahhsome are available on amazon as well.
Be sure you get one of those two kits.
To reiterate -
*Fc is paramount (every day- all the time)
FC/CYA Levels
*Keep Ph in the 7’s
Then Every thing else

 

[artistickatt]

Welcome to the forum!
I suggest you read Spa & Hot Tub Maintenance A Basic Guide as your pool is more like a standalone spa than a pool. Also Recommended Levels
You can use dichlor until your CYA gets to 30 ppm (which will be pretty quick) and then use liquid chlorine after that.
A proper test kit is rarely available locally. See Pool Test Kits - Further Reading
TA is the last thing you worry about. Get pH in the 7's and chlorine in the pool water.
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Ty Mknauss,

I had read most of those before posting. I had a feeling I would have to purge it, but seeing that is so drastic I wanted a second opinion.

I just picked up a proper test kit.

My question is this.. how fast can I adjust the pH if it is severely out of hand? Can I start with more acid per filter cycle? If I can’t get in hand within a day, then I will end back up here again needing to drain it.

 

[mknauss]

pH is not a threat when high. So be concerned with purging the tub, getting the chlorine in the water, then managing pH and TA.