New Hot Tub Owner - Taylor Test Kit

[mwhitney]

Wait for the new supplies. Having some CYA will help with bather comfort and more UV loss with less CYA isn't an issue in a covered tub. If you use it tomorrow during the day, maybe you lose an extra FC. No biggie. You'll spot it and add it back.

Will do.

this idiot now waits two days between dichlor tests/additions,

This suggests that waiting more than two hours (several days) can result in the CYA increasing...?
Do you believe that with the 1200 L tub, adding at .5oz at a time is a reasonable incremental amount to be adding?


Lastly, is this common to add so much Dichlor in the beginning (coming from '0' out of the tap? I'm basing this on @PoolStored initial recommendation so not completely understanding why the levels haven't risen.

In your 1200L, 317G spa, .5 oz of DiChlor will raise your FC by 3.25 and CYA by 3.0

Cheers!

 

[Newdude]

This suggests that waiting more than two hours (several days) can result in the CYA increasing...?

If it doesn't mix well. But again, there are too many variables between idling in standby for a couple days and running several straight cycles.

Do you believe that with the 1200 L tub, adding at .5oz at a time is a reasonable incremental amount to be adding?

Its reasonable because we didn't want you dumping 40 CYA in there before you were sure that the stated gallons are correct.

Yes it's given you a bit more effort, but you've also racked up a couple of rodeos so you're no longer brand new at it.

not completely understanding why the levels haven't risen.

20 and below are sketchy to read. Once you hit 20, you'll usually see what you added. Again, just being cautious so far. By the next fill you'll be comfortable with the gallons and also testing and can go 0 to 40 in one shot.

 

[dogsbody]

If you overshoot so be it. Not the worst thing at all.

Well, yeah, unless overshooting results in 90-100ppm CYA, which is what happened to me.

Also, I'd strongly discourage the use of Imperial measurements in this stuff. Was that 1.5oz of which you (okay, the previous guy) spoke 1.5oz liquid or 1.5oz weight? Nothing hard about sticking with metric for this critical stuff, and I'm not using anything more posh than a digital kitchen scale I picked up at the thrift shop (and checked the calibration of).

 

[dogsbody]

This suggests that waiting more than two hours (several days) can result in the CYA increasing...?
Do you believe that with the 1200 L tub, adding at .5oz at a time is a reasonable incremental amount to be adding?

Assuming a tub kept covered (i.e. no UV degradation) during the time it takes for the dichlor to dissolve and dissipate, it can only increase until it's fully dissolved, right? So my view of it is that there's no downside to waiting an extra day or two in order for it to be well and truly dissolved and dissipated so that you don't measure and add again prematurely and overshoot. Especially this early in my/our learning curve, I think patience is our friend.

The other question my mind refuses to parse because "ounce" measure is too ambiguous in this case. See my previous post.

 

[mwhitney]

I hear you RE Imperial measurements.
To clarify, I have been using a digital kitchen scale.
Dose 1: 14g >> Waited 30 min
Dose 2: 11.5 g >> Waited 30 min, CYA test, waited several more hours, CYA test again and no change from previous
Dose 3: 14 g >> Waited 30 min, no change, mildly cloudy CYA test with a full 'test tube'
So, up to 39.5g total.

When I put the granules in the tub, I just sprinkled across the surface and could see the granules sitting on the bottom of the tub. After waiting the 30 minutes to add the other dose, there was no evidence of the granules / they'd dissolved / dissipated.

I'm out of the CYA reagent now so have no choice but to leave it sit for a few days until more arrives. Curious to see what it looks like at that time.

Just plugging some numbers in the app...

If I make-believe and enter 10 as a guess for CYA in the tub, currently (as per @wireform 's comment - if I read that right) into the app for 'current cya' the recommendation is to add 42g of Dichlor. I'd then be up to 81.5g total in the 1200 L tub. I'm not going to do that until the CYA reagent comes and I test again in a few days but does this sound right?

A few rodeos now as was quipped, and some practice but I don't have a frame of reference quite yet - is 82g a lot? A little? About right?
Thanks again.

 

[PoolStored]

STOP.

You are not using the startup process.

Re-read this article:

Spa & Hot Tub Maintenance A Basic Guide

Hot Tub Maintenance can be done easy with a few tricks. Hot tub chemicals, rashes, and schedules are all covered in this easy to grasp article.

www.troublefreepool.com

Dichlor is added "Over time," not in one go.

You maintain an FC of 6, while the CYA comes up to target over a number of days.

DO NOT ADD MORE now. Your FC is likely close to 18. And you have put in 17ppm CYA.

Re-read the article...

Using this method the user will use Dichlor for the first few days. Using Dichlor to sanitize the Hot Tub will also increase your CYA level. For the first few days the user will test their Free Chlorine (FC) level and add enough to reach a total of 6 parts per million (ppm). As an example, if a user tests their water and they have 3ppm Free Chlorine, they will need to add another 3ppm Free Chlorine to their water. PoolMath can help you with this.

Wait for your FC to come back down below 6 and only add enough Dichlor to get back to 6 each time. CYA will come up over time.

 

[Newdude]

I don't have a frame of reference quite yet - is 82g a lot? A little? About right

Go into the upper left hamburger menu of poolmath and select effects of adding. Go buck wild anytime you wonder.

When all the chemicals behave like it's 1200L, we'll trust it down the road.

Dichlor is added "Over time," not in one go.

Thanks for the catch. I was adding CYA to the fresh fill by itself next time in my head with 0 to 40.

 

[mwhitney]

STOP.

You are not using the startup process.

Re-read this article:

Spa & Hot Tub Maintenance A Basic Guide

Hot Tub Maintenance can be done easy with a few tricks. Hot tub chemicals, rashes, and schedules are all covered in this easy to grasp article.

www.troublefreepool.com

Dichlor is added "Over time," not in one go.

You maintain an FC of 6, while the CYA comes up to target over a number of days.

DO NOT ADD MORE now. Your FC is likely close to 18. And you have put in 17ppm CYA.

Re-read the article...

Using this method the user will use Dichlor for the first few days. Using Dichlor to sanitize the Hot Tub will also increase your CYA level. For the first few days the user will test their Free Chlorine (FC) level and add enough to reach a total of 6 parts per million (ppm). As an example, if a user tests their water and they have 3ppm Free Chlorine, they will need to add another 3ppm Free Chlorine to their water. PoolMath can help you with this.

Wait for your FC to come back down below 6 and only add enough Dichlor to get back to 6 each time. CYA will come up over time.

My bad.
I got lost in chasing the CYA.

Just tested chlorine with the kit.
22 drops in the 10mL sample = 11 ppm FC
It took 2 drops for the CC test = 1 ppm

(walk of shame... exits stage left).

 

[Newdude]

I got lost in chasing the CYA.

You suckered me in with ya.

 

[PoolStored]

My bad.

You suckered me in with ya.

Newbies...sheesh.

Just tested chlorine with the kit.
22 drops in the 10mL sample = 11 ppm FC
It took 2 drops for the CC test = 1 ppm

As to your testing, I'd review this...

Water Testing Errors - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Mdragger88]

Assume what you added (cya amount calculated via poolmath) is in the water & chlorinate accordingly. It can take a couple days for cya to register on the test. Any cya amount below 30ppm is sketchy to measure so wait until you have added a calculated value of 30-40ppm cya before testing cya - no need to waste reagents.

 

[JoeSelf]

You can also use effects of adding for your doses of dichlor. I do this on a fresh fill and just use dichlor as my sanitizer adding what effects of adding says for my dose of dichlor to the CYA each time I add more dicolor. I change the cya level each time I had dichlor, as a separate test added after the dose.

 

[mwhitney]

Update:
I just tested for FC again today (about 24 hours after the last test.
With a 10mL water sample (I washed the TT out with alcohol, adhering to the "water testing errors guide") - took 21 drops, so 10.5 ppm FC, so not much of a change from last night.

I'm guessing we could use the tub at this level to help expedite removal of some of this FC? Re-testing tomorrow would give me an idea of what 2 bodies do to the FC.

 

[wireform]

Update:
I just tested for FC again today (about 24 hours after the last test.
With a 10mL water sample (I washed the TT out with alcohol, adhering to the "water testing errors guide") - took 21 drops, so 10.5 ppm FC, so not much of a change from last night.

I'm guessing we could use the tub at this level to help expedite removal of some of this FC? Re-testing tomorrow would give me an idea of what 2 bodies do to the FC.

Go for it. You should test when you get out to see how much was burned off and replace immediately with liquid FC. Test again tomorrow and see what's left.

 

[mwhitney]

We'll give it a go. We don't want to add more though if we're trying to keep it at 6, correct?

 

[JoeSelf]

SLAM level is 10 for up to 20 CYA. Don't go over. When you get out, test. If below 4, you can add dichlor to stay below 10. Don't forget to add the CYA from your doses to your ongoing raising CYA. If above 4, add liquid chlorine.

 

[mwhitney]

UPDATE:
Two days since the last test for FC (using DiChlor only) and erroneously chasing CYA values, first.

Things have calmed down since then, which feels like a huge win.

FC came out at 13 drops using a 10mL sample, so 6.5 ppm. That's after our first soak in over a week (two adults), and after draining / re-filling the tub and running the jets for a 20 minute cycle.

Combined chlorine: This took 1 drop to turn the solution from light pink to clear, so .5ppm

We're still awaiting the CYA reagent, so we'll hold tight for now.

 

[mwhitney]

Hey gents -
I want to make sure I'm on the right track before dumping more chemicals in the tub.

The CYA reagent came from Amazon today so I took another water sample.

CYA test: I could still see the black dot when the test-tube was filled to the 30 mark.
FC - it only took 5 drops today (2.5 FC on a 10mL sample), so a marked drop between testing after getting out of the tub last night and the test today.

In the PoolMath app, I just entered '2.5' in the Free Chlorine tab. I left 'Current CYA' as '0' because I don't know what it is (somewhere below 30). 'Target level' for 'Target Free Chlorine' is set to '6' for the goal of 6ppm and the recommendation given is to add 7.6 g of DiChlor.

Does this sound right?

 

[PoolStored]

That is correct. Should raise your FC to 6 and add 3 to your CYA.

Drop is due to organics in the pool from your dip.

Are you using the paid version of Pool Math? ($8/ YEAR) Allows you to save and track your testing and additions. Really helps to see how your tub behaves.

 

[mwhitney]

Thank you. And to clarify, CYA naturally increases as FC increases. There’s nothing else to separately add.

We continue adding the DiChlor until we get to 6ppm FC and in the realm of 30-40 CYA.