Hi I just bought a hot tub and filled it up yesterday. Now I'm working on balancing the chemicals, which turns out is not as easy as the salesman said. When I first filled it up, my test strips were showing that the pH and alkalinity were high. I've been adding pH decreaser to try and fix this. It's a 400 gallon hot tub, and so far I've added about 20 oz (more than half my bottle) of pH decreaser. Is it normal for it to need this much at start up?
Balancing New Hot Tub
- Thread starter Alena1994
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,294
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Welcome to TFP.
First thing you should do is trash the test strips and get an actual test kit like the HDX 5 Way test kit.
You need to know actual values of your pH and TA not guesses based on a test strip.
How much chemical you need depends on what pH you started with.
www.troublefreepool.com
www.troublefreepool.com
First thing you should do is trash the test strips and get an actual test kit like the HDX 5 Way test kit.
You need to know actual values of your pH and TA not guesses based on a test strip.
How much chemical you need depends on what pH you started with.
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
Hot Tub Basics - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
JoeSelf
Gold Supporter
Read the stickies at the top of the hot tub forum. If you have not purged your new tub yet, you might want to get some AHHsome to clean out the biofilm that developed during transit. Here's my thread you can read thru. The gunk in the picture came out the entire time my jets ran, 20 minutes. More after let it sit a while and ran the jets again. Good people on here willing to help, I've learned alot in my short time with the tub.
www.troublefreepool.com
Spa delivered
It's finally here. Fill tonight, electrician hook up tommorow. Purge then refill. Appreciate any tips.
www.troublefreepool.com
If you filled it up from the hose (drinking water), I find it hard to believe PH wasn't in normal drinking range - around 7!
It can take a day or two to get the hang of maintaining and adjusting hot tub chemistry, so until then just know that if it's not kept sanitary you shouldn't get in...
It can take a day or two to get the hang of maintaining and adjusting hot tub chemistry, so until then just know that if it's not kept sanitary you shouldn't get in...
Mine is well past 9 out of the tap. (Private Well)
I actually have to use muriatic acid after my refills to lower the ph out of the stratosphere.
@Alena1994 Are you on a well?
Good catch, I meant from municipal utility company. I reckon it just didn't occur to me a garden hose might be run strait from a well...
My municipal city water pH is over 9 out of the tap, by design.
Several North American municipal water utilities adjust water pH upwards, to the 8.8 - 9.4 range, in order to reduce lead, copper, and other metals that can corrode/dissolve into drinking water. Such municipalities include: San Francisco, Flint, Denver and Westminster, Boston and the 60 other communities served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and the Canadian cities of Ottawa, Durham, London, Thunder Bay, to name a few.
Refer to:
www.denverwater.org
Kim, E.J., Herrera, J.E., Huggins, D., Braam, J. and Koshowski, S. (2011). Effect of pH on the concentrations of lead and trace contaminants in drinking water: a combined batch, pipe loop and sentinel home study. Water Res., 45(9): 2763–2774.
Lytle, D.A. and Schock, M.R. (1996). Stagnation time, composition, pH and orthophosphate effects on metal leaching from brass. Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio (EPA/600/R-96/103).
Several North American municipal water utilities adjust water pH upwards, to the 8.8 - 9.4 range, in order to reduce lead, copper, and other metals that can corrode/dissolve into drinking water. Such municipalities include: San Francisco, Flint, Denver and Westminster, Boston and the 60 other communities served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, and the Canadian cities of Ottawa, Durham, London, Thunder Bay, to name a few.
Refer to:
Adjusting the pH in Drinking Water
Español The water Denver Water delivers to customers is lead-free. And for decades, Denver Water has protected its customers from the effects of customer-owned lead-containing water service lines and household plumbing in a variety of ways, including adjusting the pH of the water it delivers to...
www.denverwater.org
Lytle, D.A. and Schock, M.R. (1996). Stagnation time, composition, pH and orthophosphate effects on metal leaching from brass. Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio (EPA/600/R-96/103).
1) Read the sticky post as suggested
2) Do not use test strips, get a drop based test kit - TFT Trouble Free Test kits is a great source, but any drop based test kit will work.
3) There is an interplay between TA and pH. When they are in balance your pH will be stable (sort of)
4) pH in a hot tub will naturally rise over time, because of the aerating action of the jets. There is nothing you can do about it. Getting your TA balanced will help greatly but you will likely always have some upwards pH drift over time
5) Muriatic Acid is likely much cheaper than the dry acid (pH Up) you are using.
6) pH and TA is important, but sanitation (chlorine or bromine) is importanter
7) If you include your hot tub info (make, model, size, accessories) in your signature it helps a lot.
Ask away, this is one of the most helpful forums I have had the pleasure of being a part of .
2) Do not use test strips, get a drop based test kit - TFT Trouble Free Test kits is a great source, but any drop based test kit will work.
3) There is an interplay between TA and pH. When they are in balance your pH will be stable (sort of)
4) pH in a hot tub will naturally rise over time, because of the aerating action of the jets. There is nothing you can do about it. Getting your TA balanced will help greatly but you will likely always have some upwards pH drift over time
5) Muriatic Acid is likely much cheaper than the dry acid (pH Up) you are using.
6) pH and TA is important, but sanitation (chlorine or bromine) is importanter
7) If you include your hot tub info (make, model, size, accessories) in your signature it helps a lot.
Ask away, this is one of the most helpful forums I have had the pleasure of being a part of .
Sorry, I cannot take the credit
The joke, "English is important, but (math/engineering/differential equations/etc) is importanter" has been floating around for decades now.
I have very hard water even after a water softener. I fill my tub with both well and water from softener (1/2 and 1/2). I also use a filter on my hose. My last fill took over 2 weeks to get TA lowered. I used a dry chemical to lower TA which didn't budget the high number much. Once i started to use muriatic acid the TA started to come down.
Patience is not my strength but my hot tub requires it at times. Hang in there this is a good place to get answers. Read the resources also.
Patience is not my strength but my hot tub requires it at times. Hang in there this is a good place to get answers. Read the resources also.