I've read the stickies and skimmed through forum posts but I can't seem to wrap my head around what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm sure this is a common question and I could benefit from some direction.
I've owned this spa for a number of years and am quite happy with it. I've been using chemicals from the local pool store to maintain pH, Alkalinity and FC but I've never felt that the store has been providing me with the best advice. I feel like I am draining by tub far too often in order to keep everything clean and sanitary. Long story short, I really want to know the best sanitation method for hot tub maintenance for my particular setup - or perhaps my setup is wrong and I need to adjust what I do.
The tub is generally used by 2 people perhaps 3-6x a month March-November. I have an ozonator, and was recently gifted a Nature2 Spa Stick Mineral Sanitizer. I tend to turn the tub down to the lowest setting (59 degrees) when I know that there will be low periods of use. I just learned that the Nature2 doesn't work at low temperatures, but it's not installed.
Here's my question - given that I'm using the tub infrequently, have an ozonator and the Nature2, what's the proper chlorination procedure? I have no idea if I should shock every time I bring the temperature up to 104 (typically a 4 hour wait), if I should continue to chlorinate when the tub is cold (or let it get to 0), or what ppm of chlorine I should maintain given then ozonator (knowing that the ozonator reduces FC). I feel like if someone can point me in the right direction for FC ppm and frequency (i.e. constant, weekly, only during use etc), I can use the tips and tricks posted throughout the forum to maintain it.
Thanks!
I've owned this spa for a number of years and am quite happy with it. I've been using chemicals from the local pool store to maintain pH, Alkalinity and FC but I've never felt that the store has been providing me with the best advice. I feel like I am draining by tub far too often in order to keep everything clean and sanitary. Long story short, I really want to know the best sanitation method for hot tub maintenance for my particular setup - or perhaps my setup is wrong and I need to adjust what I do.
The tub is generally used by 2 people perhaps 3-6x a month March-November. I have an ozonator, and was recently gifted a Nature2 Spa Stick Mineral Sanitizer. I tend to turn the tub down to the lowest setting (59 degrees) when I know that there will be low periods of use. I just learned that the Nature2 doesn't work at low temperatures, but it's not installed.
Here's my question - given that I'm using the tub infrequently, have an ozonator and the Nature2, what's the proper chlorination procedure? I have no idea if I should shock every time I bring the temperature up to 104 (typically a 4 hour wait), if I should continue to chlorinate when the tub is cold (or let it get to 0), or what ppm of chlorine I should maintain given then ozonator (knowing that the ozonator reduces FC). I feel like if someone can point me in the right direction for FC ppm and frequency (i.e. constant, weekly, only during use etc), I can use the tips and tricks posted throughout the forum to maintain it.
Thanks!