New Spa owner - Questions regarding water changes, biofilm, and @ease

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C

Certified106

0
Sep 10, 2018
102
Athens, Ohio
I bought a New Marquis E435 in June of this year and while I love the spa and it has helped my back a lot I have definitely had my ups and down caring for this thing. I'm going to give some back story as to how I got where I'm at so I apologize in advance

After having the spa for approximately a month
we left on vacation and before going I read the manual which said to set the hot tub to around 80 degrees shock it and when you get back test the water adjust as need, shock and bring the temp back up (In hindsight that was a terrible idea). Anyhow when I got home the water seemed great until I kicked the pump on at which point it went completely white and I'm talking can't see you hand under the surface of the water white. Well I was went ahead and checked water and like always the pH was crazy low and the total alkalinity was fine and the sanitizer level was showing low. I got PH up and shocked the tub at which point I started getting foam (which I never had before) and started getting a grey/brown scum on the edge of the tub. I ended up just shocking the tub more, letting it circulate for a day and then draining and refilling the tub in Mid July. I think what happened is with the temp set so low and having the tub on 4 hour per day circulation no water was moving through the @ease system and the chlorine got low. Pics below show what I was dealing with. we have been meticulous about showering before getting in and I have never had to add any type of defoamer.

IMG_20180715_191158.jpg IMG_20180715_151331.jpg



After Filling the tub I adjusted everything and it seemed OK for a while but about 5 weeks in I started noticing that the water was looking white and not clear when the air was turned on the jet so I decided to add some clarifier to see if I had a solids problem. Ever since I added the clarifier I have been getting scum on the side of the tub that is kid of grey after using the air with the jets. The water is crystal clear before using the air jets and after turning the air off the water starts to clear back up but anytime the jets are on the water sounds really fizzy and gets white. Do you think I just have High TDS or maybe a biofilm issue?

After finding this forum I just ordered Ahh Some and will be doing a flush and drain this week sometime. I really want to start back with the TFP system however I don't have any of the chemicals or the test kit. Do you all think that the Frog system is total junk? At this point I'm thinking of ditching it as it's expensive to use and seems like the chlorine cartridge only lasts three week anyhow.

In your opinion if I use the TFP method on a 325 gallon hot tub should I still be able to go 3ish months without changing the water on a 325 gallon tub? Right now I have yet to make it 8 weeks and that's with testing the water religiously and watching it like a hawk. I feel like my TDS is getting high really quick and may be causing the white looking water? Current usage is 2 people 30 minutes or more 5 nights per week and temp is 101. I also bumped up my filtration to twice per day for 4 hours at a time.


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Hello, and welcome to TFP! I can't speak for the Frog system entirely, except to say that as a rule, TFP recommends not adding anything unless it's needed. The Frog system appears to combine a "mineral" cartridge with a bromine cartridge. The bromine is fine, though the usage isn't TFP method, you need either bromine or chlorine for your spa. The mineral cartridge is completely unneeded.

If you haven't already, you'll have to decide on bromine vs chlorine. TFP has two stickies, one for each method, chlorine or bromine. Read the chlorine one first, as it talks about how to balance your water in detail, and that's the first step on a new fill (after you do the Ahh-Some purge, that is). The bromine one is much shorter as it skips all that and just talks about how to use bromine.

Good news about chemicals is you need hardly anything, and they are cheap. All you need for the chlorine method is dichlor, a $20 bottle will last years, bleach (unscented, no "splashless" or any other stuff), muriatic acid (from any hardware/home improvement store), some baking soda (only if you overshoot on adding acid while balancing your water), and perhaps some borax (helps stabilize pH, improve water feel). For under $50 you'll have all that!

Now take the money you'll save on chemicals and buy a quality test kit. This is vitally important! You cannot properly care for your water any other way. The cheap Walmart type drop kits can't read chlorine (or bromine) high enough, and test strips are notoriously inaccurate. Your choice basically boils down to either the Taylor K2006C or the TFTestkits TF100. Yes, you'll spend around $100, but remember how much you're going to save in chemicals! Throw in the SpeedStir if you can, it makes testing much faster.

Get your test kit, do your Ahh-Some purge, and refill. During this and your future TFP learning, we'll be here to answer any questions. :)

Oh, and as a general rule of thumb, many here to a drain-refill about every 3-4 months. Getting 3 months with the TFP method seems highly likely.
 
jza1736 said:
I have the frog system with my spa and it can be a pain. My cartridges last 3 weeks also. I'm thinking of a salt conversion because the pool is so trouble free
Click to expand...

How many gallons is your hot tub? I also feel like the Frog system always tests high on chlorine level on the test strips but who really knows since those test strips are way to subjective.


Where is everyone getting liquid Dichlor from? I was searching for it on the internet and haven't had any luck locating it.
 
mknauss said:
Welcome to the forum!

That kit will work. The best value is the TF-100 Test Kit â„¢. Add the Speedstir.

Take care.
Click to expand...

Done, I Ordered the test kit with the speed stir. Now I need to find the chemicals and have everything ready for this Saturday. My plan is to do the Ahh Some purge maybe twice if needed and then start the tub back up with the TFP method. I will probably try the test kit out on the current Hot Tub Water just to get used to it and I'm curious what it's like after being on the frog system for the last 8 weeks.
 

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I don't think you will need to use the Ahh some twice. But you might need to rinse it more than once. Make sure after you empty it run the pumps for 5 SECONDS ONLY. just to purge the Ahh some out of the system. After you wash it and refill it, you might still see some yellow film /gunk. Rinse and repeat as needed.
 
Ok, So I just got confirmation that my water test kit is out for delivery today and should be there by the time I get off work. I looked around and couldn't find anywhere on this site with written instructions for how to use it. I assume it will come with instructions but is there anything special I need to know before I try it the first time?
 
mknauss said:
Pool School - Extended Test Kit Directions

TF-100 Test Kit - YouTube
Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks so much. I thought I had looked around enough but apparently not. I have read and reread the sticky at the top of the pool and spa forum on the how to use the chlorine TPF method and actually printed off the directions so I can refer to them. The videos were great including the one that shows the speedstir as I was wondering how that worked. Looks way less complicated than I was imagining. Really looking forward to getting my hot tub care under control!
 
I got home and it was dark outside so I went ahead and did a water test just to see where I was at after 8-9 weeks on the @ease Frog System and here is what I had

PH 7.5
TA 100 (tested twice just to make sure I had it right )
FC 4 (tested twice)
CC 23.5 (I tested this twice and had 25 one time and 23.5 the other)
CYA 0 (I tested this twice and even with the beaker full you could easily see the dot in the bottom as in the water barely looks cloudy)

I did have one question the kit instructions for the TA say to just add the drops one at a time until the water looks red but the video said until there is no more color change to the red. If I did until there was no more color change it was more like 120.

I am planning on draining this tub after doing and Ahh-Some Cleaning this weekend but just wanted to make sure I had the water testing under my belt before it mattered.
 
Don't worry too much about the TA. get some in there of course. But don't get hung up on it. My spa manual says to get it to 80. I was chasing my tail with the TA and PH. if I got the TA to 80 my PH would climb over 8.x. After doing that roller coaster for 2 weeks, my TA is happy at 50 and my PH stays good.

Is your frog floater bromine or chlorine?
 
The dealer calls it a frog system but it's actually inline and built into the hot tub. I have been using the chlorine system which is TriClor form what I can tell. The entire time I have used it it's kind of been a roller coaster ride for PH and TA. It has actually seemed like my TA wants to be on the high side running above 120 then when I have tried to add enough PH decreasers to get it knocked down the PH been dropping totally out the bottom. The TFP Method of running the blower while monitoring PH and letting the TA settle has made the most sense to me and I wish I had known this sooner.
 
So after thinking about this last night is there a reason my CC is so high? Also is it unsafe to use the tub with a high CC count? Is it something with the frog system that is making the CC so high or is this just typical of a hot tub?

Lastly I keep reading on different threads how with the TFP method you have to add bleach every day and I was wondering how people who travel handle this?
My daughter plays traveling sports and sometimes we are gone for three days at a time so would you just try to increase the FC before leaving?
 
My cc is 0 or .5

I don't think 23 is typical and you might have something going on.

Try Testing your fill water. What does that cc register?

After your Ahh some cleaning I think it will be gone.

For going away, maybe try a floater that adds chlorine gradually. Hopefully someone will offer you some more advice.
 

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