Newbie needs help

[Phil1480]

Please help, frustrated newbie.

I’ve owned a Hot Tube for a year now. The dealer I bought it from said to use EZ Spa chemicals. For routine maintenance use 1 ½ once of EZ spa Total care which is a Seven products in one bottle. Add ½ to one once weekly of Chlorine. I’ve had greenish tent water, cloudy water, foamy water, red itchy bumps, my wife does not get red bumps. I’ve had nothing but problems with this product. I also use test strips not knowing any better till I found this site. One of the biggest problems I’m having is my FC is next to 0 my Total Chlorine is 10 by the time TC gets down to three or 1 that’s when I have the problems mentioned above.
I was told because of the Ozone the UV and CZ (copper and Zinc) charged filter, I should be showing little to zero FC and TC.
Saturday 11/19 I cleaned, flushed and drained the Tub. Tap Water using test strips (TK 2006c has been ordered)
TH -100
TC -1
FC .o5
PH – 6.8
TA 40
CYA 0
After using the Pool Math Calculator added the Chem. and added 1 ½ oz of Chlorine/Dichlor
Sunday Morning
TH 250
TC 10
FC 20
PH 7.8
TA 80
CYA 0
Monday Morning Chemicals are in balance but the FC is 3 and the TC is 10+ .
How do I get the TC close to my FC. I am switching to the Dichlor/Bleach method mentioned on this site and studying Pool School,

 

[jza1736]

Please post your results like this :

FC -

CC -

TA -

PH -

CYA -

 

[jseyfert3]

Please help, frustrated newbie.

I’ve owned a Hot Tube for a year now. The dealer I bought it from said to use EZ Spa chemicals. For routine maintenance use 1 ½ once of EZ spa Total care which is a Seven products in one bottle. Add ½ to one once weekly of Chlorine. I’ve had greenish tent water, cloudy water, foamy water, red itchy bumps, my wife does not get red bumps. I’ve had nothing but problems with this product. I also use test strips not knowing any better till I found this site. One of the biggest problems I’m having is my FC is next to 0 my Total Chlorine is 10 by the time TC gets down to three or 1 that’s when I have the problems mentioned above.

Welcome, and good news! All those issues you have are about ready to vanish forever! Bad news is you had absolutely terrible advise. You never want to add 7 things at once, why they even make such a product nobody knows. You'll need to add maybe four things: Bleach, CYA or dichlor, muriatic acid, and baking soda. You'll only ever add one at a time, and you'll use PoolMath to help guide how much to add.

I was told because of the Ozone the UV and CZ (copper and Zinc) charged filter, I should be showing little to zero FC and TC.,

That is BS. You always need FC in your water! How much depends on your CYA level. That said, you need to remove that filter that adds copper and zinc and replace it with just a plain filter. And for now, shut down the Ozone and UV. You don't need either of those. You know why they probably said you won't have a high FC? Because both UV and Ozone destroy FC! No, that's not a good thing! The myths of the spa industry, though you seem to have gotten it worse than others! UV can be useful to remove CCs, but only a few hours of sunlight is needed, so unless it's indoors you can just open the cover. And even that is not strictly necessary, as I run an inflatable spa in my garage with no UV and no CC problems.

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How do I get the TC close to my FC. I am switching to the Dichlor/Bleach method mentioned on this site and studying Pool School,

Wait till you get your test kit. The strips are probably giving you bad information. Test strips have been proven to be terribly inaccurate here. Also, you probably saw the post from jza1736 asking to post the results in a certain way:

FC -
CC -
TA -
PH -
CYA -

Although he forgot CH when everybody posts the same way it makes it a lot easier for those helping. You probably noticed it looks a bit different. We ask for CC (combined chlorine), not TC (total chlorine), because the recommended test kit (that you ordered) does not give TC but gives FC (free chlorine) and CC directly, and that's more useful than FC and TC anyway. TC doesn't matter, only FC and CC. I'm assuming what you posted as TH is hardness, which we call CH (calcium hardness).

As you wait for your test kit, I'd recommend ordering some ahh-some spa cleaner and following the directions for a purge, then do a water change. Yes, I know you just did a water change, but with how terribly the spa was cared for (not your fault!) there's probably all sorts of nasty stuff built up in the plumbing (biofilms) that the ahh-some will get rid of. It's quite gross what comes out after a purge.

Have some patience and we'll get you up and running with crystal clear, trouble free water!

 

[Phil1480]

Thank you, EZ Spa products are a scam in my opinion.