CH, Ozonator and Silver Ion Purifier questions.

[TIMMAH]

hi again, it's been a while since i have posted. i found this site when my mother bought a house with a green slim pool a few years back. the info on this site helped me keep the pool clean with out really any work for the last few years. i've had a hot tube for the last 11 years and just bought a new one 2 weeks ago. it's a hot springs vangard, the tub is nice but i kinda wished i had gotten a bigger tub. it doesn't have the foot room my last one had.

but to my questions.
question 1
the tub has a FreshWater III Corona Discharge Ozonator and they sell a Hot Spring FreshWater Ag+ Continuous Silver Ion Purifier to work with the Ozonator. has anyone use the Silver Ion Purifier? does it help or is it a waste of cash?

question 2
i have hard water with a ch around 225. hot springs says to have a ch of 100, 50 ch min and 150 ch max. but also says if the ch is over 150 to use Vanishing Act to remove the calcium from the water. they make it sound like a ch of 0 is good for the spa? but if i need to really lower the ch i am will to do that. i'm just not sure what benefit i will get from lowering the ch if i keep my ph and TA in check.

right now i'm at
ph 7.5
ta 60
ch 225

ps i do use a stain and scale inhibitor. the main reason i started using it a few years ago because i was slacking on my up keep of my old spa. i didn't spend the time to check my ph and ta, i just threw in some MA at every water change lol. if spinners quit spinning i threw in more MA until they did.
but i decided to take much better care of our new spa. is a stain and scale inhibitor ok to use? how about weekly?

 

[chem geek]

Unless you plan to use a non-halogen system such as using non-chlorine shock (MPS) with the silver ion, then it's a waste of money. The ozonator will only be helpful with chlorine if you use the spa frequently, every day or two; if you only use the spa once or twice a week or less, then the ozonator will react with chlorine to increase chlorine demand. For bromine, the ozonator can generate bromine from a bromide bank.

The risk of a high CH is that you can get scaling and in a hot spa that can be bad in the gas heater. Vanishing Act is one way to reduce the CH, but usually they only recommend that when using the ACE salt water sanitizing system since the boron-doped diamond electrodes in that system need a low CH. Anyway, up to you as to whether you use Vanishing Act or a scale inhibitor or just keep the TA low and the pH reasonable. You shouldn't need to use a stain and scale inhibitor if your pH, TA and CH are low enough to have the saturation index below zero.

 

[TIMMAH]

from your post it looks like the bromine is the way to go since i have a ozonator. i think i'll try the 2 step bromine and see how well the ozonator works.
thanks

 

[chem geek]

That's fine. Some people don't like the smell of bromine (bromamines) however so see how it goes for you.