Brand new spa

[Senea]

Just got my spa installed yesterday and I'm starting to try to get the water stable and balanced. Since I have a pool and already use TFP I have pretty ignored everything that came out of the pool/spa stores mouth.
I read the chlorine sticky, I don't have any dichlor so I put some cya in a sock. My target is 30, I put in half the amount for 30.
My current tests are

FC 5.6
CC 0.5 (I expected higher since it's a fresh fill and the city uses chlormines)
PH 7.4
TA 51
Ca 82

Temp 96

I did not pass an OCLT. The spa had some water in it when it was unpacked no clue how long that had been sitting there. I'm guessing that's why I'm losing FC. Took it up to slam level, should I do a full out SLAM or just see how things go?
Also I'm unsure if I should play with any of the other numbers. I know the heater is not ceramic so calcium is probably a non issue.
Without users the spa should hold cholorine like a pool yes?

 

[chem geek]

New spas often have a very high chlorine demand due to greases leftover from the factory and also often have biofilms in the pipes from wet-testing where they weren't sufficiently dried out. The easiest thing to do for a new spa (or a used spa you are using for the first time) is to use Ahh-Some®. Since that requires you to change the water after using it, if you want to wait until after this fill you can but that won't be very long since the water will likely be hard to manage.

Note that if you have an ozonator, that it will consume chlorine. Also, the higher temps have higher chlorine loss. Without an ozonator in a hot spa the loss over 24 hours is up to 25% while with an ozonator it can be 50% or more. So in that sense it's not like a pool and the OCLT rule has to be modified accordingly -- instead you look for the percentage loss over 24 hours.

 

[Senea]

Thanks for the reply. I just ordered some ahhsome. I can probably wait a bit to change the water, I feel better about the chlorine loss now, 2pm while greater then the less than 1 I was looking for is not enough to freak me out.
It did eat up some FC in the first 12 hours but it seems to have settled.
Should I use the ahhsome as per directions? Or just when I am cleaning/purging?

No ozonater here.

 

[chem geek]

You'll probably only need to use the ahhsome once when cleaning/purging. After that if you properly maintain the spa you may never need to use it again except if you drain the spa for extended periods.