New (To us) Spa refill for the first time

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

sgarofalo

0
LifeTime Supporter
Apr 6, 2015
53
Mount Pleasant/Wi
Hi Everyone,

Still about a week away from the pool opening on our new home and wanted to get the Spa (details in signature) squared away prior to starting my pool opening.

Drained the tub yesterday and after a wipe down today I will be filling it back up and had a couple of questions.

Using pool math and my spa volume (475 gallons) I would need to do the following (assuming tap water at zero for everything.

6oz Bromide Starter ( from local pool store)

151oz Borax to raise PH to about 7.8

14oz of Baking Soda to raise TA to 125ppm

8.4oz of Calcium Chloride to raise CH to 150


I will do an initial test of the water prior to adding anything just to see where our city tap water starts at and proceede with pool math accordingly.

Quick newbie questions:

  1. Should I let the water come to temp prior to adding chemicals? (about 100 degrees)
  2. Any specific order to adding the chemicals?
  3. If a specific order is needed should I run the spa with the jets going for xx minutes prior to adding the next chemical?

Thanks in advance! This site is incredible with the knowledge and willingness to share I am so happy I found this place before becoming pool-store-schooled!!!
 
Read through this thread if you're planning on using bromine: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/84-How-do-I-use-Bromine-in-my-spa-(or-pool)

Post a full set of test results, please.
There's usually no reason to raise pH as high as 7.8. It will get there by itself very shortly if your TA is above 50.
There's no reason to raise TA to 125. TA in hot tubs is better suited to the 50-80 range. Just enough so that you have some TA and the pH rise isn't too fast. The higher the TA, the faster your pH will rise with the abundant aeration of a hot tub.
As long as your CH is greater than 100, don't worry about adding calcium chloride at all. Fairly irrelevant for fiberglass hot tubs.

You may also want to consider doing a deep clean on the spa before using yourself as it is used. I can highly recommend the Ahh-some product for deep cleaning your spa plumbing.
 
Just to make sure that you found this article in Pool School.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/84-How-do-I-use-Bromine-in-my-spa-(or-pool)

Just in case you aren't 100% sold on bromine, here is an article on using chlorine, which I prefer and use in my hot tub.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/9670-How-do-I-use-Chlorine-in-my-Spa-(or-pool)


Water does not need to be 100*, 70+ is fine. PH and TA are interrelated, need to do PH first and TA second. Couldn't find a reference for a Bromine tub, but I would target PH for 7.4-7.6. And CH is last. Yes, run the pump between to mix water.
 
Thanks Guys,

I was going to go with the Bromine setup as in the link listed above, and THANK you for helping with the other levels!

I willshoot for

PH 7.4-7.6 first.

Then

TA of around 50-80 range.

I'll have to look and see if I can find some of the Ahhh-some product locally instead of having to order online :)
 
I was afraid you would say that :)

From what I've seen this spa is about 10 years old now, so I'm sure there is plenty of built up biofilm and gunk in there! Might be worth the extra day or two for shipping and wait to get the ahh-some instead. Water was always super clean and crystal clear since we've had the house (only been about a month) but I wanted to start from scratch on this one and not knowing when the previous owners last drained the spa I figured better safe than sorry.
 
You read my mind JVTrain..

I was just thinking if it would be worth while to do this twice in a row right off the bat.. It's only 475 gallons of water so won't break the bank to refill a couple times. Specially when I think of the family sitting in this thing.

I kind of jumped the gun over the weekend before realizing there was such a thing as a deep clean for the hot tub and drained all the water already.

I'll go ahead and fill today after work, should I be overly concerned with the actual levels of anything else? Or do you think I could run the flush with just straight tap water? It will only be in there long enough for this to do its job then fully drained again.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Wish I had some pics, it was cloudy and rainy the past couple days but I did manage to get the hot tub "deep cleaned" AMAZING how much stuff bubbled out of that thing!

Drained it last night and am going to fill it back up today after work and adjust the levels.

I have granulated bromide, and will adjust ph around 7.2 and TA to the 50-80 range.

Should I power the spa up first and turn the jets on momentarily to force any of the "cleaning" water out of the system, suck it out with a shop vac and then fill with new water or is that more overkill than its worth and potentially do some damage to the spa by running it without water?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply