Alternative options for Frog SmartChlor cartridges

[Amg3232]

Last fall I purchased a Bullfrog X7 spa which came with the Frog ease SmartChlor cartridge system. I’m not convinced that this is the best system to use and thinking of changing Any suggestions? I’m a spa novice so I’d appreciate if your answers are “dummied” down Where do I start? I just drained, cleaned, and filled my spa yesterday and haven’t added anything in it yet (brought it to 100°). Thanks In advance for the advice!

 

[derekm]

I keep my spa in shape in seconds for pennies. I buy HTH 6-way test strips and generic plain bleach from Walmart. I test Free Chlorine levels with a strip before entering the spa &, if low, I add a pre-determined amount of bleach (use the calculator from the Pool Math section or trial and error to figure out that amount) using a small measuring cup, to bring it back into the spa range as indicated on the strips' bottle, if needed. Test strips are fast, cheap, and sufficiently accurate for my needs.
I have a small bottle of PH Up (I refill it with Arm and Hammer Washing Soda) and another of Alkalinity Increaser (which I refill with generic baking soda) in case I need to top up the values (I rarely do, as the bleach seems relatively PH neutral) to the approved range. I don't worry about calcium or any of the other values, and I don't add stabilizer.
If the chemicals get out of whack I just drain and refill.

 

[jseyfert3]

The general recommendation from TFP is to get a high quality test kit (Taylor K2006 or the TF100 from TFTestkits), add ~30 ppm CYA to buffer chlorine harshness, then use liquid chlorine (unscented regular bleach with no "splashless" additives). Most people struggle with a pH that's too high, but this depends on your fill water TA (total alkalinity), so you'll likely need some acid, either muriatic acid from any hardware store or pH minus or similar from a pool store. It often requires a little bit of water balancing at the start. Here's a basic guide on hot tub care, and here's a sticky that outlines the details of initial water balancing in great detail.

Manual chlorine additions usually require adding chlorine after each use and every day or two when not using it. If you want even less hands-on, you can get a SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator) such as the Saltron Mini that will maintain the FC level. Depending on your usage habits, this may take care of all chlorine additions, which is typically the case with light usage, or you may have to add chlorine immediately after soaking still but then it will maintain it between uses, which is the case with heavy usage. The latter is what I do, our usage is typically 1-4 people soaking for hours at a time, which adds a lot of waste so the manual chlorine after soaking is necessary to break down all that waste.

Any questions on this just ask.

I have a small bottle of PH Up (I refill it with Arm and Hammer Washing Soda) and another of Alkalinity Increaser (which I refill with generic baking soda) in case I need to top up the values (I rarely do, as the bleach seems relatively PH neutral) to the approved range. I don't worry about calcium or any of the other values, and I don't add stabilizer.

FYI with a hot tub there's usually no need to use washing soda. Hot tubs have tons of aeration available so simply increasing the TA some with baking soda and turning on the bubbles will raise the pH.

 

[Amg3232]

Thanks for the information. Really appreciate it and I’m going to stop using Frog ease and start with dichlor and then liquid bleach. if my levels are low how will I know how much bleach to add? Also the test kits look really involved. Are there any test strips you’d recommend as a good alternative?

 

[CrystalRiver]

The kits aren't bad at all. No, not as simple as dipping a strip, but the strips aren't accurate at all, so aren't worth the time spent on them. Instructions for the kit (at least the Taylor, I don't have the TF) are right in the box and go step by step. The two most frequently-performed tests, free chlorine (FC) and pH, I don't even read the instructions for because I have them memorized. The others, I look at the card because it's right there and I want to make sure I get it right.

To know how much to add, use Pool Math. I use the phone app, but some people prefer the web version. Either way, you set up your pool once (gallons, surface type) and then just enter your test results. It suggests target ranges, which you can override, and then it tells you how much of what chemical to add.

 

[Amg3232]

Ok thank you for the further explanation.

 

[ChrisPDX]

I don't worry about calcium or any of the other values

I'd like to warn other noobs that water hardness is not a trivial issue to simply ignore. Our first hot tub about 20 years ago was a Sundance, and neither the manual nor our dealer mentioned a word about hardness or calcium, and so we never checked it. Turns out our municipal tap water is very soft, and as a result we had all kinds of trouble balancing the water, not to mention corrosion issues. Adding calcium is easy and can make things work better.

@CrystalRiver it wasn't clear to me that PoolMath calculator worked for hot tubs (incidentally the words spa/hot/tub aren't found anywhere on the page, which may lead to similar confusion by others) -- glad to know it does.

 

[jseyfert3]

I'd like to warn other noobs that water hardness is not a trivial issue to simply ignore. Our first hot tub about 20 years ago was a Sundance, and neither the manual nor our dealer mentioned a word about hardness or calcium, and so we never checked it. Turns out our municipal tap water is very soft, and as a result we had all kinds of trouble balancing the water, not to mention corrosion issues. Adding calcium is easy and can make things work better.

@CrystalRiver it wasn't clear to me that PoolMath calculator worked for hot tubs (incidentally the words spa/hot/tub aren't found anywhere on the page, which may lead to similar confusion by others) -- glad to know it does.

Can you elaborate on the issues you faced with balancing and corrosion?

Calcium hardness, or CH, has no affect on the balance of total alkalinity (TA) and pH, which is what people usually mean by balancing the water. Low CH can cause some foaming issues though, and very low (under 50) is listed here as potential to cause some corrosion. However the vast majority of corrosion issues are typically linked to a low pH, such as under 7, which should always be avoided.

 

[ChrisPDX]

Can you elaborate on the issues you faced with balancing and corrosion?

Calcium hardness, or CH, has no affect on the balance of total alkalinity (TA) and pH, which is what people usually mean by balancing the water. Low CH can cause some foaming issues though, and very low (under 50) is listed here as potential to cause some corrosion. However the vast majority of corrosion issues are typically linked to a low pH, such as under 7, which should always be avoided.

You know, I can't explain it, it was quite awhile back and we didn't know what we were doing, and I may well be miss-attributing the cause (apologies, I realize this forum is about getting down to what's actually happening, much appreciated) ... but I recall it was difficult to keep the water balanced, a lot of yo-yo'ing up and down with pH/TA, and we had to replace the pumps a few times. But once we started adding calcium to the water, things seemed to settle down. The hardness of the tap water here in Portland, OR, is typically just 3-8ppm. I was also told (though, again, I can't confirm) that there batches of poorly formulated flex-PVC at the time our tub was built, and indeed we ended up with a lot of leaks, though I'm not sure is this was related to the soft water.

My main point is that one cannot simply assume that it's okay to ignore the hardness parameter.