Hi, I am still a newbie here in the water, maintenance worldand I’m trying to figure out my water chemistry. I am able to keep my TA and PH steady and able to correct it quickly when needed. I have a tailor 1005 test kit. I know not many people use the frog @ ease here however I have nine smartchlor cartridges I would like to use before deciding if I want to switch to another system. So even though I know comments to switch to a different system are probably with good intentions, I would like to just discuss the situation I am in now.
My system and water chemistry tested today are as follows.
2024 Jacuzzi J335 hot tub with 350 gallons of water
Filled from well water two months ago. Have added 50 gallons of softened water in that time due to evaporation.
Montana temperatures in the last two months have been mostly between 10 and 45°F.
Water temperature 102°F
TA 50
PH 7.5
Borates 50 ( from borax with muratic acid )
CH 280 as close as I can measure(I have lots of iron and maybe other metals in the well water)
I am using the frog @ease Jacuzzi system with the cartridges attached to the filter.
I have one mineral stick in inside the filter.
I use MPS as a shock about once every week or two.
My wife and I are usually the only ones using it and we bathe before we get in.
The tub has an ozonator and UV light. I run the circulation pump 24 hours a day.
Water has been clear , as far as I know, I don’t have very much experience with a hot tub. I have never really tested the free chlorine or combined chlorine before using my test kit because the frog ease system I assumed would not be able to be measured accurately.
Here is where the fun began. I purchased some frog chlorine cartridges from eBay and should have known better but they had a round, 7 ounce puck inside the cartridges instead of loose smartchlor. I assumed that maybe frog used a different process for them because the outside of the cartridges looked identical to the official frog cartridges. I put one in the hot tub and the frog test strips showed chlorine was good. Second day I noticed a very strong chlorine smell and checked the cartridge and it was unbearable because the smell was so strong. I called King technologies, the manufacturers of frog and found out that king technologies does not use any round pucks in their smartchlor cartridges. They informed me it was probably a Trichlor tablet. I pulled the cartridge out immediately check the pH and it was down below 6.8. TA was also down to 30. I used baking soda to raise TA to 70 and ph to 7.6. I then replace the cartridge with an official frog smartchlor cartridge and left the cover off the hot tub for the entire day. I think I lost about an inch of water with the outside temperature below freezing.
I tested the free chlorine and combine chlorine with the Taylor 1005 test kit. The free chlorine tested at approximately zero to 0.5 and the combined chlorine was showing off the charts. I diluted the water 50-50 two times and tested again and I got somewhere between 2.5 and 3 for combine chlorine. With the dilutions that should give me approximately 10 to 12 ppm of combine chlorine and still no significant free chlorine. I shocked with 2.3 ounces of MPS twice because of some information I got from YouTube telling me that by shocking the combined chlorine it would turn into free chlorine. I have since discovered by reading this form that that probably does not happen.
I have heard that MPS will show as combine chlorine falsely but don’t know the science behind it. I have also heard the smartchlor could also show as combined chlorine. My question is do I need to worry about the 20 to 24 ppm of combined chlorine that is showing on my test. After accidentally adding the trichlor for approximately 36 hours, I was thinking it might be a good time to run an ahh-some purge and start fresh with new water. The water is currently two months old. I am really hoping the tricolor didn’t do any permanent damage to my tub being in there for about 36 hours. I measured the weight of the tricolor tablet I removed and approximately 1.8 ounces of the 7 ounce tablet had dissolved in the 36 hours.
Is a purge and refill advised in my current situation. The weather is supposed to have a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend and I can probably do it then if needed. Water going in will be approximately 43° from the well and takes approximately 30 minutes to fill. I have a pump to pump the water out so a drain and refill should be able to be done without anything freezing up in the tub.
My system and water chemistry tested today are as follows.
2024 Jacuzzi J335 hot tub with 350 gallons of water
Filled from well water two months ago. Have added 50 gallons of softened water in that time due to evaporation.
Montana temperatures in the last two months have been mostly between 10 and 45°F.
Water temperature 102°F
TA 50
PH 7.5
Borates 50 ( from borax with muratic acid )
CH 280 as close as I can measure(I have lots of iron and maybe other metals in the well water)
I am using the frog @ease Jacuzzi system with the cartridges attached to the filter.
I have one mineral stick in inside the filter.
I use MPS as a shock about once every week or two.
My wife and I are usually the only ones using it and we bathe before we get in.
The tub has an ozonator and UV light. I run the circulation pump 24 hours a day.
Water has been clear , as far as I know, I don’t have very much experience with a hot tub. I have never really tested the free chlorine or combined chlorine before using my test kit because the frog ease system I assumed would not be able to be measured accurately.
Here is where the fun began. I purchased some frog chlorine cartridges from eBay and should have known better but they had a round, 7 ounce puck inside the cartridges instead of loose smartchlor. I assumed that maybe frog used a different process for them because the outside of the cartridges looked identical to the official frog cartridges. I put one in the hot tub and the frog test strips showed chlorine was good. Second day I noticed a very strong chlorine smell and checked the cartridge and it was unbearable because the smell was so strong. I called King technologies, the manufacturers of frog and found out that king technologies does not use any round pucks in their smartchlor cartridges. They informed me it was probably a Trichlor tablet. I pulled the cartridge out immediately check the pH and it was down below 6.8. TA was also down to 30. I used baking soda to raise TA to 70 and ph to 7.6. I then replace the cartridge with an official frog smartchlor cartridge and left the cover off the hot tub for the entire day. I think I lost about an inch of water with the outside temperature below freezing.
I tested the free chlorine and combine chlorine with the Taylor 1005 test kit. The free chlorine tested at approximately zero to 0.5 and the combined chlorine was showing off the charts. I diluted the water 50-50 two times and tested again and I got somewhere between 2.5 and 3 for combine chlorine. With the dilutions that should give me approximately 10 to 12 ppm of combine chlorine and still no significant free chlorine. I shocked with 2.3 ounces of MPS twice because of some information I got from YouTube telling me that by shocking the combined chlorine it would turn into free chlorine. I have since discovered by reading this form that that probably does not happen.
I have heard that MPS will show as combine chlorine falsely but don’t know the science behind it. I have also heard the smartchlor could also show as combined chlorine. My question is do I need to worry about the 20 to 24 ppm of combined chlorine that is showing on my test. After accidentally adding the trichlor for approximately 36 hours, I was thinking it might be a good time to run an ahh-some purge and start fresh with new water. The water is currently two months old. I am really hoping the tricolor didn’t do any permanent damage to my tub being in there for about 36 hours. I measured the weight of the tricolor tablet I removed and approximately 1.8 ounces of the 7 ounce tablet had dissolved in the 36 hours.
Is a purge and refill advised in my current situation. The weather is supposed to have a high of 30 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend and I can probably do it then if needed. Water going in will be approximately 43° from the well and takes approximately 30 minutes to fill. I have a pump to pump the water out so a drain and refill should be able to be done without anything freezing up in the tub.
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