How to SLAM when spa won’t allow high levels of chlorine?

[Mermaid Mama]

Spa water is cloudy, I used dealers clarifier to fix bc she told me I absolutely shouldn’t try to SLAM bc it would damage UV system and Ozone Generators.

I was told I only need to keep Clorine at 1.0 bc of Ozone and UV cleaning systems. I have used the TFP method for years on an AGP and suspected a problem bc it wouldn’t hold chlorine like I thought it should but being new to Spas... I didn’t want to damage anything.

just adjusted pH down
PH 7.2
Chlorine 0
TA 90
CH 125

 

[kimkats]

This might help you:

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Mermaid Mama]

This might help you:

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank you!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Check your filter in case that clarifier gummed it up? It might need a good cleaning.

Maddie

 

[kimkats]

Good catch Maddie!!

 

[mknauss]

I absolutely shouldn’t try to SLAM bc it would damage UV system and Ozone Generators.

That is not true. Just to 'clarify'.

 

[Mdragger88]

It got funky because of inadequate sanitizer levels.
Regardless of uv or ozone use you should always adhere to the FC/CYA Levels. Hot tubs are essentially people soup. Without adequate sanitizer levels things proliferate rapidly & this can have dangerous consequences like legionaries, Pseudomonas folliculitis, or person to person transmission of other nasties .
Did you do an Ahhsome purge on this tub when you got it? If not - now is the time. Then after refilling, follow the guide that @kimkats posted.
Trying to SLAM Process a hot tub can be troublesome if it takes more than a couple rounds & you are often better served just purging & starting fresh.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

Check your filter in case that clarifier gummed it up? It might need a good cleaning.

Maddie

It’s all clean, it just so happened I cleaned it before using the clarifier.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

That is not true. Just to 'clarify'.

Thank you, when I asked her what the max was at first she said 3 then she said 6... so I suspected that maybe there wasn’t a hard and fast rule about this.

I have suspected something was growing bc of the way my chlorine was disappearing and I talked to her about that and her response was to not get too hung up on it bc the UV and Ozone were doing most of the work and only need tiny amount of bleach.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

It got funky because of inadequate sanitizer levels.
Regardless of uv or ozone use you should always adhere to the FC/CYA Levels. Hot tubs are essentially people soup. Without adequate sanitizer levels things proliferate rapidly & this can have dangerous consequences like legionaries, Pseudomonas folliculitis, or person to person transmission of other nasties .
Did you do an Ahhsome purge on this tub when you got it? If not - now is the time. Then after refilling, follow the guide that @kimkats posted.
Trying to SLAM Process a hot tub can be troublesome if it takes more than a couple rounds & you are often better served just purging & starting fresh.

Yes, biofilms were cleaned out first. Grrrr I should have followed my gut and holding the chlorine levels.

I just adjusted the TA down and I turned on the jets to boost the pH but the jets are lowering... could my ozoninator be affecting this?
If I can’t get this figured out quickly then I won’t hesitate to drain it.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

This might help you:

How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

If you have a question about any information within this Sticky, please start a new thread for yourself where you will receive very quick responses to your specific questions. Thank you! Introduction There are two main things to consider when maintaining your hot tub water, Water Balance and...

www.troublefreepool.com

Hi KimKats,
This was great and you are always so helpful! Do you happen to know the SLAM process with UV and Ozone? I didn’t realize the darn UV and Ozone were going to be such a pain and make it harder to understand what’s happening with the water. Most SwimSpas in my area are on back order for a year so when I could have this one in a month... I was thrilled! I thought I will add my Chlorine and do it like I did the pool and not bother with UV and Ozone. Foolishly I thought I could turn it off.

 

[kimkats]

I think it is the same with or without UV and Ozone. Notice I say think as I am really not sure. I will reach out to someone who may know @ajw22 or anyone else that does know jump on in!

 

[ajw22]

Just drain it and start fresh.

You have too many moving parts to get the water cleared without a lot of frustrations.

 

[Mermaid Mama]

Just drain it and start fresh.

You have too many moving parts to get the water cleared without a lot of frustrations.

Perfect! Thank you!
Should I try to have the ozone disconnected? I am a type A person and don’t like I can’t measure it... also in hindsight the ozone has probably been the reason I have had such a hard time developing a baseline even when it was brand new and unused and the biofilms were flushed out.

 

[ajw22]

Perfect! Thank you!
Should I try to have the ozone disconnected? I am a type A person and don’t like I can’t measure it... also in hindsight the ozone has probably been the reason I have had such a hard time developing a baseline even when it was brand new and unused and the biofilms were flushed out.

@RDspaguy provides his experience with ozone in a spa in these threads…

UPDATE- Got new Ozone Generator- Bullfrog Spa leaking at Ozone Generator when power is Off

Hello again, I had a thread earlier about the GFCI to my Bullfrog Spa tripping (it's a new spa), and I am still waiting for my LPB to check it out- not entirely their fault, I put them off due to sickness. At any rate, when the GFCI trips lately I've noticed that if it's off for any length of...

www.troublefreepool.com

Cant decide on which brand hot tub and water filtration system

I would like a hot tub to use for therapy and as a dipping 'pool' in summer. I've been researching and reading about the brands, types and this blog. You are correct when you say there are many crazy claims to hot tub water cleaning systems. I am looking at Dimension One for the water cleaning...

www.troublefreepool.com

Cant decide on which brand hot tub and water filtration system

I would like a hot tub to use for therapy and as a dipping 'pool' in summer. I've been researching and reading about the brands, types and this blog. You are correct when you say there are many crazy claims to hot tub water cleaning systems. I am looking at Dimension One for the water cleaning...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[RDspaguy]

I would also add that clarifiers are of no use in a portable spa, or anything with a cartridge filter.
Chemical manufacturers recommend them because they want to sell chemicals. They recommend alot of things you don't need or only need under certain circumstances. Pool and spa stores repeat whatever the manufacturer says, partly for liability reasons, and partly from lack of knowledge and experience. Most pool techs and store employees can't afford a pool or spa, and even us spa techs tend to get them needing repairs and sell them shortly after we are done fixing them. And the only training available comes from the manufacturers. Or TFP, but most industry folks don't seek to educate themselves beyond the training provided. And TFP is not welcoming to industry professionals anyway, I can tell you from experience.
But I digress...
Clarifiers are primarily for sand filters, which often cannot filter out the smaller particles simply due to the spaces between the grains. That is why a sand filter works best when partly dirty. A small amount of DE can be added to improve filtration as well, but will lead to more frequent backwashing. The clarifier causes the small particles to clump together and become large enough to get caught in the filter.
A cartridge filter has much smaller "holes" and so catches much smaller particles. A DE filter is even better. Neither benefits from clarifiers exept in certain, rather rare, circumastances. And under those circumstances in a spa I recommend draining and refilling, or heavy oxidation, or sequesterants, etc, but not clarifier.
Slamming will absolutely not damage your ozonator, and can only effect your uv o-rings, just as it can any other rubber o-rings and gaskets in the spa. This is dependent on what chlorine you are using, as most chlorine sources effect ph so a high concentration tends to raise or lower ph, which is what actually causes the damage, and to more than just o-rings. If using dichlor (spa chlorinating granules) it will raise your stabilizer (cya) so much it will interfere with your chlorine causing you to need more chlorine to get the same effect, which in turn raises your cya more causing you to need more chlorine...
Also be aware that high chlorine will bleach out and deteriorate jets, pillows, and covers over time.
So there is a list of reasons you should not slam your spa on a regular basis, but ozonator/uv damage is not one of them.
I personally won't keep a spa without 24/7 ozone, but if you should decide to disconnect these devices, post pics of the equipment area, wiring diagram, and circuit board and I will be happy to tell you how.