A biochemist/microbiologist here. The enzyme pool and spa products are all BS and a waste of money, especially in a hot tub. In general, enzymes are very substrate specific and also generally only work well on their substrate under a narrow range of conditions. This is how they work in living things and on and industrial scale for specific enzymatic activities. None of these pool and spa enzymes products give these specifics. Snake oil hype.
The Ahhsome Clarity stuff is just another benzalkonium chloride (BAC) antiseptic product like Wet n Forget it and other disinfectants medical and industrial applications, supposedly with proprietary snake oil magic stuff in it. I use their other Ahhhsome gel stuff to purge clean my hot tub, dishwasher, clothes washer etc and it does work well in that application. It’s way over priced for what it is but it works well in those applications. Against my better judgement and because I do really like their Ahhsome gel products, I did try the Ahhsome Clarity product in my hot tub as an additive for a while (3 mos). I didn’t like it and it didn’t really seem to make a difference other than adding foaminess and skin itchiness and additional smell. There is also a general concern in the field that the prevalent use of BACs in the environment has contributed to bacterial drug resistance by a variety of mechanisms (efflux pumps and cell membrane modifications). So the only place where I use my remaining Ahhsome Clarity stuff is in a standpipe for my pool autolevel where chlorine doesn‘t circulate well and in my AC condensate line here in Florida. Maybe there is some modest minor benefit if you aren’t monitoring and balancing or using the hot tub much, or using it with more people a lot and aren’t sensitive to the product …. but I won’t be buying that expensive hyped product for those purposes.
So for other than hot tub purging, I only use chlorine, dichlor, MPS shock, Trichlor float if we aren’t around Muriatic acid, Baking Soda for balancing and maintaining the hot tub. SWG and the usual stuff for the pool. I do use and like Boric Acid in my tub and pool because it seems that it reduces skin irritation for me and its safely used even as an eyewash. Its antiseptic properties at levels used 40-60 ppm are probably not relevant in a properly chlorinated or brominated pool but it also has some buffering activity. Not necessary though.
When I got the hot tub new they provided a bunch of Frog System stuff. It sucked and I felt like I had to change the water more often and got way more gunk when I purged than I do with the basic stuff.
