New and frustrated: can't balance water!

[SusieQ1982]

I am running it now, and I just added the floater with the chlorine pucks. Hopefully that will bring it up without having to add anything else?

Apparently I was born without common sense since I opened the container and tried to put a puck in with my bare hands. You'd think I'd realize a powerful solid sanitizer would not be a good thing to do that with. I just burned my throat from breathing and had to open my windows! I won't make that mistake again.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

What are the "pucks" made of? If they are made of trichlor (Trichloro-s-triazinetrione), then you're going to have a problem. Trichlor is acidic and, in a small hot tub, it will quickly drop the pH by consuming TA. Once the TA starts to bottom out, the pH will drop precipitously and you can cause damage to the tub.

If you use tablets in a floater, you need to keep a close eye on the pH and TA.

 

[twodogs02]

Hi Susie,

First of all, welcome. You have a great resource available at TFP and great people to help you.

Chlorine pucks are going to cause you more headaches than they are worth (high CYA levels that will reduce chlorine effectiveness, PH and TA fluctuations) especially with a hot tub since the water volume is so small. It's cheaper and easier to use basic bleach- no scents added. You can find bleach anywhere and the only byproduct of bleach is sodium which won't impact water chemistry much.

If I were you, I would not open any more products from the pool store. Post up what they sold you and members here will tell you the alternate products to use that will be cheaper and easy to find in a grocery store (not all products are avail in a grocery store but the commonly used ones are). Once you know what you can substitute and you have a source to buy it from, check with the pool store first to see if they will take returns on chemicals. My experience is most won't take returns on chemicals but check anyway.

I just installed a new to me hot tub a few months ago. I've been a long time member of this site because of the pool problems I suffered. What I learned from people on here about managing my pool has made hot tub water chemistry a breeze. Even my family knows how to balance the hot tub which was met with resistance initially because they thought it was too complicated.

I use bleach, 20 Mule team borax and muratic acid to manage my hot tub. I test once a day to determine my sanitizer levels and use the pool calculator to determine volume of chemicals I need to add (I put 2 ounces of bleach in per day and adjust PH weekly with acid, that's it, more chlorine if it has bathers). All of the products I use on a daily basis are available at big box retailers. Pool store products do the same thing but cost x4 more. I support my pool store when i buy 12.5% liquid chlorine since I have a pool - it's just a higher concentration of regular bleach).

I understand your frustration, I was there too at one time with my pool but no more. Try to get a reliable test kit that the members here recommend (I use the TF100 kit). A good test kit is the first thing you need, it provides reliable test results so you are certain of the chemistry values you are trying to measure. If you can get a good test kit and read through the pool school thread, in a few short weeks the frustration with managing the tub will go away, you'll be enjoying it much more, while saving money at the same time.

Best of luck and again welcome!