Hi,
I have had a hot tub (brand new) for 2 months now. After filling, I had balanced the levels as recommended in the hot tub manual, and hadn't had any problems. I had filled the tub with soft water (from the tap with a water softener, since I am on a well and without this there would be too many metals/iron in the hard water), so had to raise the Calcium hardness to around 180 mg/L.
I have been regularly testing with my Taylor K-2006 kit and levels have been OK. Within the past week, however, I have noticed a slight "musty" smell on our skin after exiting the hot tub. It is barely noticeable when in the tub, but clearly something is off. I have shocked it a few times with an oxidizer shock (the manual says to never shock with Cl). The hot tub is ozonated, btw.
I tested everything today and here is what I got:
FC - 7.0 ( i had just added granular chlorine, so this is on the high range but it does tend to reduce to about 2.0 in a day's time with daily bathing)
CC - 1.5
pH - 7.9
TA - 80
CH - 280
CYA - 30
Temp - 101
This reading surprised me:
1) CC shouldn't be this high, correct? I have read that it could be influenced by shocking with oxidizing shock, which gives false CC readings. However, I last added oxidizer in 3 days ago.
2) CH is much higher than when I last tested, which was admittedly over a month ago (since I haven't been regularly testing for CH as I thought it shouldn't drift)
I need to lower the pH asap--I have been using granular pH reducer, but also have muriatic acid on hand. I have had to reduce the pH on a weekly basis as it drifts from about 7.4 to 7.8-8 in a week's time. If I reduce again, will I end up lowering the TA too much? How do I lower pH but not by TA?
Any tips on what could be causing the smell, and what I should adjust my levels to?
I have had a hot tub (brand new) for 2 months now. After filling, I had balanced the levels as recommended in the hot tub manual, and hadn't had any problems. I had filled the tub with soft water (from the tap with a water softener, since I am on a well and without this there would be too many metals/iron in the hard water), so had to raise the Calcium hardness to around 180 mg/L.
I have been regularly testing with my Taylor K-2006 kit and levels have been OK. Within the past week, however, I have noticed a slight "musty" smell on our skin after exiting the hot tub. It is barely noticeable when in the tub, but clearly something is off. I have shocked it a few times with an oxidizer shock (the manual says to never shock with Cl). The hot tub is ozonated, btw.
I tested everything today and here is what I got:
FC - 7.0 ( i had just added granular chlorine, so this is on the high range but it does tend to reduce to about 2.0 in a day's time with daily bathing)
CC - 1.5
pH - 7.9
TA - 80
CH - 280
CYA - 30
Temp - 101
This reading surprised me:
1) CC shouldn't be this high, correct? I have read that it could be influenced by shocking with oxidizing shock, which gives false CC readings. However, I last added oxidizer in 3 days ago.
2) CH is much higher than when I last tested, which was admittedly over a month ago (since I haven't been regularly testing for CH as I thought it shouldn't drift)
I need to lower the pH asap--I have been using granular pH reducer, but also have muriatic acid on hand. I have had to reduce the pH on a weekly basis as it drifts from about 7.4 to 7.8-8 in a week's time. If I reduce again, will I end up lowering the TA too much? How do I lower pH but not by TA?
Any tips on what could be causing the smell, and what I should adjust my levels to?