Apologies in advance for my babbling, many questions post…I am completely new to hot tubbing and bought a tub on the internet at the start of lockdown with no research, guidance etc. So I am reading and reacting. Here’s where I am at.
I have bought a Be Well Canada Spa – 0782 Elite and we are based in the UK and live in a hard water area, I think the tub is 1700l (375gal). It was delivered with little instruction, a ‘sparkle’ liquid (still don’t know what chemicals are inside it) and some chlorine tablets (Trichloroisocyanuric Acid), this is supposedly a chemical start up pack. We filled it up, heated it, added some liquid and put in 1 tablet and thought that was it! First 2 days were great, then a waterline appeared, then sandy feel, then it starts to go green…I’m already on the web researching and panic buying chemicals but it’s the weekend and I need to wait for delivery – Outcome, put in Swirl Away. Drain, clean and start again!
So I’ve now got test strips, some chemicals and have read Nitros water maintenance guide a million times but with these crappy test strips I can’t quite be sure what levels I have from my source water although I know TA is high and pH 7.2. I start adding dry acid at 100g at a time and aerating, in the end I add 550g of dry acid but think I over cooked it slightly and didn’t do the process quite as Nitro explained as I didn’t know what the heck I was doing!!! But that’s another story.
I feel fairly confident now with my pH and TA levels (ooh I bought a better testing kit). So my fill water is TA 300+ (highest scale goes too), Cal Hard (300+), pH 7.2.
So since getting the TA down on the first day, generally my pH is sitting between 7.2-7.4 and TA 80-120. I have to add a little dry acid (20-40g) every 2-3 days and TA one day dropped to 65 but I had to do my weekly maintenance schedule and topped up the tub with tap water, so this raised the TA to 125-140. We are using the tub most days, twice on some. 2 Adults and 3 kids, so I imagine this is a very high bather load.
On the first day of heating the tub I added 30g of Chlorine granules (Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate) to shock tub to 10ppm, since then I pretty much am adding 15g per day to try and keep FC levels ok. So in a very long way here are my questions about sanitising but any other information anyone can provide will be very appreciated.
Now I am reading about CC & TC but getting very confused. On Saturday when checking my FC was 2 and TC 5. Today my FC was 2 and again my TC 5. At the moment I am adding chlorine granules to increase the FC but then I read about Cyan Acid & Sulphates and don’t know which way to turn. Cyan Acid was 20ppm when tested today (but think it should be more from all the chlorine I had added so far 145.2g), so I know I’m getting closer to a crunch point with sanitising and sulphates etc (I think).
I have purchased a Non Chlorine Shock, Ingredients: (Pentapotassium Bis (Peroxymonosulphate) Bis (Sulphate). Also contains Dipotassium Peroxodisulphate) but am also reading about bleach methods.
ps. How much filtering should the tub water be doing, as well as being in there and the kids turning on all the jests all the time. I have it set to come on 2 times a day for 2hrs?
I have bought a Be Well Canada Spa – 0782 Elite and we are based in the UK and live in a hard water area, I think the tub is 1700l (375gal). It was delivered with little instruction, a ‘sparkle’ liquid (still don’t know what chemicals are inside it) and some chlorine tablets (Trichloroisocyanuric Acid), this is supposedly a chemical start up pack. We filled it up, heated it, added some liquid and put in 1 tablet and thought that was it! First 2 days were great, then a waterline appeared, then sandy feel, then it starts to go green…I’m already on the web researching and panic buying chemicals but it’s the weekend and I need to wait for delivery – Outcome, put in Swirl Away. Drain, clean and start again!
So I’ve now got test strips, some chemicals and have read Nitros water maintenance guide a million times but with these crappy test strips I can’t quite be sure what levels I have from my source water although I know TA is high and pH 7.2. I start adding dry acid at 100g at a time and aerating, in the end I add 550g of dry acid but think I over cooked it slightly and didn’t do the process quite as Nitro explained as I didn’t know what the heck I was doing!!! But that’s another story.
I feel fairly confident now with my pH and TA levels (ooh I bought a better testing kit). So my fill water is TA 300+ (highest scale goes too), Cal Hard (300+), pH 7.2.
So since getting the TA down on the first day, generally my pH is sitting between 7.2-7.4 and TA 80-120. I have to add a little dry acid (20-40g) every 2-3 days and TA one day dropped to 65 but I had to do my weekly maintenance schedule and topped up the tub with tap water, so this raised the TA to 125-140. We are using the tub most days, twice on some. 2 Adults and 3 kids, so I imagine this is a very high bather load.
On the first day of heating the tub I added 30g of Chlorine granules (Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate) to shock tub to 10ppm, since then I pretty much am adding 15g per day to try and keep FC levels ok. So in a very long way here are my questions about sanitising but any other information anyone can provide will be very appreciated.
- I have been trying to measure FC before and after going in the tub, but often when I test after its 0. How bad is it to have FC at 0 even for an 1hr after bathing?
- Should FC at least be over 1 at all time…what is an easy/manageable way to achieve this? For example could I have 1 or 2 Trichlor tablets in there, providing a base level of sanitiser and then top up with granules?
- Is it normal to add Chlorine every single day?
- Should I be getting my FC to somewhere like 6-8ppm before we all go in the tub for an hour, what do I want my FC to be after an hour after getting out of the tub, 1ppm or closer to 3ppm?
- If I had a hot tub party, where do you start your water at 10ppm? And add Chlorine through the party?? Obvs I haven’t done this with lockdown but I would like to be prepared and know what others do.
Now I am reading about CC & TC but getting very confused. On Saturday when checking my FC was 2 and TC 5. Today my FC was 2 and again my TC 5. At the moment I am adding chlorine granules to increase the FC but then I read about Cyan Acid & Sulphates and don’t know which way to turn. Cyan Acid was 20ppm when tested today (but think it should be more from all the chlorine I had added so far 145.2g), so I know I’m getting closer to a crunch point with sanitising and sulphates etc (I think).
I have purchased a Non Chlorine Shock, Ingredients: (Pentapotassium Bis (Peroxymonosulphate) Bis (Sulphate). Also contains Dipotassium Peroxodisulphate) but am also reading about bleach methods.
- Can someone please help me with an easy method of sanitising my tub, keeping a base level. Do people in the UK use the Dichlor/Bleach method as I haven’t found much info on the web here? If so, what bleach are you purchasing?
- Should I be using the Dichlor and non Chlorine, would this work ok? How much do I use, daily, weekly? Or do I use a combination of everything above?
ps. How much filtering should the tub water be doing, as well as being in there and the kids turning on all the jests all the time. I have it set to come on 2 times a day for 2hrs?
