Old hot tub guy looking to learn new tricks...

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Ok, I started off here a week or so ago if you want to have a look .Old hot tub guy looking to learn new tricks... | Trouble Free Pool
I have drained my tub (450 gals) into my pool (16,500 gals) and refilled my tub from my pool.. following me so far?:laughblue: Anyway, tests show everything is in order with the levels (Tayler kit) except my hardness is low (not sure I care, If you think I should , splain it to me please) so my question now is what and when is the proper way to maintain? I have ALWAYS used the little 1"spa chlorine tabs which as you know keeps adding to the CYA which is why I want to try your (TFP) method. So when do I add the chlorine (I got 10% pool chlorine) to my tub, how often do I check it, yada yada yada.. Again 450 gal tub, ozone generator, used pretty much every day, twice a day on weekends by mostly 2 of us except for the rare occurrence of company.
Thanks.
 
So I'm trying TFP's methods, I've never used liquid chlorine before. Everything seems fine, FC in that 2-4 area , TA is about 70, CYA at 30, but my PH is spiking WAY above where it should be. Added dry acid about .7 oz like pool math is telling me, and an hour later is right where it should be, next morning SKY HIGH again! 2 days in a row like this.. Whats up?
 
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The aeration of a spa pushes the pH up quicker. Many find that letting the TA fall to 50 or even 40 ppm stops the pH issue.
It is best to use muriatic acid as the dry acid adds sulfates that will destroy the heating element.
 
mknauss said:
The aeration of a spa pushes the pH up quicker. Many find that letting the TA fall to 50 or even 40 ppm stops the pH issue.
It is best to use muriatic acid as the dry acid adds sulfates that will destroy the heating element.
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So I'm using a dry product that came with the new hot tub, dry acid (PH and TA decreaser), and by using that it has lowered my TA to a little over 50 on last check a couple hours ago and once again though the PH was off the charts high. Normally I've been always having to raise the PH, I've been using lots of PH up and TA up in my hot tubs.. seems odd that all of a sudden I'm having to go the other way..

Thanks for the reply..
 
You have not stated what the pH is. You are not saving your test results to your Poolmath logs.
 
mknauss said:
You have not stated what the pH is. You are not saving your test results to your Poolmath logs.
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Like I said the PH is off the charts.. My test kit (Leslies rebrand of a Taylor) goes up to 8.0.. my reading is way darker than that. And I've been plugging the numbers into my phone app... AH HA.. I just saw where it says to log test results so I'll start doing that.. thought it just went in automatically
 
I suspect, if the kit is not a K1000 ph test, that if your FC is above 3 or 5 ppm, the pH test value will not be valid.

I also assume you do not have a FAS-DPD test for FC, and thus are not really sure what that level is either.

Regardless, be sure to test your pH before you add liquid chlorine.
 
mknauss said:
I suspect, if the kit is not a K1000 ph test, that if your FC is above 3 or 5 ppm, the pH test value will not be valid.

I also assume you do not have a FAS-DPD test for FC, and thus are not really sure what that level is either.

Regardless, be sure to test your pH before you add liquid chlorine.
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Yep, aware of that.

And the high PH registers when the FC # is 1-2

And yes I am sure what it is.
 

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So just came back in from testing tub. As far as I can tell I added them to the logs but don't know where to find them here... So here is what I found this morning, tub was at good levels yesterday afternoon, then was used last night and again this morning by me and the wife.. maybe 45 minutes each time then this test this morning.
FC-0
PH- 9.. Ill call it that because its more red than the test kit shows and that's 8
TA-50
CH-40 My water is naturally soft.. been using it this way for 6 years here now without a problem
CYA -35
Temp- 104 Always 104!
Again I tried to log it in but not sure that it worked.
I just added 2 oz 10% chlorine and 1 oz dry acid that came with the tub.

And my wonderment is why I have always had to use PH and Alkalinity up till now, and now I have to use down all the time ????????

This stuff... WOW that picture is BIG!

IMG_5043.JPG
 
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Your data is showing. Thank you. Click on your Member name. The PoolMath logs link shows up there.

The product you pictured is sodium bisulfate. Dry acid.

I am not a spa chemistry expert. Many folks here with spas seem to have no issues. You previously used tablets, correct? They are chlorine and cyanuric acid. So they pushed your pH and TA down aggressively. And made the chlorine ineffective over time due to high CYA.
 
mknauss said:
Your data is showing. Thank you. Click on your Member name. The PoolMath logs link shows up there.

The product you pictured is sodium bisulfate. Dry acid.

I am not a spa chemistry expert. Many folks here with spas seem to have no issues. You previously used tablets, correct? They are chlorine and cyanuric acid. So they pushed your pH and TA down aggressively. And made the chlorine ineffective over time due to high CYA.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I see no Poolmath log links there.. EDIT TO ADD: I found them, thanks
Yes, I know what it is.
So then the high CYA is what pushes the PH and TA down? With my sky high PH (but still low TA) should I raise my CYA from the 35 level?
 
CYA is acidic. Thus when you dissolve it into water, it lowers the pH. But the CYA stays in the water forever. So the more you use, the higher the level gets, making the FC ineffective.

The sky high pH with a low TA is not natural. It implies the TA test may not be real accurate.
 
mknauss said:
CYA is acidic. Thus when you dissolve it into water, it lowers the pH. But the CYA stays in the water forever. So the more you use, the higher the level gets, making the FC ineffective.

The sky high pH with a low TA is not natural. It implies the TA test may not be real accurate.
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Well I'm heading out to check it again after adding acid and chlorine this morning, I'll report back here in a couple..
 
A.O. said:
Well I'm heading out to check it again after adding acid and chlorine this morning, I'll report back here in a couple..
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Ok, just came back in, FC is in the 2-3 range, PH in the 7.2 range and the TA is at 40 (lower still due to the acid I added earlier) and my test strips backed up those numbers. (I know you guys hate them but they DO serve a purpose.) So as far as I see the TA reading is correct. So I added a little Sodium Bicarb to raise the TA a bit which will also raise the PH some I'm sure.
 
By un-stable I mean pH crashing due to low TA -- that does not appear to be your issue.
 

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