Test Results has me scratching my head on the Chlorine in my system...

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S

SPANUT

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Sep 7, 2020
9
Georgia, USA
First off, I have a new Hot tub which came with a starter pack of chemicals (I intend to let them run the course before transitioning systems). The system I was provided with is the Frog @ ease (chlorine / mineral) based system along with a non-chlorine shock made by spagard. It also came with the tester strips from the frog product. I found it very difficult to read the tester strips and have ended up taking samples to my dealer during these first two weeks of ownership. Most numbers where off from my readings but within a reasonable order of magnitude. In the interim I order the Taylor K2006 testing kit for my own use. It finally arrived and I was anxious to test my own numbers accurately and balance my water properly. That said, the kit has my chlorine counts way out of line with both what I found on my test strips and what my dealer tested me at with his.

The test strips I was using don't give a hard number but rather a color to match with which, if the system is short your suppose to adjust it to dump more chlorine in unless the canister is spent of course, my tester showed a little lighter than the color. The ideal range of this system being between 0.5 and 1.5ppm FC. The store tested me 2x's now (1 wk apart) and both have been in the .5 to 1.0FC range. I tested 3x's today with the taylor kit, it seems like I'm having to use way to many drops (I have shaken the reagent before dripping completely vertical not tilted). I'm using the 25ml water sampling. I do two dippers of the R-0870, before I even swirl its fairly reddish, i swirl to mix. I add R-0871, while swirling it takes 36 drops(each test within in a few drops). By my count, this translates to an FC of 7.2ppm (Way higher than other tests). I add R-0003 while swirling to get it to start transitioning from the redish to clear takes 62 drops. This translates into 12.4ppm CC and 19.6ppm TC respectively. These numbers seem way off base to me compared to what it should be and what other test have shown. According to the kit my ideal range should be 2-4ppm FC and 0ppm CC, according to frog system its suppose to be between .5 and 1.5ppm based on its tests, store tests and its dispensing settings.

Other current figures as of today are as follows:
Water temp is 98deg F
TA is 120ppm
PH is 7.4
CH 200 ppm

I also checked the date codes of the reagents, R-0871 is the oldest with the earliest expiration being 9/21.

Any thoughts or ideas on what is going on with these results and why so many drips? Is there a means of testing the calibration of the reagents? I welcome your feedback and suggestions

-Stumped.
 
For giggles, I just tested my tap water (county supply) with the taylor kit to see if it too resulted in high drip counts. The results show my FC for the tap water at 1.8ppm (9drips) and CC is 0.0ppm.
 
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If you added MPS with your non chlorine shock then that is testing as CC or combined chlorine. Not a lot of good reviews here on the "frog" system so your dealer is not doing you any favors and his free test is as good as the test strips, not very. Trust your test kit and use the 10ml sample size for FC, follow instructions and use just one big scoop of the pow.
Read the thread on how to run a chlorine tub. How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?
You will need to add 30ppm CYA cyanuric acid or your current free chlorine levels will be harsh on bathers. Once your get your CYA up you will need to keep your FC in the proper target zone. FC/CYA Levels
Do a search for Ahhsome tub cleaner and learn how to purge your spas plumbing too.
 
Frog @ease "SmartChlor" reserve will test as high CC's. Totally normal for that system. When I was using that system, I would see the CC reading in the 7 - 12 range, and FC reading usually at .5 or just under 1.0. As the cartridge neared end-of-life, the CC reading would drop. When using Frog @ease, it's best to consider the CC reading as your "total oxidizer" available. As your FC is used, more comes out of the reserve to maintain that 0.5 - 1 ppm equilibrium. The Frog test strips only seem to show if you have sufficient reserve (the cyan patch at the top). OK if it's darker than the bottle shows, but if it's lighter, you're running low.

I found I had to use the non-chlorine shock about once a week. It seems like the @ease system doesn't have enough FC available to oxidize bather waste, eventually building up to cloudy water and milky bubbles. I gave up after trying the system twice for two months at a stretch each season. Just seemed like more work than maintaining my tub manually using the recommended method here... plus on @ease, if you dump the water to start over, you have to get a new mineral cartridge.
 
First off, this:
Oly said:
Trust your test kit and use the 10ml sample size for FC, follow instructions and use just one big scoop of the pow.
Click to expand...
When you use a 10 mL sample, each drop is 0.5 ppm, so you'll use a lot fewer drops while testing.

Secondly, the type of chlorine used in @ease to form the reserve shows up as CC's, so it is entirely expected to see a very high CC value when using @ease. I wish I could find it, but a user here did a long term (two water change) test of the @ease system. Initially they liked it, but at the end they ended up with cloudy water and when they purged with Ahh-some they had a lot of junk that came out of the plumbing, which seemed to indicate @ease did not do a great job. They decided to switch to regular chlorine as outlined in the links @Oly posted above. I would recommend using chlorine over the @ease based on what I've seen here, though I have no first hand experience with @ease. Chlorine has worked well for me though. I now have a Saltron Mini SWCG (saltwater chlorine generator) which maintains the chlorine levels for me in between uses and means I only have to add chlorine immediately after a long soak. I recommend something like that over @ease if you want to something that lets you not add chlorine every day.

Oh hey look at that. Right as I was getting ready to post @BravoRomeo showed up! They are the one who did the test with the @ease system (I recognized the avatar).
 
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@Oly
Thanks (facepalm) Not sure why I completely forgot to think about the provided shock throwing off the CC readings given its MPS, I know this from research just didnt click for some reason with the current provided chemicals until now. I have the deox reagent for MPS given I was going to be swapping next water change to this, for some reason I was thinking i had all chlorine from my dealer even though I clearly read and even typed non-chlorine spagard shock. At any rate I can test for that and report back. I'll also test for CYA and see what its current values are. Thanks for the input, I was hoping it was something I was screwing up that could be remedied :)
 
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