Is it okay to put bleach in a hottub for cleaning?

[D.P. Roberts]

In order to get rid of biofilm, we have had to to add 5-6gallons of bleach to quickly get the ppm of chlorine level to 100ppm.  

When you dump that on your grass - whether it kills your grass or not - a lot of it ends up in your local waterways. Chlorine is toxic to fish at .05 ppm. So, assuming you have about 400 gallons of water at 100 ppm, you just chlorinated enough water to kill all the fish in 800,000 gallons of water.

[squale]

In about a 400 gallon tub how quickly does 10ppm of DiChlor dissipate?  like 2ppm per hour or something?

btw.. my initial PH from my well water was 8.7   After adding in the PH Decreaser, Scale and Stain and the 4 teaspoons of DiChlor, my PH Reading is now not even coming up on my AquaCheck Trutest digital reader.. it says "Err"... so I'm assuming the PH went higher, I think the highest the digital reader can read is to 8.8

I then tested with visual strips and the PH looked REALLY RED that means very high.

Why would the PH RISE after doing PH Decreaser and DiChlor?  I thought DiChlor was PH Neutral and PH Decreaser should cerntainly of bought DOWN my PH.  I also noticed that my Total Alk went from 207 to 218 an hour after I shocked the spa, this is all very strange to me?

[tony]

In about a 400 gallon tub how quickly does 10ppm of DiChlor dissipate?  like 2ppm per hour or something?

btw.. my initial PH from my well water was 8.7   After adding in the PH Decreaser, Scale and Stain and the 4 teaspoons of DiChlor, my PH Reading is now not even coming up on my AquaCheck Trutest digital reader.. it says "Err"... so I'm assuming the PH went higher, I think the highest the digital reader can read is to 8.8

I then tested with visual strips and the PH looked REALLY RED that means very high.

Why would the PH RISE after doing PH Decreaser and DiChlor?  I thought DiChlor was PH Neutral and PH Decreaser should cerntainly of bought DOWN my PH.  I also noticed that my Total Alk went from 207 to 218 an hour after I shocked the spa, this is all very strange to me?

Let your chlorine levels come down and then check your pH.  Dichlor will not raise your pH.  It is actually sligtly acidic so it should tend to bring it down.  Your high chlorine levels may be shading your pH readings.  When your free chlorine levels drop below 5 ppm check again.  By tomorrow morning your levels should be down to around 5 ppm and close to zero tomorrow night.

One thing to remember with spas...add a little bit, wait, test and add more if needed.  Its easier to add more than it is to counter whats been done with other chems.

[squale]

yeah what i don't get is that on the Bioguard print out from my dealer they said to only put in 1 tablespoon of PH Decreaser (the Spaguard brand).. I don't have the spaguard brand of PH Decreaser, I have Baquaspa PH decreaser which is the same ingredients as what are in other PH Decreasers.  On the Baquaspa ph decreaser it says that if you PH is above 8.2 to add 3 TABLEspoons per 400 gallons of water.  So I did sorta in the middle, I added 2 tablespoons.  On the Bioguard printout it says to do 1 tablespoon each day for 7 staight days.  Why not just tell me to put in one larger dose instead of having to do it 7 days in a row?

[tony]

yeah what i don't get is that on the Bioguard print out from my dealer they said to only put in 1 tablespoon of PH Decreaser (the Spaguard brand).. I don't have the spaguard brand of PH Decreaser, I have Baquaspa PH decreaser which is the same ingredients as what are in other PH Decreasers.  On the Baquaspa ph decreaser it says that if you PH is above 8.2 to add 3 TABLEspoons per 400 gallons of water.  So I did sorta in the middle, I added 2 tablespoons.  On the Bioguard printout it says to do 1 tablespoon each day for 7 staight days.  Why not just tell me to put in one larger dose instead of having to do it 7 days in a row?

All pH down and Alk down are the same...sodium bisulfate aka dry acid.  An alternative is muriatic acid.  With your alk numbers I think you will need a lot of pH down.  There are others with the same numbers as you with well water.  If I recall it takes a while to get the numbers down.  I would stay with the 1 tablespoon a day for now.  I'm going to check around to see if there is info regarding you type of situation.

OK, just checked over at another forum and there is a thread regarding the same situation as yours and they're adding ounces of dry acid at a time vs tablespoons.  From what I can see you can add up to 2 1/2 oz of dry acid at one time to bring pH and alk down.  I wouldn't add that much at once but maybe one oz at a time for high readings like yours.  Also, running your jets apparently will raise pH.  If you want to check out the thread, its over at www.poolspaforum.com in the hot tub water chemistry section a little ways down.  

[Vinny]

I think people are forgetting something - the bacteria in the dirt, sewage pipes and sunlight will kill the chlorine. Yes it will possibly have cya but at a depth of 6" how long do you thing the chlorine will last, I give it 2 hours tops. Now dumping directly into a lake ... no way!

[Vinny]

In about a 400 gallon tub how quickly does 10ppm of DiChlor dissipate?  like 2ppm per hour or something?

My tub can hold 3 PPM chlorine overnight, who knows how long 10 PPM will last.

[Brewman]

My tub can hold 3 PPM chlorine overnight, who knows how long 10 PPM will last.

Get a bunch of really big fellas, like professional wrestlers or something, send them on a 10 mile jog on a really humid day, and pop them into the spa.
Bet that'd zap 10 ppm pretty quickly.

[SerjicalStrike]

Getting rid of bacteria requires dramatically increased, sustained levels of sanitizer. I haven't read anywhere about the 50-100ppm but I'm not saying you're wrong. Where did you get that info from out of curiousity?

Steve

http://www.edstrom.com/Resources.cfm?doc_id=149

[squale]

well my Alk numbers actually went UP overnight?  I am putting in 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) of PH Decreaser at a time, and running the jets for about 20 minutes right after putting it in.