Water help

[tsaileus]

As a true newbie, I'm emptying my tub as I speak for the first time. I'm embarrassed to say how long I've waited.
Anyway, I'll be needing "stuff" to put in the water. Can anyone give me a concrete list of what I need? How often should I change the filters? How about the ozonator? I know there is tons of info on this site concerning all of these questions but I'm SO confused! Please help!

PS: also any suggestions as to where to purchase said ingredients on line would be greatly appreciated, as dealer is quite a distance away.

thanks

[Vinny]

What kind of stuff do you want - chlorine stuff or bromine stuff?

What does you water come out of the tap like?

The more info you give the more we can.

[tsaileus]

benefits of chlorine vs bromine?

What sort of info would help about my tap water?

One thing I know is that it tastes pretty good  :-/

My water is not very "hard".  What else can I tell you?

Thanks for trying to help...

[Vinny]

Did you ever test your water in the spa? Not trying to be funny but it sounds like you never did. Did you inherit this spa (bought a house with a spa) or is this a new spa with old water?

Get into the habit of changinging the water every 3 to 4 months. I would also buy another set of filters and change them out every month depending on use. Clean the ones that you took out  and you're good to go with no down time.

Water chemisty in a pool and spa consists of knowing it's PH, alkalinity and hardness. I always recommend a drop test kit but others use strips.

Knowing where the water out of the tap is helps to be able to get the spa water in line. PH in a spa should be between 7.2 to 7.8, alkalinity around 80 to 120 PPM and hardness about 150 to 250 PPM. People operate with higher alkalinity and harness but there are things you need to do. Also, you need to know if metals are in the water.

If you got a test kit or strips get the reading of the water out of the tap. No use buying stuff for one water condition when you have another.

Chlorine (dichlor) and bromine are both good although it seems that most people here use chlorine. Some people find chlorine great and some find bromine great - it's just a personal choice.

Bromine comes in pucks and powder form . The pucks have chlorine in them to keep the bromine activated and you need a feeder. The good thing about bromine pucks is that once you get the feeder figured out all you need to do is put so many pucks in a week and go. In order to start up a bromine spa you need to get a reserve in the water and most people use MPS (non- chlorine shock) to oxidize the used bromine.

Granular bromine and chlorine seem to be almost identical in their uses. I use chlorine so I'll talk about that - I need to add chlorine every day (if I use the spa that day) or every other day if I don't. I keep a teaspoon in the container and put enough chlorine to do the job. Chlorine use will add stabilizer into the water which will build up and make the chlorine less effective.

Ozone is something that I am fence sitting on. I will be trying a new ozonator in June to see if it indeed does something but it's not an exact science ... may even be a placebo - I don't know.

[tsaileus]

OK, I have tested my water, maybe monthly and it usually tested good other than needing more chlorine.
That's why I never emptied the spa. I thought that I must have great water since it usually seemed to be
within the good ranges with minimal adjustments. Today, everything was a little off so I thought it would be
a good day to dump the old stuff.

I also checked the water from my tap. It had no chlorine or bromine (a good thing I think), was neutral in the
pH area, alkalinity about 80 and hardness 100.

I have been cleaning my filters with a store bought cleaner (glad to hear that TSP will work also). Wondering about
the high density (I think that's what they called them) filters that I've read about. And if I'm cleaning them regularly
how often do they need to be replaced?