Water Treatment

[Tranquil]

I have no doubt this has been covered before but did not achieve much with the search. So as a potential newbie about to embark on a spa purchase(still not quite sure which one but getting there), what is the best way to keep the water in good condition, and having read the odd bit please explain initials first time as it may make sense to you but not if you don't know what they stand for. Thanks

[Vinny]

To keep your water nice you need to know water chemistry. Relying on someone else is a disaster waiting to happen IMO.

You need to decide what you are going to use - here in the US and Canada we have chlorine and bromine - do you have them in Spain? Usually when we mention chlorine there are 2 types we are talking about - dichor (which has a longer name) and lithium chloride. Bromine comes in 2 forms here - powder that is straight bromine and pucks which are a combo of bromine and chlorine.

You have to keep your PH - how acidic or alkaline your water is - in the range of 7.2 to 7.8.

Alkalinity - this keeps your PH stabile - in the range of 80 to 120.

Calcium - this is for water hardness - minimum 150 to a max of about 350. Anything below 150 and the water can foam.

Keep body products, hair products and whatever else might be on your body to a minimum. Don't wash the bathing suit, if you must rinse the heck out of it.

I think I covered the basics. Any other questions, just ask!

[Tranquil]

Ok thanks,
over here they use Trichloroisocyanuric acid (chlorine powder) for pools and Hydrocloric acid for ph reduction (around here it always needs bringing down). The water is very hard here.

[Vinny]

Ok thanks,
over here they use Trichloroisocyanuric acid (chlorine powder) for pools and Hydrocloric acid for ph reduction (around here it always needs bringing down). The water is very hard here.

There is a difference between hardness and PH. Hardness indicates the calcium and or magnesium content where PH is how acid or alkaline it is ... 2 different measurements. A PH of 7.0 is said to be neutral anything below it is acidic anything above is alkaline.