Filling Our New Hot Tub for the First Time

[hotubhotub]

We recently purchased a new Hot Springs Aria and if all goes well, it should be installed by 11/18 (a month later than we wanted but that's another story). I will certainly work with our dealer on this but I want to get some other opinions.
  We have pretty hard water that's loaded with iron. So much so, it turns the tub, sinks, etc. orange if we don't stay on top of it. We have a water softening salt system for our indoor water use. I will be filling the tub from the hose and I want to know if there are any precautionary measures that I should take. I have a hose filter that I plan on putting on when I fill it. Are there any additonal chemicals that I should be adding? Should I be concerned with what my water will do to the tub and filter system?

[carolina coastie]

 I will be VERY interested with the answer to that as well. We have the same situation to the tee except we just purchased a Caldera 6 person hot tub(Marino model). still waiting on it to come in though

[TwinCitiesHotSpring]

even some of the most nasty water can be treated...in your case a metal remover should be used at fill, ie metal gon, metal remover, metal out, etc etc. each brand of chemical has a different name but they all basically perform the same task, also in your case a good pre-filter should be used.  Like I said the water can be treated but it will always takes a little longer...the tub will take longer to fill with a pre-filter, and you may find yourself pulling your filters and hosing off some of the residual metals for the first couple days.....some of my customers avoid the "process" by having chlorinated water trucked in for around $150-$250 per fill depending on location, amount of gallons, etc etc

[Spatech_tuo]

even some of the most nasty water can be treated...in your case a metal remover should be used at fill, ie metal gon, metal remover, metal out, etc etc. each brand of chemical has a different name but they all basically perform the same task, also in your case a good pre-filter should be used.  Like I said the water can be treated but it will always takes a little longer...the tub will take longer to fill with a pre-filter, and you may find yourself pulling your filters and hosing off some of the residual metals for the first couple days.....some of my customers avoid the "process" by having chlorinated water trucked in for around $150-$250 per fill depending on location, amount of gallons, etc etc

I was going to make similar comments to those above by Twin. Your dealer certainly should be well aware of the issues your local water causes and the steps needed beyond what Twin noted so lean on them.