Chemical Question

[silverbullet]

Being a newbie the dealer started me out on Bromine. Not so sure I like it. Seems even with everything normal on the test strips I till get a tingly, prickly feeling on my skin. Even after a rinse off shower. Someone reccomended spa perfect. Can I change over without changing water?
With the bromine I have to shock the water weekly which throws things off balance so I've added the reccomended PH increaser per test strip & bottle directions & everything is fine. If I have to change my water to change chemicals thats fine I'll wait until closer to winter.
Which leads me to this question. Say if I add this spa perfect, Do you need to add chemicals as frequently with the bromine? Do you need to test it as frequently?
Living with Wisconsin winters the less time I have to spend outside checking the water, adding chemicals the better off we are!
What other Chemicals are out there that require little if no maintenence. Is there such a thing?

[Vinny]

Spa Perfect is an enzyme, I don't believe you can just use that.

I also think that bromine is the easiest (as far as doing less) to use, someone here is using peroxide and I don't know anything about it. There's also the Nature 2 that I believe they state that are almost hassle free. And there's Baquacil that is an alternative sanitizer - it's expensive and I don't believe it's trouble free.

Just remember that all the other parameters are going to have to be looked into at least weekly so it's not like you can put your spa on autopilot and just use it for enjoyment. Make shocking/dosing the last thing you do, wait 5-10 minutes to close the lid and you're set.

[Quickbeam]

Hi Silverbullet,

I’m the fellow who is using hydrogen peroxide. Both my wife and I really like it. It’s easy to use and there is no dry skin or chemical smell. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it moisturizes the skin, but it really does have a nice feel to it.  You should also understand however that hydrogen peroxide is not approved for use in hot tubs in either Canada or the U.S. I understand that it is approved in Australia for what that’s worth.
We originally started using hydrogen peroxide because my wife has some pretty serious chemical sensitivities and we wanted to find an alternative to bromine or chlorine. I think now that we have tried it, we would have used it even if she didn’t have the chemical sensitivities. If you would like any further information, feel free to PM me and I’ll try to answer any questions you might have. One other thing - we are fairly new to this. We’ve only had our tub for about one month so our experience with this is limited. We have a friend though who has been using hydrogen peroxide for quite some time and she also loves it. In fact, it was through our friend that we first found out about it.
And finally, I’ll also just add onto what Vinny said. There are two things you need to do with your hot tub water. One is the sanitizer, but you also need to make sure your water is balanced. It doesn’t matter which sanitizer you use, you still need to balance your water. It’s not that difficult, but as Vinny said it should be checked at least once per week.

[silverbullet]

Would the spa perfect be a alternative to the bromine or a suppliment. I'm really loving my spa but not liking how my skin feels after a soak. Need to change something.

[Topline Mike]

I guess my first question would be - do you know if your water is balanced?  Is your pH between 7.2 and 7.8?  TA level?  CH level?  TA is total alkalinity, CH is calcium hardness. 

I am a hot tub owner of 3 1/2 months.  My first fill I used bromine for my sanitizer.  I had no problems.  I am now on my second fill and I am using the dichlor then bleach method.  This is the cheapest way to sanitize your tub.  All you do for this method is add 3 to 4 ounces of dichlor (which can be bought at your local spa dealer or many internet sites) and then add regular chlorox bleach on a regular basis.  I also added boric acid to my spa, which is very cheap also.  This is supposed to make the water feel soft and sparkly.  I don't have the experience to know if really does these things or not.  The cost for this is going to be around 3 or 4 bucks per fill.  If I were you, I would drain your spa and try this method.  I would also get yourself a good water testing kit.  I have great confidence that the water in my spa is "right" and the family isn't going to get a rash or something else by using it. 

Spa perfect is just a supplement, not a sanitizer. 

[silverbullet]

I've been using the test strips that were supplied with the chemical kit I got with the tub. Everything checks out good. I think I may be allergic to something.

[chem geek]

All you do for this method is add 3 to 4 ounces of dichlor (which can be bought at your local spa dealer or many internet sites) and then add regular chlorox bleach on a regular basis.  I also added boric acid to my spa, which is very cheap also.  This is supposed to make the water feel soft and sparkly.  I don't have the experience to know if really does these things or not.

Don't forget to add Dichlor about once a month to replenish the CYA that is slowly oxidized by chlorine (it loses around 5 ppm CYA per month).  Also note that the boric acid isn't so much for the feel -- it's an additional pH buffer so that you can have your TA lower at 50 ppm to less the amount of pH rise from carbon dioxide outgassing.