Help with proper cleaning to avoid folliculitis

[Jenbone]

Hi folks.
My husband and i bought an intex pure spa. It's a blow up 210 gallon bubble spa. It's wonderful but every time we go in we get folliculitis pretty bad. I thought we should try the natural approach but I'm reading it isn't any more effective. I can't seem to get the chemical mix right.  Using two different test strips i get wildly different results so i really don't know what chemicals to add when. We have drained the spa and i would love for someone to tell me how to properly maintain it so we can enjoy it.  Should i keep it above a certain temp all the time?  We like it around 98 to 100 when we are in it but it goes down to 80 of wet don't go on for a few days.  So i will attach a pic of all the chemicals that i have and maybe someone can tell me how to use them effectively? Or maybe i need to get different ones, that's fine. Please someone who knows how to do this right please help!  .....  Can't figure out how to post pics.  My chemicals are. Ph up,  dry acid "adjuster",  chlorbrite "sanitizer", fresh n'clear "oxidizing shock" and spa prefect "eliminate water ring, eliminate clogged filters,  eliminate chemical odors,  eliminate eye irritation"

[Topline Mike]

The first thing you should do is go to amazon.com and buy yourself a Taylor Test Kit.  K2006 is the one you need for chlorine.  Get your kit, test your water for pH, total alkalinity, and calcium hardness - then post your results and we'll help you from there.  Everyone's water is different, so there is no magic potion for all. 

[Jenbone]

Thanks Mike,
Ok.  I got the right kit FAS-DPD.  I have two college degrees and it still took me some time to try to figure out how to use it properly! So here's what happened.... 
Yellow test (chlorine)  : when i added two dippers of the powder there was no change in color. I added 2 more still no change. I think this means there is no chlorine?
Red test (pH) : 7.6
Green test (alkalinity) : 170 or 180 ppm.  When i added the 17th drop it turned to light pink, the 18th drop made red.
Blue test. (hardness): 10 ppm  water didn't go red at first it was really more of a purple. It took only 1 drop to go Blue. 
We have  a water softener system for all our water.
White test (CAT) : water never got cloudy.

I just put water in from the hose and tested it the next morning.

Please help! What chemicals do i use, how much, how often and if there are any helpful tips on testing the water that would be awesome too.  Thanks!

[Topline Mike]

Good work on getting the test kit. 

I don't know anything about your tub.  Does it have jets and a pump?  If it does, turn on the pump and let it run for a cycle or about 20 minutes.  Your pH will then rise to above 8.0 or so because your TA is high.  You will want to get your TA down to 60ppm.  You do this by adding either dry acid (called pH down in the spa store) or muriatic acid which you can buy at your local hardware store or big box store.  I used muriatic acid to balance the water in my tub.  Be careful with the stuff, and use safety glasses and a glove just for safety.  I would add two ounces at a time, run a cycle, and test again.  Adding two ounces of dry acid will lower your TA by 30, and two ounces of muriatic acid will lower it by 40.  How do I know this?  I use a site called pool math, which is here. 
http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

The first thing you do on this site is enter your gallons at the top, which in your case is 210.  Then look at the bottom of the page, where it says "effects of adding chemicals".  Here's where you can see how adding a certain chemical will change your water chemistry. 

If you fill with soft water, you won't have any calcium hardness in there, which is what your test shows.  You typically want somewhere around 150 for your CH.  In my case, I filled with a third or so with soft water, and the rest with my well water, which gave my a CH of 180.  I've read different outlooks on the CH readings.  You can use a low CH in your water, but make sure your pH is stable between 7.2 and 7.8. 

Once your water is balanced, then I would add dichlor.  You can buy this at many different places.  You will only need a total of two ounces of dichlor for your size spa.  Your test showed no chlorine, which it should have unless your are on city water, where it might show a very little chlorine in the water.  Using pool math, add 1 ounce of dichlor in "the effects of adding chemicals".  It shows that it will raise the FC (free chlorine) by 20, and the CYA (cyanuric acid) by 18.  I would add a half ounce of dichlor to start, let the FC level drop to 3 or so, and another half ounce, etc, until you have two ounces total in the spa.  After this, you can add just regular chlorox bleach for your sanitizer.  How much?  Depends on your bather load.  You will just add it as needed. 

So, the chemicals you need are dry acid (or muriatic acid), dichlor, and chlorox bleach.  That's it.  All the other chemicals the spa store sells are for the people who haven't found this site.

Good luck and enjoy the spa. 

[Jenbone]

Thanks so much for that info! Before i do this i think i need to replace my filters.  They are really icky.  It came with intex purespa type s1. They are paper. With blue plastic on top and bottom. I read on here you can buy an 8.00. Alternative that is not disposable. Will that work for mine? My spa is inflatable. It has bubbles but no jets. 

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

They're fabric, probably dacron, NOT paper (paper falls apart in water)

[Jenbone]

Do i need to get new filters before i run the pump and do chemicals? If so is there something i can buy instead of the s1 type i have now that need to be replaced every two weeks?

[Grateful11]

The S1 filters are only disposable if you want to throw them away. I have 3 sets and switch them weekly as they very small. I rinse them really well with garden hose and nozzle and wash them on the top rack of the dishwasher or soak them in high concentrated chlorinated water in a bucket for a few days. They come out very clean. They can be bought on Amazon fairly reasonably. We have not had any folliculitis problems with ours. We have had about 3 cases of biofilm buildup on the vinyl inflatable tub but it doesn't seem to build up on the hard plastic filter containers, I think it's more of a chemical imbalance problem on my behalf than anything. I've been using SpaTime products from Lowe's, I have Chlorine Granules, Shock, PH Up and Anti-foam.

The biggest problem with Intex PureSpa is keeping it running. We have a control panel coming now. The Customer Support is horrible as you have to deal with someone in China over the phone and then submit a claim online with proof of purchase.

We really like the Spa and have had for almost 2 months but are already looking at real Hot Tubs.