Hot tub arrived, water chemistry questions

[watson524]

Wahoo! The new hot tub came on the 23rd and we filled with a mix of hot/cold tap water so we could jump in at 11:30 that nite Love it!!!

I have to update my signature but it's a Jacuzzi J-385 500 gallon. The store tested our water ahead of time so they could tell us what to put in it. We're on a well. Initial readings from tap sample (no softener in the system) were:

pH: 7.6
Hardness (I assume this is calcium?): 200ppm
Alkalinity: 70ppm
Copper: 0ppm
Iron: 0ppm

For start up here's what they had us do:
1.) Fill and turn on the jets, pour in a full bottle of of Leisure Time Metal Gone and wait 4 hours (the guy said even tho iron and copper were 0, they don't test for other metals so this is more just to ensure other metals are out).
2.) After 4 hours - add 3oz of Leisure Time Alkalinity Increaser to get it to the desired 80 - 120ppm range
3.) Put the ProClear cartridge inside the circ pump filter (I'm assuming this is like a Nature2 cartridge under a different name?)
4.) After an hour add 2oz of Leisure Time Spa 56 (from what I read this appears to be a "shock" of sorts to get the ProClear cartridge going?)

Then they said after we get out after each soak, add one tablespoon of Leisure time Replenish per person and let the jets run through a 20 minute cycle. Is this just some sort of oxidizer? He also said if it's just the two of us, we may not need to do this EVERY time if we use it a lot, every other time or cut the dose in half.

Told us to use the test strips weekly to check and balance water (I plan to switch to the Taylor 2006 kit given what I've read here) and also add 2oz out of the Spa 56.

Does this all sound ok? Is there anything else I should know? This is all new to me. Tuesday and Wednesday soaks were fine, SLIGHT chlorine smell but not as strong as I expected and they told us it shouldn't smell like a lot of chlorine or something is off. My husband got me some Spazazz vanilla crystals we threw in last nite (said we could put 1tbsp / 100 gallons but we cut that down a bit) and we have a waxy type ring at the water level now on the side closest to wear he tossed them in from so I'm wondering if it's those or just buildup from shampoo in our hair and stuff. We don't wear body creams and rinsed off before we went int so I'm thinking it's not that tho what do I know. Also saw a scum bug thing they say can help with that.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Leisure Time Spa 56 is granular chlorine (sodium dichlor);

SODIUM DICHLORO-S-TRIAZINETRIONE DIHYDRATE ….. 99%
INERT INGREDIENTS ……………………………………………. 1%

PROVIDES 55% AVAILABLE CHLORINE


Replenish is a 4-in-1 blend that combines the power of Oxone with chlorine to shock, oxidize, buffer and clarify spa water

[watson524]

Ok so the Spa 56 is some kind of shock type thing then?

[Tman122]

Ok so the Spa 56 is some kind of shock type thing then?

No it's chlorine.

[watson524]

So a sanitizer. But I thought you could shock with chlorine hence the weekly dose of a "lot" of it and the stuff after the soak just keeps a residual amount in there.

[watson524]

Just went and used a test strip since the K-2006 hasn't arrived yet and when we lifted the cover there was a fair amount of chlorine smell (not like a pool but stronger than the past few days, tho this is also the first time we have a "spa blanket" on it under the cover so maybe that adds to it. My hand doesn't smell overly strong of chlorine from being dipped in the water.

Anyway, FCl read nothing. Didn't even register a color.
Alk was right about 120 based on the color (ok range according to the strip)
Ph was right between 7.2 and 7.8 so good there
Total Hardness (Calcium?) was about 100, so a bit low I think. Odd since we're on a well and when the stored tested our tap sample prior to filling the computer read it as 200. Wondering if there's some relationship between FCl and Hardness I need to investigate and read up on.