new sundance oprima owner looking for advice

[seabeece2]

Hello, I'm brand new hot tub owner and brand new to this forum but already seems very helpful and informative, I just bought a brand new Sundance optima with a stereo system for 13000, hope that is a good price been looking for awhile and couldn't find any cheaper, was also looking for any advice or things to consider before having it installed. Look forward to your responses thanks

[wmccall]

Welcome to the forum.  The Optima is a great tub.  I haven't been looking at prices for the last 2 years.  My advice for beginners is don't obsess with the chemical testing.

[seabeece2]

Thanks for the advice, while on the subject though what do u use to treat your water

[wmccall]

Thanks for the advice, while on the subject though what do u use to treat your water

I will use a simple dichlor added right after we get out of the tub.  My PH tends to drift downward a bit so I will just use baking soda to raise it back up.  That may not work for everybody as many will properly tell you baking soda raised the alkalinity up as much or more than the PH, but I'm use to my water and I know just how much to add to get the PH barely within reasonable and the Alkalinity barely within reason on the high side. 

Chas' doesn't come around here much any more, but we did have Chas' law that we adopted that says change your water when your tub is one month old and then after as needed.  The theory behind that is you will over treat your water during that first month learning curve and add a lot of chemicals.

My other piece of advice deals with PH treating.  Whatever you use to raise or lower PH, it says to test again in a few hours.  My advice is wait 48 hours after adding anything for PH before testing again.  If you measure again too soon you can end up chasing your desired range.

[richierich]

Welcome fellow Optima owner! You are going to love your tub. What color combo did you get. I have celestite with a grey cabinet. I use dichlor after we use the tub for sanitation along with using a sunpurity mineral pack that fits in the floating skimmer. The water is pretty easy to take care of once you get use to it. Also recommend you get a second filter to rotate in when you clean your filter. Have fun and let us know when you get it and how much you are enjoying your new tub.

[seabeece2]

Thanks for all the good advice, I got a platinum scell and mahogany skirting, can't wait till it's here!!