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Author Topic: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!  (Read 9105 times)

angy

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Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« on: August 24, 2015, 04:26:27 pm »
ok looking for some advice and personal opinions on chemical brands that are available in Canada. Have had our hot tub for just over a year and cant seem to find a product selection line that I LOVE. So I have used eco one in the very beginning, easy peasy to do, however found my water always seemed just a little cloudy or green tinged. Also hot tub store where I was buying it seems to NEVER be open!! So went to beach comber another local tub place to try their in house product, tub was crystal clear and beautiful!! However it was crazy for bouncing the ALK and PH. Was adding Alk up every week and a half. Sometimes it would drop my Alk from 100 to 20 within a week. Tried this for 4 months with same result. So we decided to try a different product from online, Clearwater blue. That was not for us. Took two days to add all the products according to directions and then everytime i added the "ions solution" my water would go gross almost slimy....the longer I left it alone the clearer it would get!! Please help me be able to enjoy my tub without having to constantly adjust!

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Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« on: August 24, 2015, 04:26:27 pm »

Tman122

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2015, 06:51:31 pm »
Is non scented bleach available in Canada?
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sksmoker

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2015, 09:24:01 pm »
Go to Walmart and buy 20 Team Mule Borax, it's in with the cleaning products. Then buy non scented bleach, and then go and buy baking soda. If you need PH minus, buy it from Home Depot as they are the cheapest for chemicals. Canadian Tire usually has stuff to around end of Sept as well. If you get at the end of the season (coming up) they usually have the no-name liquid chlorine on sale for cheaper than unscented bleach. Oh, if you use a chlorine floater, home depot has the cheapest mini pucks as well. 2kg for about $26 which is cheaper than anywhere else I have seen where I am.  Ah, dichlor for first fills with the BBB method, get that at home depot as well. Cheap. Unless you want to go with straight CYA on your fresh fills so you don't have to worry about using dichlor for awhile, I got 2kg of "Chlorine Stabilizer" at walmart on the weekend for $8. It will most likely last me a lifetime.

That's all you'll ever really need. i ditched Mineraluxe system the second month since we owned the hot tub and haven't looked back.

I'm in the prairies. Hope that helps!

Depending on your usage you will always be adjusting. My wife and I use our hot tub 6-7 times a week for 1.5hrs at a time. Sometimes on the weekend we are in it twice a day, in the morning and at night for 1.5hrs each time. I keep it at 101-102F. I test my water Sunday and Wed and adjust each time. Usually it is just chlorine and either baking soda or borax, depending on what the ph/ta is doing.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2015, 09:34:06 pm by sksmoker »

angy

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2015, 06:22:48 pm »
I was under the impression that one should stay away from the cheaper box store product due to poor quality??

lehacf

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2015, 09:38:26 am »
Go to Walmart and buy 20 Team Mule Borax, it's in with the cleaning products. Then buy non scented bleach, and then go and buy baking soda. If you need PH minus, buy it from Home Depot as they are the cheapest for chemicals. Canadian Tire usually has stuff to around end of Sept as well. If you get at the end of the season (coming up) they usually have the no-name liquid chlorine on sale for cheaper than unscented bleach. Oh, if you use a chlorine floater, home depot has the cheapest mini pucks as well. 2kg for about $26 which is cheaper than anywhere else I have seen where I am.  Ah, dichlor for first fills with the BBB method, get that at home depot as well. Cheap. Unless you want to go with straight CYA on your fresh fills so you don't have to worry about using dichlor for awhile, I got 2kg of "Chlorine Stabilizer" at walmart on the weekend for $8. It will most likely last me a lifetime.

That's all you'll ever really need. i ditched Mineraluxe system the second month since we owned the hot tub and haven't looked back.

I'm in the prairies. Hope that helps!

Depending on your usage you will always be adjusting. My wife and I use our hot tub 6-7 times a week for 1.5hrs at a time. Sometimes on the weekend we are in it twice a day, in the morning and at night for 1.5hrs each time. I keep it at 101-102F. I test my water Sunday and Wed and adjust each time. Usually it is just chlorine and either baking soda or borax, depending on what the ph/ta is doing.

Would you please explain for nubs (like me) how exactly you mix your chemicals and when you use what kind and in what proportions. Thank you very much.

av8r

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2015, 10:26:10 am »
Just google "bbb hot tub"

Tman122

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2015, 05:10:50 pm »
Would you please explain for nubs (like me) how exactly you mix your chemicals and when you use what kind and in what proportions. Thank you very much.

Don't mix any chemicals!! Stay away from them. Well you have to find a sanitizer to kill the nasty bacteria you introduce during your soak. Chlorine is top notch for this, it is used in city municipal water systems to prevent bacteria. Read up on it's proper use.

Baking soda and lemon juice are not really chemicals, well I guess they are, but saying chemicals sounds like your mixing a toxic stew to soak in. instead call it cooking or baking your water just like cookies (baking soda) or lemon chicken.

If your waters PH is low you will want to add some Alkalinity to your water. Baking soda. If your waters PH is high you will want to add some acidity to your water, lemon juice. But don't use lemon juice your not a fish stick or piece of chicken. There are several PH down products that will lower it more efficiently than lemon juice.

PH is a measure of your waters acidity, low PH means high acidic. High PH means high Alkalinity. The human tear drop hovers around 7.0. There's more to in that that but this will give you a general idea. We cant tell you what your water may need until we know your current PH, Alkalinity levels. What method are you using to test your water and what are your current readings.
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sksmoker

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2015, 12:53:45 am »
I was under the impression that one should stay away from the cheaper box store product due to poor quality??

That's what dealers would like you to believe (no offense to dealers here who are very helpful). It is one of their biggest mark up products. My dealer gave me a 1 year supply of Mineraluxe for our hot tub on purchase. Oh boy! Not.. only to find out later that it is basically household goods. It is $100/month if it holds out that long. If not, you are buying more, so of course they want you in the store buying their chemicals.

Here is how my water breaks down for those who asked:

Sunday I measure chlorine, TA and PH. I adjust with liquid chlorine from Canadian Tire to pump up the levels to about 5 or 6ppm. I measure the PH then the TA. Make a note of adjustment, which is typically an ounce of baking soda as the TA usually drops 10ppm between Sunday and Wed and Wed/Sun. I turn on pump 1 on high, turn on pump 2, put my chlorine in, put my baking soda in, lower the lid, and walk away. Our usage pattern is extremely static so unless we have people over or don't  use the tub it is pretty much the same every 3 or 4 days. Now, I have a chlorine floater which adds in acid to the tub due to the nature of those pesky mini-trichlor tabs, so that is why I adjust the schedule I do. I like to keep my water as close to awesome as possible. If I went a week, which sometimes I do in winter because it is -40F/C outside, then I just adjust the amount of baking soda to bring up the TA. The PH I don't worry about too much if it goes high as I know it will come right back down with that pesky chlorine floater in there.

Sometimes I will use borax to bring just the PH up if the TA is doing ok. I have only had a few times where my water went bad as I ran out of chlorine in the tub. That wasn't fun..

The first thing you need is a good test kit. You'll buy the Taylor K-2006 kit off of Ebay if you use chlorine.. Sorry about the exchange, as it is brutal right now. And get the replacement reagents in the 2oz bottle as well while you are at it along with another bottle of DPD powder. Actually, you can get away with the HTH strips from Walmart as I tested them against my taylor kit the other day for FC. It was within 1 ppm, so I use those if I am low on dpd powder from the test kit like I am now. Basically I want to know if there is any or low chlorine in the tub. I have worked out how much chlorine I put in (about 4 oz) to get it up to 5 or 6 ppm from my original reading.

The test kit will cost you, but let me tell you.. it is the best thing to have if you are serious about water. I know, I know.. a ton of people use test strips and they run back and forth to the store to get chemicals and adjust the tub. With the test kit, this site, and the pool calc website, it's basically all you need. We get hosed in Canada for all this stuff unfortunately so Ebay is your friend.

Oh, in the winter, on a fresh fill, you'll find the PH is just stubborn as all hell to get down. You'll need some PH minus after the water heats for 12 hours if you get cold like I do. My water in late oct/early nov reads 34F on the tub.. just above the ICE message,lmao. PH minus you just keep adding some at a time, and keep checking your water. You will break it, it is just stubborn. There is a great post by Nitro on this on a different forum about just keeping at it. Once you get it down, you are good to go. Just keep an eye on it and stabilize it. Home depot has great prices on their spa chemicals. Can Tire right now just cleared out their spa stuff but holds it in the back if you need some chemicals and can't find it anywhere else.

I measured my CH and made a note of it. Depending on if you have hard or soft water you may need to add something else, but nothing is too crazy. I don't use the true exact BBB method as it calls for 50ppm of borates to keep the PH down from drifting. With my setup I don't really worry about that too much as I always have some acid coming from the tabs in my floater. That's the only thing I don't do. Well, that an lemon juice. I don't use lemon juice. Although I might smell better :)

Ah, and CYA.. I gave up on that. I know you should test for it, and I did, but trying to get all the test kit refills was just a serious hassle and that cya was proving tough to find. I just know it will build up and I live with it. Chlorine is cheaper than buying the CYA refills from across the line. It won't kill you to have to use more due to the CYA buildup.

My tub water change goes like this:
Early Nov - Fill and drain (depends on weather!!)
Late March - Fill and drain (again, depends on weather)
Late July - Fill and drain
Early Nov...

Seems to work well so far. Winter is the worst to push water that long but I don't have a choice. I just don't think that equipment area is worth risking because I don't want to push water for 6 months..I can put up with using more chlorine as the CYA builds up high..

Hope that helps. Sorry for the small novel.

Small edit: I keep my readings at ..

PH 7.6-7.8 (high side to compensate for the mini trichlor pucks)
FC- 5-6ppm
TA: 80-100ppm
CH: 160
CYA:.. yeah. it's there :)

It is a bit on the "alkaline" side, but I read here I think.. 'it is better to be a bit more alkaline, than acidic."
« Last Edit: September 22, 2015, 01:00:41 am by sksmoker »

lehacf

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2015, 05:51:56 pm »
Few follow up questions.

1. How do you maintain calcium level? Is there a good house-hold chemical for that?

2. Is there a solution similar to "BBB" that uses bromine?

3. Is there a reason why you prefer chlorine over bromine?

Thank you very much.

av8r

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2015, 06:19:27 pm »
Few follow up questions.

3. Is there a reason why you prefer chlorine over bromine?

Thank you very much.

For me, Bromine smells odd...like old musty clothes or something similar.  I've been using my sister's tub this past week and I do not like the smell.

I believe it's more expensive.

And there's this:

http://www.hottubworks.com/blog/bromine-vs-chlorine-for-spas-hot-tubs/

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Re: Too Many Choices!!! Chemicals, Chemicals and more chemicals!!
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2015, 06:19:27 pm »

 

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