Phenol Red (and ? about chlorine)

[CalicoskiesNC]

Hmm, does it mean I'm testing my water too often if I need a new bottle of Phenol Red after just 7days?    

Seriously, I find myself testing my water just cuz its fun and I can!  I'm sure the newness will wear off eventually.  

For me, the LT 4way strips are not very good. They continually measure everything in my tub too low and then I use the test kit to verify and everything comes out ideal, so I just dont use the strips anymore.  I let the kids use them and think that they are helping me out. If they ask about a chemical, I just fib to them and say I added it earlier   Btw, this trick works well for when the neighborhood kids show up after playing basketball and ask if they can get in the tub. "Sorry boys, but we just added 17Cups of dichlor and the tub wont be ready till January." I'm developing a serious cooty phobia...I want to post a sign saying "At this time, we are not introducing any new bacteria to our tub."  

Anyone have opinions on the test strips for TDS?  I'm just looking for anything to test in my water cuz its interesting to me.  No wonder I always got As in chem class.

Also, my chlorine hangs in about 0.5-1.0, is this where it should be in the AM after dosing with dichlor (not shocking) the night before?  pH is 7.4-7.5 consistently and TA is always at 110.  I've read that with Nature2, the chlorine will be less than 1 most of time, correct?  

Thx for tolerating my rambling.

[Starlight]

Out of indicator in seven days?  Wow, that's a lot of water testing!  It sounds as if you did not try to make chemical additions in response to all the testing, which is good because you can quickly upset you water chemistry that way.  You may have a bad batch of test strips--shelf aging and improper storage can cause them to read incorrectly.  Even though I've developed test strip systems, I have a pretty low opinion of them unless the levels you need to discriminate between are accompanied by quite large color changes.  The TDS strips may fall in this category (I've never really looked at them) and the TDS level isn't that critical, so I'd say buy some and play with another water testing toy!  You're right, the newness will wear off eventually and you might find yourself teaching the kids to use the test kit so they'll test for you.

The chlorine residual is the result of two things : 1.  How much you put in , and 2.  How quickly chlorine is consumed.  The Nature2 system will not impact chlorine directly but may be helping to keep bacterial counts lower than they would otherwise be and thereby reduce the chlorine demand.  If you use the spa more heavily one day, your residual will be lower than normal the next morning.  As long as the amount of chlorine added is sufficient to give a free chlorine (there's another test parameter for you--free versus combined chlorine, but only some test kits will do this ) level of several ppm for several hours, you spa will be disinfected even if the residual is very low the next morning.  It sounds as if you are doing all the right things and you should't have many water problems with your level of diligence  Hope you're enjoying the soaking as much as the testing!

Starlight

[CalicoskiesNC]

Starlight, thats some very good info, thank you. Nah, I'm not totally dry on Phenol Red, but it is about half gone!  And you are correct, 95% of the time I check my water I dont do anything to it, just testing for heck of it and cuz the pH is such a pretty shade of pink.  

Your comment about my "diligence" made me laugh!  You say diligence, my husband says OCD!  Either way, its like having a new baby or puppy in the house, I just cant leave it alone!  Yes, enjoying the soaking quite a bit more than the testing.  All in all, its a fun hobby during an otherwise uneventful, long, hot summer.

[rick]

Test kit?  Strips?  What are those?

Just like my pool, after a while you get it down to a science and "eyeball" it.   Although, now with my new spa, I am adding things I never added before, like water clarifier and that scale preventer stuff.  I just do everything on Friday (except of course for adding dichlor after use) and the water still looks as clear as when I filled it 3 months ago.  

[wmccall]

Seriously, I find myself testing my water just cuz its fun and I can!  I'm sure the newness will wear off eventually.  

For me, the LT 4way strips are not very good. They continually measure everything in my tub too low and then I use the test kit to verify and everything comes out ideal, so I just dont use the strips anymore.  

I never met a strip I liked.   Though after the kit, I can read them a little better.  If your out of phenol red, your testing PH quite a bit.  Overtesting at first does help give you an idea of what your doing, consider it a learning curve. However, adjustments to PH don't show up for many hours (that might vary on different conditions) But I make a PH adjustment and don't check it again till the next day

[Starlight]

Your comment about my "diligence" made me laugh!  You say diligence, my husband says OCD!  Either way, its like having a new baby or puppy in the house, I just cant leave it alone!  Yes, enjoying the soaking quite a bit more than the testing.  All in all, its a fun hobby during an otherwise uneventful, long, hot summer.

That made me laugh--it's good to know I'm not the only one who makes OCD comments to his wife (all in fun)!  Our new puppy arrived a month ago and has actually settled in with much less work than I anticipated.  I think all the good folks here need to help find you some new hobbies to pass the time during that long, hot summer if you think spa water testing is a highlight of your day.  

Starlight

[windsurfdog]

Calico,

Ain't it great to be a new tub owner?  Like being in a new relationship--just can't get enough!  Great to see your readings are spot on.  I did my last adjustment to pH a couple of days ago (to lower from '7.8') after getting TA to settle into 130 and I've been at work much of the time since so hopefully I'll get to test it tonight (if I can leave this confounded office!)  My water is crystal blue-clear and it is wonderful considering my lack of experience (first tub/pool for me).  I'm starting to get a feel for the dichlor for my tub--3 tsp. after a substantial load on the tub and 2 tsp. for light use.  Seems to be working so far--at least the water speaks for itself.  Anyway, just wanted to share my neophyte experiences with ya.......

[CalicoskiesNC]

Hi Windsurfdog, looks like me and you are at the same point in our learning curve, eh?  This is Day 7 for us and its really been great so far.  

I'm doing the same thing with the dichlor, if its a family day in the tub, 3tsp (equals 1TBL you know!) if its just me and DH, 1.5tsp.  We are doing shock on Thurs/Sun, 3TBL each of those nights.  By the next afternoon, CL has dropped to get back in.  

I've cut back on my testing, that should stop everyone from worrying.  I just test in AM now.  Our water is staying the same now too, the first few days the pH also ran 7.8 like yours, but after 4-5tsp of that Spa Down stuff its fixed.  

Keep in touch!