We have just purchased a new Jacuzzi J355 and will be taking delivery of it in about 10 day - 2 weeks. In the meantime I have been studying up on the different water treatment methods/systems and trying to determine what will be best for us going forward. Also, our tub will come with a cover so the only time it will be open to the elements is when it is being used or serviced.
We previously owned a Sundance spa so we're pretty familiar with the "old school" method of testing the water weekly and applying different concoctions of chemicals to the water in an effort to keep everything within the proper ranges. I'm not knocking these legacy methods of water treatments but I have to believe that systems have evolved from when we used them previously.
Our dealer told us that he would supply us with a Mineraluxe water treatment system as part of our purchase. I have visited the Mineraluxe website, and tried to study up on the internet about it, and one thing that I have read is that it can tend to be a fairly expensive treatment system with all their different products and how often you have to use them. We don't have a problem with that if it works well as compared to the alternatives.
In visiting the Jacuzzi website I see that they have their own water treatment system. Our tub will come with a Clear Ray UV system and then I see that they also have a ProClear Mineral and a ProClear Plus water treatment system. It appears that the ProClear Mineral is an insert that goes inside of one of the two filters and then will disperse over a four-month period of time. They don't really provide much information at all about their ProClear Plus system but I'm guessing that it is supplemental chemicals that work in conjunction with the ProClear Minerals.
In trying to do some research about this ProClear treatment system it seems to me that it might be related to a water treatment system called Nature 2. They have a mineral stick system that fits into a filter similar to what Jacuzzi has with their ProClear Mineral. However, Nature 2 does have a lot more products than just the ProClear Plus that Jacuzzi offers. Perhaps Nature 2 licensed Jacuzzi to brand some of their products and market them for their customers?
Our dealer does not carry the ProClear Mineral of ProClear Plus in their store although it would seem easy enough to buy it online from someone that does. My question is why would they choose to forgo that water treatment option and go with the Mineraluxe system - is it that much better than Jacuzzi's water treatment system? My wife thinks that it might be because the Jacuzzi system is so simple and effective (one mineral treatment last for 4 month) that they might not make enough money off of it so they went with some way more elaborate and costly so as to provide them with more profit margins.
If someone could provide us with some input about these two systems and what their experience and thoughts are I would really appreciate it. What I don't want to do is start off with the Mineraluxe system and then once all of the free start-up chemicals are gone then switch over to the Jacuzzi system if that is the one that you all recommend. I would guess if we did that then we would have to drain our tub, flush and clean out the plumbing system, clean the tub and filters, and then start up with the Jacuzzi ProClear system. I would just rather order all that ahead of time and start from day one and avoid the hassle and cost of switching systems.
Also, any input as to how much the Clear Ray UV system will help with the water treatment. Will that eliminate or cut down on the amount of water treatment products that we have to use?
Thanks in advance for you feedback and suggestions... and if there are any other water treatment systems/products that I should consider please let me know. We want something that is simple, cost efficient, and keeps our water nice so that we aren't having to drain and replace it every few months.