Spa Magic

[NDfar]

I did a search here on Spa Magic and didn't get much, so what is with this stuff?  I need to do something.  I got the itchy red bump rash and been to the doctor and disinfected the spa, changed the water and no relief.  Is this real Magic that will help or am I looking at retiring the spa?  

[Jims]

We had the same thing happen and it was bad maintenance on my part shocking and chemicals on time
It cleared up after about a week and now I am on a schedule and things have been good.
Good Luck

[Vinny]

When you say disinfected the tub - did you put a lot (100 PMM chlorine) into the tub? If you let the water get away from you, maybe it needs a lot of chlorine to clean it out. Sometimes people use a "shock value" of 10 PPM chlorine and think it's good. Doc has a paragraph under the FAQ section about this type of disinfection.

Did you try switching your sanitizer?

Go to Doc's site - I believe he sells Spa Magic and he has some blurbs on it. Also, some people there use "The Natural" that he sells and swear by it.

Good Luck!

[NDfar]

I went to 100 ppm chlorine and used Swirl Away, drained,  then took all the jets apart and suck everything out  with a shop vac, and wiped the whole thing down (whew!)  Refilled balanced and shocked and watched all levels like a hawk and waited about 3 days and tried it out and started to itch again.  I read about some people getting sensitive to the chemicals.  BTW my wife goes in and doesn't have any problems, and I went to in-laws who have ozone and tried their tub and same thing  but not quit so bad.

I looked at the Doc's site and checked it out and The Natural looks like the same product as Spa Magic, even the bottle.

http://www.spamagicdirect.com/purchase.html


http://www.rhtubs.com/store/natural.htm

Decisions, decisions!  Just changed the water Dec 17 so I got to do something so I can relax once more!

[Vinny]

When I sent you to Doc's, I was thinking about "Spa Secret" over there.

There are people on Doc's site that swear by "The Natural". They claim to go the 3 or 4 months with little chlorine. The PH seems to go above the 7.6 that most users shoot for being max. Eco One seems to be the same concept.

I've read that some people do get sensitive, do you use MPS, I've read that some people do have reactions to it. Do you soak in chlorine - if you do, try adding chlorine after you soak.

Maybe try moisturizing, maybe it's just your skin drying out.

Good Luck!

Update: I went to that link you posted and it seems that it is something different than "The Natural" or "Eco One". It only mentions about positively and negatively charged particles. The other 2 products contain enzymes to break down the oils and other bather gunk. All 3 say the same thing but maybe achieve the end result a little differently.

[NDfar]

I've tried MPS, and the vermonters method,  I tried adding chlorine after use and read the level before use at .05 PPM.  I tried moisturizers which seem to help do to dry skin but not the red bumps that come later.

I found another link to Spa Magic and it does say it has enzymes which again makes it look the same product just different label. Check:

http://http://www.chemfreespas.com/Directions.htm

Or I guess I can paste it here:

Spa Magic is a natural enzyme formula that eliminates the need for chemical poisons in  spas and hot tubs. This enzyme is so safe it requires no warning labels, as defined in 29 CFR part 1910 U. S. Dept. of Labor OSHA. It is 100% nontoxic to children, pets, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, plants, river, lakes, streams and ponds. It harms nothing and benefits all. Our claim to be 100% nontoxic is supported by 23 years of independent laboratory studies.

[Gomboman]

How do you test for such high levels?  My K-2005 Taylor Test Kit only goes to 5 ppm.  

When you say disinfected the tub - did you put a lot (100 PMM chlorine) into the tub? If you let the water get away from you, maybe it needs a lot of chlorine to clean it out. Sometimes people use a "shock value" of 10 PPM chlorine and think it's good. Doc has a paragraph under the FAQ section about this type of disinfection.

Did you try switching your sanitizer?

Go to Doc's site - I believe he sells Spa Magic and he has some blurbs on it. Also, some people there use "The Natural" that he sells and swear by it.

Good Luck!

[Vinny]

If you know that a given value gives you a PPM reading then you just divide 100 by the PPM and you get how much.

Example for my tub:

  1 teaspoon (which = 0.16 oz) gives me 1.5 PPM

   so 100/1.5 = 66.67 teaspoons

  there are 6 teaspoons to an ounce, 66.67/6 = 11.11 oz.

It's a rough estimate, I think that I put 1 cup (8 oz) into the tub and had it in overnight.

The other way is dilute the testing water with distilled water. The problem is knowing how diluted the water needs to be to read in the 0 to 5 scale. Taylor used to sell a kit that used a powder and it could read high chlorine levels, I guess over the years everyone wanted drops.