Preferred chemicals?

[davidg]

Well, one more week until our Sundance Bahia arrives...which is good timing, because our first child is due in two weeks.  Hopefully they both don't happen the same day!

The dealer says she really likes Baqua Spa, but I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were the different options out there.
Thanks in advance.

[Vinny]

DICHLOR!!!                                     [glow]DICHLOR!!![/glow]                                                                                         DICHLOR!!!
And there's bromine too!

STAY AWAY from Baqua and it's copied products!

[In Canada eh]

What Vinny said!!


People around here have try the Baqua system and have switched back to chlorine its easier and cheaper.  You could do a seach for some of the problems others have had,  I personally have never used the Baqua product but I have heard it was very difficult to manage

[Wisoki]

It my very well work, very well. However, they use only a dealer base with "teritories" that allows the dealer to sell the product for a higher price and you MUST buy from the dealer. Once you get started on baqua, it's a pain in the rectum to switch over. Stick with chlorine.

What Vinny said!!


People around here have try the Baqua system and have switched back to chlorine its easier and cheaper.  You could do a seach for some of the problems others have had,  I personally have never used the Baqua product but I have heard it was very difficult to manage

[Hammster]

When we bought our spa we were given a "sample" Baqua spa package. We did a bunch of research on Baqua and decided that with our extremely hard water in San Diego, Baqua was not a good option. So we decided to go with Nature2. We follow the Nature2 regimen pretty religiously using Monopersulfate, with an occasional dichlor shock if the water looks hazy. We also use Alkalinity Up and Dry Acid if pH gets too far away. Every Saturday I add 2 oz Spa Perfect, the enzyme that eats all the stuff dichlor or MPS don't take care of. How I got started doing this regimen was I bought a starter kit from Leslie's Pool Supply here in San Diego. They have a website and lots of other stores, but I liked the starter kit idea. About the only thing I do different from the exact Nature2 instructions is to add the MPS after we soak instead of before. That was suggested by the Leslie's guy so we tried it out.

[lskarp]

I started with Diclor, MPS to shock, and N2 (voodoo beads) and have been very happy over teh past 4 months.

I highly recommend the vermontor method, as it is EZ to do with a minimum of chem cost.  Diclor can be found anywhere at anytime.  Using this method, you are probably looking at using a 5# tub of each over an entire year if you use the spa a couple of times per week.

[saint_chuck]

**Not a salesman, just relaying personal experience**

I was a fool 5 yrs ago when I purchased my first tub and used Baqua-spa for 2 yrs. I thought that it was normal to cough, cough, cough, and cough when in a hot tub........ Hard to be romantic when you're coughing, eh?

Switched to dichlor a few months ago and love it. Can't get any easier! There is some very good info on water chemistry in this forum. Try a search of Baqua-spa?

[gturn]

I use Bromine, and I really like the ease of it.  When you add new water you put a packet of Sodium Bromide and a bottle of medal gone, then adjust your ph with ph up or down and adjust your calcium with calcium up or down. Do a shock to get it started. Then just get a Bromine floater, fill it up with Bromine Tablets and set the openings to about 2 slots per person to start with, then adjust the openings up or down until you maintain a constant 3-5 ppm level.  After that all you have to do is keep the floater full and do a weekly non-clorine shock and the other levels seem to stay good. I use lesure time brand.  My tub has a 24hr ozonator and circulation pump, I keep my bromine at 3 ppm.  The tablets in my floater last 1-2 weeks. The water is always clear.

Clorine (dichlor) works well to, my sister uses it because it is cheaper.  She doesn't use anything else, she says it is to hard to keep the ph and other levels stable with clorine so she just lets them go where they go and changes the water when things get bad.  I would not recommend her method, but follow a good clorine procedure if you use it. Clorine seems to be very popular, I may try it after a water change to see how I like it.

I have read to many scary stories about other methods, so I stay away from them, however if followed properly lots of people love them.

I would recommend testing your tap water before your tub arives and decide which method you will use and only get the chemicals you need.  Those start up kits have all kinds of stuff in them that you probably won't ever buy again and may never need and not enough of the chemicals you use all the time like the sanatizer.  If your water is low ph you may never need ph down if high ph you may never need ph up.  My water is very low calcium so I only need calcium up.

Don't forget to clean out the filters on a new tub after about 1 week and then monthly after that.  Spray them out with a garden hose after 1 week then use some type of cleaner on later cleanings after spraying out with a garden hose.  Change the water about every 3 months.

Good luck.

[DoubleA]

I used soft soak which is a Baqua copy.  Liked the regimen, hated the build-up and residue left behind.  Now a happy dichlor user and wish I would've used it the first time.  If you don't have the perfect water.  Stay away from Baqua.  Bromine is nice as well so choose Bromine or Dichlor.