New owner HS questions

[mkotubs]

I just installed over the weekend a brand new HS Vista   This tub is great !!!!

I have a couple of question about regular usage.

After a soak, I add Activate to the tub and hit the clean cycle.  Should I run the clean cycle with the cover on or off?

The dealer told me to add two cap fills of Activate, the other day I measured this and its close to 2 oz.  Is this the correct dosage?

I've been checking the water and noticed that the PH and Alkalinity is slowly dropping.  Do you adjust through-out the week or just before I do my weekly shock treatment?

I have a lot of foam in the tub,  I haven't add the foam remove, since I'm trying to get my kids to rinse their bathing suites, a few times before entering the tub.  I'm trying to hold off until the first week past so that I don't throw any new twist in upkeeping the tub.  Could something other than soap and deordorant be the cause of my foam?

Last and final question(for this post) when i first did my chlorine shock with the tub, it was at 10ppm, this slowly decreased to 5ppm and now it's at a big fat zero.  I've never seen chlorine drop so quickly.  Do I add more chlorine or wait until Friday to shock the tub again?.  

[cooltoy2000]

Should I run the clean cycle with the cover on or off?

I can only answer this one. Cover off.

[Spiderman]

I think the only time you need to leave the cover open during the clean cycle is if you're using a large amount of clorine such as shocking the tub.  I hit the clean button, add my chems and close her up.  

I'm not sure what "Activate" is....what is it??  If it's something like MPS, then that is probably causing your PH and Alk to drop.  I only use MPS to shock once in a while, otherwise it's strickly dichlor for me.

You should only need to shock your tub once a week.  Add dichlor after each use to get it above 5ppm.  When you're ready to go in the tub the next day, you should still have some level of dichlor in the tub.  I usually have at least .5 ppm before I go in.  If you're not getting a reading prior to going in, add 1/2 tsp at a time to bring it between 1-3ppm.  As a new tubber, you just need to play with the water until to know what you need to add based on usage.

[mkotubs]

Activate is a non-chlorine shock that is made up of  Potassium Peroxymomosylfate.  So I'm not sure that what MPS is.

[Brookenstein]

Technically anytime you add chemicals you should leave the cover off for 10 minutes or so.  I have consciously chosen not to do this and am aware of the consequences and figure I will just be giving doc business sooner rather than later for a new cover.  I tend to shock on the weekend, so then I do try to leave the cover off (but then I always forget it for say 6 hours, lol).  The only reason I don't bother to leave it off every night is because we use the tub right before bed and I know I would forget to go out and put it on and it would stay uncovered all night and all day until I used the tub the next time.

[PotomacG]

I just installed over the weekend a brand new HS Vista   ...Last and final question(for this post) when i first did my chlorine shock with the tub, it was at 10ppm, this slowly decreased to 5ppm and now it's at a big fat zero.  I've never seen chlorine drop so quickly.  Do I add more chlorine or wait until Friday to shock the tub again?.  

mko,

I totally agree with Spiderman.  Switch to dichlor for your daily dosing and you can use your non-chlorine shock (which is MPS by the way) for weekly shocking.  Remember, MPS is not a sanitizer, dichlor is.

Enjoy your new tub  

[wmccall]

I think the only time you need to leave the cover open during the clean cycle is if you're using a large amount of clorine such as shocking the tub.  I hit the clean button, add my chems and close her up.  

I'm not sure what "Activate" is....what is it??  If it's something like MPS, then that is probably causing your PH and Alk to drop.  I only use MPS to shock once in a while, otherwise it's strickly dichlor for me..

Yes, Activate is a buffered MPS, but that is way too much to be using after each using. MPS adds to the total dissolved solids  in your tub forcing a water change much quicker.  

mkotubs, I would add maybe 1 tablespoon of the chloring after each use and do that MPS 2 ounces every 2 weeks or so.

As for the kids suits and foam, I would get suits just for the hot tub, not to be used elswhere, run them through a couple full cyles of your washing machine with no detergent added.

That said, these kind of problems aren't unusual for new tub owners.  I would apply [glow]Chas' law[/glow] though and go ahead and dump the water and start over again.  In no time you won't have the need to do this for months at a time, but I would go ahead and do it now.

[hottub.pool_boy]

Activate/Potass./Mps in larger doses, like yours, lowers Alkalinity. You're adding too much. Look at the bottle for proper dosage.

For additions after soaking, use chlorine, 1/2 teaspoon per 100 gallons. Large groups or long soak time, go to 1 teaspoon per 100.

If you're using EverfreshWater Care (prefilter,Ag+SIlver Ion, Ozone and MPS/Activate) Activate isadded just before entering or soaking.

[mkotubs]

My dealer has recommended the GLB products and this routine.

Weekly
 a.  Add 1 to 2 oz of protect plus (Sodium Carbonate)
 b.  Add 4 oz of Activate  (Potassium Peroxymomosylfate)
 c.  Add 1 to 2 Oz of DiChlor

After each soak at 1 to 2 oz of Activate again.

If MPS is not a sanitizer,   why are people recommending it as a weekly shock treatment?  

[In Canada eh]

Mkotubs


 MPS is an oxidizer and not a sanitizer   Dichlor in low doses is a sanitizer and not an oxidizer.   Dichlor in large doses 8 to 10 ppm will oxidize but you have to wait for the levels to come back down before using the tub(2ppm)

MPS as a shock will convert combined chlorine(CC) back to free chlorine (FC)

FC is what will sanitize your tub, CC is what gives off that "chlorine smell".   By shocking the CC back to FC it adds to the sanitizing level and eliminates the smell.

  If you want you can go to Doc's site and read up on the Vemonters method for treating your tub,  I know its been posted here but I'm not sure what it was titled


                                                   Good luck and congrats on your new tub

[dkersten]

My HS dealer recommends this:  1-2 tablespoons of di-chlor (granulated chlorine) daily after use (per person).  Run the clean cycle with cover on.  

Every week, 7-10 tablespoons of di-chlor, plus 2 ounces of activate, plus an ounce of Protect Plus (dunno what is in that), run jets on high for 30 mins with cover off.  When this is done I close the cover and hit a clean cycle, just because this shock always pulls impurities out of the water and they tend to float and then stick to the surface at the water line, and this seems to help filter that stuff a little better.. dunno if it helps but what the heck..

Once a month, clean the filters, shock, etc
Once every 2-3 months, change water.

So far I have only had the impurities floating on the surface after a shock and sticking to the surface which I wipe off the next day and otherwise my water has been perfect for almost 4 weeks now..

I have the ozonator and the silver ion cartridge.

As far as the cover closed, I cant imagine a teaspoon of di-chlor in 330 gallons of water off gassing enough corrosive chlorine gas to damage my cover.. when I shock its a must, but on the clean cycle it seems like overkill.. besides, its so convenient to dump a little di-chlor in and hit the clean and close the cover and go inside and not come out again til the next night to soak..  But I am not an expert by any stretch..

[Gomboman]

My HS dealer recommends this:  1-2 tablespoons of di-chlor (granulated chlorine) daily after use (per person).  Run the clean cycle with cover on.  

Every week, 7-10 tablespoons of di-chlor, plus 2 ounces of activate, plus an ounce of Protect Plus (dunno what is in that), run jets on high for 30 mins with cover off.  When this is done I close the cover and hit a clean cycle, just because this shock always pulls impurities out of the water and they tend to float and then stick to the surface at the water line, and this seems to help filter that stuff a little better.. dunno if it helps but what the heck..

Once a month, clean the filters, shock, etc
Once every 2-3 months, change water.

So far I have only had the impurities floating on the surface after a shock and sticking to the surface which I wipe off the next day and otherwise my water has been perfect for almost 4 weeks now..

I have the ozonator and the silver ion cartridge.

As far as the cover closed, I cant imagine a teaspoon of di-chlor in 330 gallons of water off gassing enough corrosive chlorine gas to damage my cover.. when I shock its a must, but on the clean cycle it seems like overkill.. besides, its so convenient to dump a little di-chlor in and hit the clean and close the cover and go inside and not come out again til the next night to soak..  But I am not an expert by any stretch..

Talk to your dealer again. I believe he meant to say teaspoons and not tablespoons. One to two tablespoons per person after use is way too much chlorine. 7-10 tablespoons of di-chlor for shocking is also way too much. I use two tablespoons for weekly shocking. Check out the Vermonter method at docs site under the FAQ section:

http://www.rhtubs.com/cgi-bin/bbs/config.pl