Luv, luv, luv my sundance

[Silent Water]

I can tell that I'll be coming back here once my tub arrives!  

At present, I have an above-ground pool that needs monitoring for pH and free chlorine, etc, so I understand some of the bits about water chemistry.  But it sure sounds like you need to be on top of a spa or it can get out of hand pretty quickly.

Happy Sundance Soaking, Dsegel! 8-)  I hope to be doing the same in my Bahia before too long.  (13 days and counting down...)

[dsegel]

I can tell that I'll be coming back here once my tub arrives!

Silent,

Yes, this is a GREAT forum and a great bunch of people!  The combined knowledge is unbelievable.  And they never tire of helping newbies and repeating things I'm sure they've said about a million times.  

Happy Sundance Soaking, Dsegel! 8-)  I hope to be doing the same in my Bahia before too long.  (13 days and counting down...)

You won't be sorry you bought a Sundance!  Happy soaking to you, too!

[dsegel]

Steve,

I have started my new routine in motion!

Only one question.  When should I Dichlor shock?  When there is COMBINED chlorine present (as Susan stated)?

Thanks.

[In Canada eh]

Only one question.  When should I Dichlor shock?  When there is COMBINED chlorine present (as Susan stated)?

             Yes

     You can shock with either dichlor or MPS.   If you did puchase the taylor test kit you can test for combined chlorine and as soon as you get about .5 to 1 ppm shock.   Some people shock  with alternating doses of MPS and the dichlor.  Personally I shock on a schedule, once a week and the clean filters 2 days later.

    Good luck and I'm glad to see you are starting to use dichlor, its a much better sanitizer.  Ozone and N2 are only aids or secondary treatments and chlorine shoud be your primary sanitizer.

[svspa]

dsegel,

You got it right, you shock the tub to oxidize the combined chlorines and other contaminants.

As in_canada says you can do that on a regular schedule, measure or you may be able to tell when it is time based on the chlorine smell.

I do mine based on a regular schedule but modified based on use, so if we don't use the tub frequently for any particular week I'll skip the shock.

I noticed I didn't give you any overall guidelines for chem levels, remember this is dependent on your use and your tub, so don't take this as the bible but here is what I normally do:

My tub is 330 gallons.

Daily: 1-1.5 teaspoons of dichlor. If I don't intend to use the tub for a while I'll increase this. You'll get to know what your tub needs but you can easily increase the dichlor dose and keep a residual of FC longer, that's helps so you don't have to add dichlor every day when you are not using the tub or if you are away for a few days.

Approx weekly: 2-3 tablespoons of MPS or dichlor. MPS if I intend to use the tub that day or the next day. Dichlor about once a month to super sanitize the tub. Can't use the tub at least through the next day after a dichlor shock sometimes 2 days. I wait until the dichlor level is 5ppm or less.

PH tends to drift down in my tub so a little baking soda maybe once a month or so when PH gets down below 7.2.

Rarely but maybe once in a while I'll add a little clarifier.

That's about it.

Happy soaking.

Steve  

[dsegel]

PH tends to drift down in my tub so a little baking soda maybe once a month or so when PH gets down below 7.2.

Thanks Steve!

But now I have another question.  I have some notes I took at some point where I have listed that baking soda will raise alkalinity but will have minimum effect on pH!  Yet you are using it to raise pH (rather than pH up?).  

Please explain.

[svspa]

dsegel,

Yes I have read that too but it raises both. In my spa startup kit I had a bottle of 'Spa Up', lo and behold it's sodium bicarb, baking soda.

Steve

[tony]

But now I have another question.  I have some notes I took at some point where I have listed that baking soda will raise alkalinity but will have minimum effect on pH!  Yet you are using it to raise pH (rather than pH up?).  

Please explain.

I have always and only used baking soda to raise pH.  It works well as long as your TA is not real high.  My TA generally stays in the 80 range so it is never an issue for me.  Baking soda has a pH in the 8.0 range, so it will only raise to that max while adding to your TA as much as you want.  That is why it works as a TA increaser.  But it also is a good pH increaser.