Welcome to our forum.
Do they work and what are the pros/cons?
My question to you is what problems are you having balancing your PH?Personally, I'm not a fan of "locking" products. Then again I'm not a fan of a lot of products!
I'm not having any problems, but I do have to up the PH every week or so. It seems to drop to around 7.0 so I add some to get it back up. I was browsing around today and saw the PH Balance product from Leisure Time, I think, and was curious about it. It seems like a good idea, but I'm always a little skeptical.
Do you know your alkalinity? Maybe its too low. What products do you use that has a low PH? When you up the PH what do you up it to?I tend not to worry about alkalinity but I also know my PH and alkalinity rise and fall together. I use one product - baking soda and it adjusts both to the proper levels. What I have found is that with higher alkalinity PH tends to be locked in, as alkalinity drops PH drifts down.If you're using PH up, give baking soda a try. I usually wait until the tub is at 7.2 or so add about 4 oz and that'll bring it up to 7.8. I can go about a month or so before the PH drifts down where I have to adjust it. The only low PH item I use is MPS which has a PH of about 4.
I have been thinking of using these products also. I have been having issues with my pH and Alk. When I have my pH in line (7.4-7.6) my alk runs around 60. If I add alk up to to get the alk to 100-120 my pH is 8.0+. I then have to add pH down and then my alk goes right back down to where it started...60. Hey Chas, is this normal? Should I worry about the alk if my pH is staying in line? Or should I attempt to use a pH balancer and increase my alk after I have the pH locked. I just changed the water last week and I am having the same issues with my alk.
If your pH remains constant, don't worry about where your alk is.