I'm a Nature 2 believer

[jeff925]

Anyone know if Nature2 is the same as HotSpring FreshWaterAg+® Continuous Silver Ion Purifier?

[Reese]

...I have felt that my water looks new a lot longer....

That has been my observation as well.  I view the benefits of N2 as:
1.  Providing a supplement to my chlorine doses, allowing me to feel comfortable dosing 2-3 ppm vs. 3-5.
2.  Providing a back-up to missed doses, so I don't worry about getting out to the tub every other day.
3.  Maintaining the new water feel/appearance for a couple of months, vs a couple of weeks without it.

I don't view it as a money-saver, just a slightly overpriced supplement.  Despite the label promising 3-4 months effectiveness, I've wondered if the N2 loses its effectiveness after 2 months.  It seems like past that point, the water goes from looking new, to looking its age.

I have seen conflicting reports on the way it dissolves into the tub.  I've seen posts that say it all enters the tub in the first couple of days, others that say it takes two weeks to establish an appropriate level of silver ions, and still others that say it slowly erodes over 4 months.  The main concern for me regarding that is:  Is there anything left to justify leaving it in the tub if you change the water after 2 months, as I just did.  Can anyone speak to that?

[Reese]

Anyone know if Nature2 is the same as HotSpring FreshWaterAg+® Continuous Silver Ion Purifier?

I believe so.  It is the same stuff,  packaged in a proprietary cartridge.

[tony]

The SunPruity mineral purifier is a Nature2 cartridge made for Sundance to fit into their brominator.

[txwillie]

The SunPruity mineral purifier is a Nature2 cartridge made for Sundance to fit into their brominator.

The system on mine is different. It is N2, but it is a rectngular cartridge about the size a deck of cards. It goes into a slot in the weir gate.

Oh, and I like N2 for the lower levels of sanitizer. I can't use it with Bromine, and I just switched to Brilliance, but I normally use it.

 8-)

[tony]

The system on mine is different. It is N2, but it is a rectngular cartridge about the size a deck of cards. It goes into a slot in the weir gate.

Yup...we're talking about the same thing.  The slot in the weir gate is called the brominator.  Sundance spas have had this for years, originally meant for bromine tabs.  The SunPurity mineral cartridge manufactured by N2 has been around for about two years.

[anne]

That has been my observation as well.  I view the benefits of N2 as:
1.  Providing a supplement to my chlorine doses, allowing me to feel comfortable dosing 2-3 ppm vs. 3-5.
2.  Providing a back-up to missed doses, so I don't worry about getting out to the tub every other day.
3.  Maintaining the new water feel/appearance for a couple of months, vs a couple of weeks without it.

I don't view it as a money-saver, just a slightly overpriced supplement.  Despite the label promising 3-4 months effectiveness, I've wondered if the N2 loses its effectiveness after 2 months.  It seems like past that point, the water goes from looking new, to looking its age.

I completely agree with all three of these. I have alternated for the last year between using N2 and not, and fairly reliably I find that its advantages are worthwhile, so I plan to use it from now on. I think it also helps my water quality for more than 2 months: without N2, I am often feeling like I should change the water after barely 3 months, but with it, I can usually go to 4 months. Perhaps coincidence, but it has happened every time.

[svspa]

The main concern for me regarding that is:  Is there anything left to justify leaving it in the tub if you change the water after 2 months, as I just did.  Can anyone speak to that?

Reese,

You may already know this and are looking for a more real experience answer, just put me on ignore if that's the case.

I know it has been stated here before that when you change your water you need to change the N2 cartridge. If I remember correctly someone (can't remember now if it was Vermonter's posts on N2 or not) said that the initial activation of the cartridge is needed for it to work on a particular water fill. Supposedly there are not enough silver ions left in a used cartridge to activate another batch of water.

Now whether that's ever been proven in the real world I don't know.

Steve

[Reese]

Thanks, Steve.  That is my understanding as well, but another member who was changing water at the same time understood it to be a gradual depletion, so that there would be 2 months of protection left.  As I said, I have seen other posts that indicate all the silver gets into solution in 2 days or 2 weeks, and then remains active until the tub is drained.

[stuart]

I am a fan of Nature II....

As with anything that I get into the ring with I'm kind of a research junkie on it. Many years ago when I was selling HS and Zodiak pool care first approached them with the idea of the proprietary N2 cartridge I was so into constantly asking watkins questions on it that out of the blue I got a call from a Mr. Joe Grenier the head Microbiologist in charge of the program.

Up to that point we had all been pushing the product with just a shock called "OZ" tablets. Joe and I had several conversations that boiled down to the fact that he never intended for this system to be completely chlorine free but indeed to be used with a light dose of dichlor and MPS.

In the last few years Biolab came out with a shock called "Enhanced Shock" that contained MPS, a slight amount of dichlor and clarifier. Up to that point I had been mixing my own. I used N2 and Enhanced shock until I put in my new Epic and found the Marquis constant clean system to be just as easy.

[Reese]

Stuart, you are one of the people I was hoping would happen along.  Do you know how quickly the silver is introduced into the tub, and how long before the beads are "empty"?

[stuart]

Silver starts being activated immediatly when water flows over it in very small amounts. MPS, Chlorine and other things can speed that up.

I still have Joes email and phone # lets drop him a line and see if I can still reach him after 10 years :-?

[Reese]

Thanks Stuart!  If you do reach Mr.Grenier, I've had a lot of questions about N2 that I've been waiting to ask an expert.  If you'd be willing to pass any of them along, I'd appreciate it:

1.  Some people lay the cartridge in the filter compartment, rather than install it in the filter as recommended.  Is this likely to affect performance?
2.  How quickly does the N2 reach a level where it is effective?
3.  Does it require a MPS shock or chlorine dose to activate it?
4.  Do the recommended MPS/Chlorine doses refresh the silver, release more, or just get contaminants out of the way?5.  Do other chems such as metal removers or clarifiers affect N2?
6.  How does N2 compensate for different size tubs?  Is it  dependent on a certain ppm, or does it reach a saturation point, leaving more material left in the cartridge in smaller tubs?
7.  Is all the material released in a short period of time, or does it enter the tub over the 4 month life of the cartridge?
8.  If it enters over time, is there enough left to justify reusing the cartridge if the water is changed at two months?
9.  If the opposite is true and it all enters quickly, and the beads are empty after a short period, is there any reason to leave the cartridge in after the first few weeks?
10.  It seems the directions recommend what would be considered the minimum sanitizer routine.  What does he consider the optimum?  

Thanks,
Reese

[Vinny]

Thanks Stuart!  If you do reach Mr.Grenier, I've had a lot of questions about N2 that I've been waiting to ask an expert.  If you'd be willing to pass any of them along, I'd appreciate it:

1.  Some people lay the cartridge in the filter compartment, rather than install it in the filter as recommended.  Is this likely to affect performance?
2.  How quickly does the N2 reach a level where it is effective?
3.  Does it require a MPS shock or chlorine dose to activate it?
4.  Do the recommended MPS/Chlorine doses refresh the silver, release more, or just get contaminants out of the way?5.  Do other chems such as metal removers or clarifiers affect N2?
6.  How does N2 compensate for different size tubs?  Is it  dependent on a certain ppm, or does it reach a saturation point, leaving more material left in the cartridge in smaller tubs?
7.  Is all the material released in a short period of time, or does it enter the tub over the 4 month life of the cartridge?
8.  If it enters over time, is there enough left to justify reusing the cartridge if the water is changed at two months?
9.  If the opposite is true and it all enters quickly, and the beads are empty after a short period, is there any reason to leave the cartridge in after the first few weeks?
10.  It seems the directions recommend what would be considered the minimum sanitizer routine.  What does he consider the optimum?  

Thanks,
Reese

And ultimately ... why does it work for some and not for others?   I just had to throw that in.

[Vinny]

OK all this N2 love fest has my curiosity peeked, maybe it is time for another experiment.

Now to add a slight deviation what about the spa frog .....