Tub is here, filled, heated, etc. Questions for you guys

[av8r]

Got the A5L Thursday night, slid it into place on the deck, did a quick inspection for damage, tossed the cover on and went to bed.  Took Friday off to complete the wiring, fill and setup.  All went well.  Tub went from 55 degrees at noon to 100 by 9 PM.  I had our well water tested prior to the fill and did what the dealer suggested for startup using SpaGuard chems (Added some Calcium Hardness, some spa scale and stain stuff, PH down as it was 8.6 and Dichlor)  I've been testing twice a day while treating the water as suggested to get it balanced and we've been in it several times for an hour or so each time (1-2 people each time)

I noticed that while the Chlorine may read 3-4 PPM before we go in, it's usually 0 when we get out (expected behavior I assume)  I'll add enough Dichlor to get it up to 4-6 PPM, let it off gas for 20 minutes, close it up and check it the next morning and it reads .2 to .4 PPM.  Normal?

My CYA is undetectable by the K2006 kit, but again...I think that's expected until it has a chance to build up.  Any idea on how long that might take?

PH is still high (around , but coming down steadily.  I guess it'll just take time adding 2 ounces of PH down a couple times a day.

Water looks good, minimal odor at this point.  So far so good.

[Vinny]

Every time you add dichlor you are adding the same amount PPM of stabilizer as you are chlorine. SO if you keep track of how many doses and how high of chlorine you put in then add it all together and you will get your stabilizer. Or you can test as you are doing.

Funny thing about chlorine is hot water destroys it! Bromine is not affected by it. As far as soaking  ... I use a method where I don't soak in chlorine but dose afterward, I was fortunate enough to be around Dr Spa's website when a person named Vermonter was around who was a microbiologist and did some very extensive testing with his tub ... I think if you go to the rhtubs website it is a sticky posted somewhere. I tend to have slightly higher readings in the morning than what you are getting but the rule of thumb is to have that 3 PPM chlorine 20 minutes after the initial dose - if you have obtained that theoretically your tub is safe. What you are looking for is the tub's water not to suck out all the chlorine in a short amount of time which would indicate that possibly something nasty is going on and you have a high chlorine demand; could also be the chlorine is being used up on burning up the combined chlorine.

I only use the above method for family (me, wife and sons) soaks - if anything else is going on I put a dose in and depending on how many people are using it I will dose again after a little time (20 minutes to an hour) while the tub isn't being used.

As far as the PH, there is a method of using muriatic acid, I'm not at all familiar with how to do it as I have pretty tame water. I think it's bringing up the alkalinity with baking soda and dropping it with the acid but I really don't know.

[av8r]

Vinny, thanks for the reply.  I like that concept (soak in low PPM and then dose)

I'll read up on Vermonter's posts.  Sounds interesting to me.

Update on water chemistry:

PH is now 7.2 (added 2 ounces of PH down a while ago)
TA is 130-160
CH is 110
CYA according to dealer's test yesterday is 17
Chlorine is 4-5 PPM
FC is still around .6 to .8

[Quickbeam]

As far as the PH, there is a method of using muriatic acid, I'm not at all familiar with how to do it as I have pretty tame water. I think it's bringing up the alkalinity with baking soda and dropping it with the acid but I really don't know.

To get the PH under control you need to adjust your TA. PH will spike up with aeration, so if your TA is not set correctly, when you run the jets on your tub the PH will spike up. What you need to do is to run your jets, with the air on (you want as much aeration as possible) for 15 or 20 minutes and then check your PH. If it has spiked up you need to adjust your TA. To bring your TA down, you can use muriatic acid, but I think most people would use dry acid, or PH down. After you have added some dry acid, once again check both your TA and PH. Keep repeating this process until your PH does not spike up when you run the jets for 15 or 20 minutes. You should also know your TA because this is the TA you will need to have to keep your PH stable. It will help for future water changes if you know what you need your TA at, and also how much dry acid it takes to get it there. Once you know this, it takes a lot less time to get everything in balance. Once you have got your TA at the point where the PH no longer spikes with aeration you can add 50 ppm of borates which is supposed to help keep everything stable. I think most would use boric acid to get the borates. To find out how much borate you need to get 50 ppm, you can use the Pool Math Calculator found here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html. Hope this is of some help to you.

[av8r]

Thanks QB.  I don't believe I have the option on this tub to run the jets without aeration.  I can run them on low which has minimal aeration.  I appreciate the info.

[Vinny]

If your total chlorine is  4-5 ppm and your free chlorine is that low then you need to shock to burn off that combined chlorine. Total chlorine = free chlorine + combined chlorine. If you do have that high of combined chlorine then use non chlorine shock ... You would need to put in 10x the combined chlorine in order to burn it off.

Of course maybe I'm reading your post wrong.

Vinny, thanks for the reply.  I like that concept (soak in low PPM and then dose)

I'll read up on Vermonter's posts.  Sounds interesting to me.

Update on water chemistry:

PH is now 7.2 (added 2 ounces of PH down a while ago)
TA is 130-160
CH is 110
CYA according to dealer's test yesterday is 17
Chlorine is 4-5 PPM
FC is still around .6 to .8

[av8r]

Nope...that's what the K2006 is telling me.  Spa was filled Friday afternoon (initial fill, new spa)

Same advice given the details above?

If your total chlorine is  4-5 ppm and your free chlorine is that low then you need to shock to burn off that combined chlorine. Total chlorine = free chlorine + combined chlorine. If you do have that high of combined chlorine then use non chlorine shock ... You would need to put in 10x the combined chlorine in order to burn it off.

Of course maybe I'm reading your post wrong.

Vinny, thanks for the reply.  I like that concept (soak in low PPM and then dose)

I'll read up on Vermonter's posts.  Sounds interesting to me.

Update on water chemistry:

PH is now 7.2 (added 2 ounces of PH down a while ago)
TA is 130-160
CH is 110
CYA according to dealer's test yesterday is 17
Chlorine is 4-5 PPM
FC is still around .6 to .8

[Vinny]

I have the K-2005 kit so I may be wrong but...

The first reading I take is the free chlorine. I add 5  drops of one chemical, then 5 drops of another then read the color, that is my free chlorine, I then add 5 drops of a totally different chemical and this is my total chlorine. If there is a difference in color then the difference is the combined chlorine. If the K-2006 is similar (I know it has a powder in it for chlorine readings) then my advice would be the same.

Back when I got my tub, 2005, the advice then by some people was to fill the tub, super chlorinate, drain and refill. The thought was to chemically clean the tub from any water and bacteria that might have been left from the factory.

Hopefully, you are just reading the results wrong as most new tubs shouldn't have that high of combined chlorine unless you are using it a lot or there was a contamination that the chlorine is cleaning up.

[av8r]

We had 3 people in there last night for over an hour.  I added 2 tsp of dichlor after we got out and ran the jets for 30 minutes then covered and went to bed.  This AM Chlorine is around 2 ppm and FC is .2

Sound OK?

[av8r]

I just realized I was using the wrong term.  I was using Free Chlorine instead of Combined Chlorine.  Free Chlorine levels range around 3-4 PPM and Combined have been .2 to .4

Newbie mistake.

Vinny, thanks for the reply.  I like that concept (soak in low PPM and then dose)

I'll read up on Vermonter's posts.  Sounds interesting to me.

Update on water chemistry:

PH is now 7.2 (added 2 ounces of PH down a while ago)
TA is 130-160
CH is 110
CYA according to dealer's test yesterday is 17
Chlorine is 4-5 PPM
FC is still around .6 to .8

[av8r]

Checked water this afternoon

Free Chlorine 2 PPM
Combined Chlorine .6 PPM
PH 7.8
TA 120
CH 110

Had a brown line around where the water line was.  Some reading suggests this is common with new tubs.  Wiped it off, but in some areas it's pretty stubborn.  I'm going to super chlorinate and let things settle down a bit to see where everything lands.

[Vinny]

Those numbers are more inline with usage. The briwn ring is from what the hot water is sucking out of you and your clothes.

[Quickbeam]

We used to get a brown ring (almost a light golden colour) around our tub and I just couldn't figure out what it was. My water was crystal clear, but I'd still get this light brown ring, even when we hadn't used the tub for a while. We had always used a spa blanket and for some reason I left it off at one point. No more brown ring. Still have no idea what caused the ring, as I always kept the spa blanket clean, but ever since I stopped using the spa blanket the brown ring has disappeared.

[av8r]

We used to get a brown ring (almost a light golden colour) around our tub and I just couldn't figure out what it was. My water was crystal clear, but I'd still get this light brown ring, even when we hadn't used the tub for a while. We had always used a spa blanket and for some reason I left it off at one point. No more brown ring. Still have no idea what caused the ring, as I always kept the spa blanket clean, but ever since I stopped using the spa blanket the brown ring has disappeared.

I did a quick search earlier today and found hundreds of posts about this.  A lot of them mentioned a new tub, first fill, etc.  No idea what's actually causing it, but a wipe with a Magic Eraser and it's gone!

Thanks

[icenogle]

I had the brown ring for the first 2 weeks.  Don't think I'm doing anything different, but haven't seen it for the last 6-8 weeks.  Also, using the spaguard but no scale or stain stuff.  Did come with the Frog mineral stick though.  I can't remember for sure, but I think I installed the Frog at that two week mark.  Water has been way easier than I thought to take care of..  I don't understand it like Chemgeek, but that's ok.