Once a week shock and Aquafinesse all I need?

[Johnnywr10]

Just had my Bullfrog A8 with Ozone delivered yesterday. After getting the ph and alkalinity right, they put in the SpaGuard oxidizer shock and then Aquafinesse and said to repeat once a week, and that's all I need for sanitation and nothing else to add. I texted my dealer and asked if I needed to pick a bromine or chlorine intra-week protocol in addition to once-a-week shock, and he said "No. Your shock is your sanitizer."  Does this sound good enough? New hottub owner and the mega-data and conflicting expert opinions on chemicals are making it difficult to decide on anything with confidence. The guys mentioned and I've read some literature that reports using Aquafinesse reduces the amount of chemicals needed and that is makes the SpaGuard shock last longer, so maybe the once a week shock is enough?  Then I read other dealers recommending chlorine after each use in addition to shocking and Aquafinesse and a see a youtube video of a NY dealer using the SpaFrog placed in the filter area.

[Beck0101]

If you don't have a bromine floater or a "Frog" this once a week routine of "shocking only" will likely leave you with cloudy water.

My experience - you should add a capful of sanitizer (dichlor for me) after each use.

Is your dealer reputable, been around a while?  Sounds like some questionable advice....

I have an A8 and used Silk Balance when it was new.  My experience was that these additives don't add a lot of real value for the average user and they had virtually no impact on how much sanitizer I really needed to keep the water clear.  I ended up switching to a bromine floater 6 months +/- after owing the tub and will never go back.  Maintaining sanitizer levels without a floater system felt like a part time job to me.  I want to be "working my water" once a week, max.  With my cheapo bromine floater my spa is as low maintenance as I had hoped.  I can easily let it go for two weeks if I need to without any fear of having cloudy water.

Enjoy your spa!  The A8 is awesome.  We love ours.

[Ghvf]

I just read that Aquafinesse uses Trichlor which voids some hot tubs warranties as Trichlor is for swimming pools. You should be using Dichlor instead.

[Johnnywr10]

I don’t think Aquafinesse is trichlor - but I don’t know it all. The dealer includes that in all start up chemical packs and it’s commonly used-  so I don’t think Aquafinesse would void any warranties. But again, I don’t know it all.

Beck- thanks for a sound reply. After researching nonstop, I too became interested in the frog for the EXACT same reasons as you. But I did read and watch some vids that claimed the water w bromine is very slightly cloudy / and won’t  be as clear as using chlorine.  Can you tell any discernible difference in water clarity between using the two? Thanks bud.

[Ghvf]

My bad, the spa kit you have is probably dichlor. Once a week is not a lot if your spa gets used daily by several people.

[silversun]

From what i've seen of Aquafiness it's expensive and finicky. It's only effective in an environment of high ALK, low pH. Although, my only source is from this joker, so who knows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJxqXF1uRtY



still, probably easier and cheaper to just use chlorine and throw in a cap after each use.

[Sam]

I don’t think Aquafinesse is trichlor - but I don’t know it all. The dealer includes that in all start up chemical packs and it’s commonly used-  so I don’t think Aquafinesse would void any warranties. But again, I don’t know it all.

Beck- thanks for a sound reply. After researching nonstop, I too became interested in the frog for the EXACT same reasons as you. But I did read and watch some vids that claimed the water w bromine is very slightly cloudy / and won’t  be as clear as using chlorine.  Can you tell any discernible difference in water clarity between using the two? Thanks bud.

Try spa frog's new @ease system.  It's chlorine based and in my opinion, the easiest program out there and only requires .5ppm of chlorine which self regulates.