Ozone with Chlorine or Soft Soak?

[DoubleA]

Hello I'm new to the forum.  Read lots and learned lots so far.  I just got my tub last week.  Caldera Tahitian and love it.  I started with soft soak but my tub came with a CD Ozone.  I was wondering from others experience how many times a week you need to test and add chemicals with Ozone and Chlorine.  I kind of like that with Soft Soak you only test and add weekly but I've heard great things about Ozone and keeping lower chlorine levels that don't affect skin and smell.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  Just wondering if I'm missing out by not using my Ozonator.  Thanks in advance.  

[DoubleA]

Another quick add on.  With my Soft Soak program I get a wicked water line which shows up after I put in chemicals.  Even with waterline control and Stain and Scale.  Does the water line happen as bad with chlorine programs too?

[Micah]

If your refering to that brown sticky line around the water, No its a biguianide issue.  In most cases your calcium hardness is to low.  Get it up to 225 and the brown ring usualy goes away

[DoubleA]

I do have the calcium hardness within range.  I think I'm gonna drain, clean and refill and use the new Spa conditioner to see if that helps.  So it is biguanides that cause the ring as well??

[The_real_Clown_Shoes]

A few things with Soft Soak that you will run into.

If you add the chemicals too quickly you'll get the brown ring.

If your sanitizer or waterline control residual is too high, you'll get the brown ring- usually accompanied with a horrible smell.

Chlorine is a hunter- SoftSoak is a rancher.  They both put food on the table, but Chlorine does it quicker and easier.  If you've caught any of the rumors on the Ever Fresh system from Hot Spring, I don't believe it comes with the ozonator.

SoftSoak will also require you to pay closer attention to your filter element(s).  Since it is the "rancher" it will cause coagulation and stress on the heater more rapidly than chlorine, as it doesn't eradicate the bodily oils.

I had a customer with a HS Envoy that was on Soft Soak for awhile because he had a negative reaction to bromine.  After a year of fighting with it he switched to Chlorine.  Not to say that SoftSoak is a bad product, it just isn't for some people.

[sharkman009]

Another thing that can cause the ring you describe is a reaction to the biguanide and any chlorine present in your tap water when you refill with fresh water. I use Softsoak in my spa at home and on my spas in my store and I wont ever switch back. If you maintain it properly it gives off no chemical smell or feel. With an ozonator and bromine or chlorine you will still have some chemical odor but teh ozone allows you to maintain your sanitizer at lower levels so its not quite as noticable. I had issues with the scum line when I would start my spa back up and once I was able to figure out what was causing it I just let the water sit in the spa untreated for 24 hrs before I'd add the softsoak and that pretty much did away with it. But as they already mentioned overdoing your chemicals can have the same effect.

[Gomboman]

Welcome DoubleA. Most of us I believe are on the dichlor routine. It's basically chlorine for spas. I wouldn't personally use Soft Soak unless I had a reaction to chlorine. It's pretty expensive compared to dichlor. Maybe the new HS system that is being developed will prove me wrong. If you want to learn about chlorine go to doc's site and read the Vermonter FAQ on chlorine.


http://www.rhtubs.com/cgi-bin/bbs/config.pl

[hottub.pool_boy]

welcome giraffe, nice piece, can we borrow you analogy?

[DoubleA]

Thank you for the responses.  They all help alot.  The reason we went Soft Soak is due to my wife gets sick with chlorine so to try to keep us both happy we use the Soft Soak.

A quick question for anyone who will answer.  How long should I wait between adding chemicals.  I usually wait a half hour to hour between.  Do I need more time?  I also try to poor very slow.  I think if we don't get it settled out I may try the Vermonter method for Dichlor and see if that will do ok.  

Thanks for the responses.

[hottubdan]

Hello I'm new to the forum.  Read lots and learned lots so far.  I just got my tub last week.  Caldera Tahitian and love it.  I started with soft soak but my tub came with a CD Ozone.  I was wondering from others experience how many times a week you need to test and add chemicals with Ozone and Chlorine.  I kind of like that with Soft Soak you only test and add weekly but I've heard great things about Ozone and keeping lower chlorine levels that don't affect skin and smell.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  Just wondering if I'm missing out by not using my Ozonator.  Thanks in advance.  

You are using your ozonator.  It is continuosly oxidizing and "polishing" the water.

[The_real_Clown_Shoes]

welcome giraffe, nice piece, can we borrow you analogy?

Absolutely.  Give me ten minutes and a can of Pepsi and I'll whip out five more for ya.

[The_real_Clown_Shoes]

Thank you for the responses.  They all help alot.  The reason we went Soft Soak is due to my wife gets sick with chlorine so to try to keep us both happy we use the Soft Soak.

A quick question for anyone who will answer.  How long should I wait between adding chemicals.  I usually wait a half hour to hour between.  Do I need more time?  I also try to poor very slow.  I think if we don't get it settled out I may try the Vermonter method for Dichlor and see if that will do ok.  

Thanks for the responses.

With SoftSoak I would go no sooner than 15 minutes per dose of chemical.  I would also stagger the waterline and Stain & Scale controls to offset the days I'd do Sanitizer and Shock.  The less you put in the water at a time with SoftSoak the better.  Same for chlorine or bromine too.

One thing I would recommend, though is to watch your waterline control usage and cut back on it if you aren't using the tub frequently.

For chemical adding, Soft Soak is easier to just dump in because it is not a granular (with the exception of the new Spa Conditioner) but generally the best place to dump in the chemicals is in the filtration area, as the most water volume going through the spa is right there (unless you have a Jacuzzi- then you're forced to use time-release capsules by your bypass fittings).