Testing water frustration!

[mkotubs]

I enjoy my hot tub, but these test results are all over the place.

My water is clear, when in use the water gets cloudy because of the tiny air bubbles, which clears in minutes when jets are turned off.   When i lift my cover there is always a smell, at first i thought it was the cover but its the water.  I've had this smell for a few weeks now.  

PH = 7.4 (have to increase once a week, ALK = 110.

Last night before I shocked the tub, my FC was 2ppm, CC was .5ppm.   Today I checked the water and my FC = 3ppm,  but my CC was still .5ppm.   So i then added my Chlorine, tested and FC = 11ppm, and CC = 1.5ppm

I use a Taylor 2006 kit, that requires you to add two dip of powder to test Chlorine level.  Can anyone explain what is going on??   I've used MPS, but that just causes false reading all week long on CC.

I don't know if this matters, but I have a floating blanket and a cover so the tub is pretty air-tight for something that sites outside.

[tileman]

Hi mkotubs. I would not test for CC again until that 11ppm FC drops back down to near Oppm. It is very difficult to get an accurate CC reading with that high of a FC..
If your CC was .5 and you brought your FC to 11 ppm, you successfully shocked your tub. So if the smell was built up chloraminates, it should now be gone.

Your ph and alk levels are fine. I am not familar with the 2006 kit. I have only used the 2005. It's suppose to be alot more user friendly.

Just to make sure there is nothing growing on your spa blanket I would fully sumerge it in your high FC water. This should kill all if any buggers attached to it.

Your cloudy water when jets are on is normal as long as it keeps clearing up when you turn the jets off.

[Vinny]

Is the smell a chlorine smell, a moldy smell or a ozone smell. The smell of ozone is the smell when something arcs or after an electrical storm, kind of sweet.

If it's a mold smell, I would do as tileman says but I would also wipe down the entire surface, headrests (if any)  and cover with a bleach and water solution. Take off the headrests and clean under them as well. Make sure all the jets are on and water is circulating through them all when ever the pumps come on. Even if you don't use a section of the tub make sure you run it when you add santizer to get chlorinated water to all the pipes.

If it's a chlorine smell - it means that the combined chlorine is too high and that's whats causing it. The post that you did says you shocked - MPS would have given you a false high (really high) CC reading as you said and if you used chlorine to shock, you would have needed at least 5 PPM chlorine to kill the 0.5 CC reading, in 24 hours that FC reading should have been a little higher IMO unless you have a chlorine demand. How much chlorine did you shock with initially?

I never check my CC levels unless the FC is close to 0 but I also know that the K2006 kit tests FC & CC differently than the K2005 kit.

[mkotubs]

The first time i shocked the tub on Thursday, I used 4 tsp to bring FC to 5 ppm.  The next day FC was 3ppm, so i added 6 tsp more to bring FC to 11 ppm.  

The smell is kind of sweet and it seems to dissipate to a  faint smell.  I guess my nose is senitive to this smell as I think it remains and my wife thinks it goes away over time.  It might be mind of matter for me, thinking something isn't right.  


So when should you test for CC in your tub?  Right now, i've been testing everything (PH, ALK, FC, CC)  before I shock (adjusting PH if needed) and then the following day same tests.   I've had my tub for 8 weeks now and i've been using the Taylor kit for 6 weeks and only once did I have a CC reading of 0 ppm.  I was using MPS at first to shock and that seem to drop my PH and give false readings on FC and CC.  So the pass two weeks i've only shocked with Chlorine.  Last week was the first time I ever got a CC of 0 ppm and a week later its back to CC of .5ppm.

[tileman]

The first time i shocked the tub on Thursday, I used 4 tsp to bring FC to 5 ppm.  The next day FC was 3ppm, so i added 6 tsp more to bring FC to 11 ppm.  

The smell is kind of sweet and it seems to dissipate to a  faint smell.  I guess my nose is senitive to this smell as I think it remains and my wife thinks it goes away over time.  It might be mind of matter for me, thinking something isn't right.  


So when should you test for CC in your tub?  Right now, i've been testing everything (PH, ALK, FC, CC)  before I shock (adjusting PH if needed) and then the following day same tests.   I've had my tub for 8 weeks now and i've been using the Taylor kit for 6 weeks and only once did I have a CC reading of 0 ppm.  I was using MPS at first to shock and that seem to drop my PH and give false readings on FC and CC.  So the pass two weeks i've only shocked with Chlorine.  Last week was the first time I ever got a CC of 0 ppm and a week later its back to CC of .5ppm.

Good morning.
  That sweet smell is probably your ozone like Vinny suggested, it's nothing to be concerned about.
  I find it best to test CC when FC is 0 or close to it. You might want to wait a couple of days to test all levels after shocking insted of the next day. This will give everything time to mix thouroughly in your water.
  It is perfectly normal for your CC to go from 0 to .5 in one week.

[Vinny]

The smell sounds like its ozone. The unused ozone is off gassing out of the water and the air born ozone is what you smell.

I would continue to shock with MPS since it does eat up the CC better than if you don't add enough chlorine (actually chlorine won't do anything if the amount wasn't 10x the CC reading).

With the K-2006 kit, you can tell the difference between 0.5 PPM and 0.6 PPM from what I've read (this would be kind of hard with the K-2005 kit) so you have a better handle on the difference that a I would using a K2005 kit. You still need to get 10x the CC reading but at 0.6 you'd need 6 PPM free chlorine to do the job.

The CC reading is normal, remember at the tub's temp bacteria is growning all the time and air born pollutants enter the tub and the chlorine is trying to get rid of them. Also any time you use the tub, even if you shower before hand you're introducing bacteria and body gunk.

As newbies we all over worry about everything, I thought I had the water care thing down since I own  a pool. A spa is MUCH different than a pool and it took me months to get it into my head, I only was getting about 6 weeks of use out of my water before I had to dump.

Test the water but don't worry about every little thing. PH will go down or up and you will have to adjust accordingly. Read people's water care routine but realize that your water may not act the same way. My tub does not get a week of clear water like I read here. If I go more than 2 days on a 1.5 PPM dose my tub starts to get cloudy. I did get about 5 days once but I added about 12 PPM chlorine. Also, my tub doesn't seem to dissipate chlorine the way others do, I can go for 2 days with a chlorine residue reading 48 hours adding chlorine to 3 PPM I can't explain it so I adapt my routine to compensate for it.

I hope this helps.

[tileman]

My tub does not get a week of clear water like I read here. If I go more than 2 days on a 1.5 PPM dose my tub starts to get cloudy. I did get about 5 days once but I added about 12 PPM chlorine. Also, my tub doesn't seem to dissipate chlorine the way others do, I can go for 2 days with a chlorine residue reading 48 hours adding chlorine to 3 PPM I can't explain it so I adapt my routine to compensate for it.

I hope this helps.

Good Morning Vinny.
  I find it odd that your water gets cloudy like that. It'll be 5 weeks tomarrow with my initial fill water and I'm yet to have a hint of cloudiness. Even when my FC is low for a couple of days it still stays crystal clear. I guess I'm either very lucky or I have really good tap water.

[mkotubs]

Vinny / Chad

Thanks for the replies.  What brand of MPS do you use?  My dealer supplied me with GLB Activate and instructions for weekly routine of 4 oz MPS, and 1 or 2 oz Chlorine.    The first time i did this, my readings were off the charts I didn't use the tub for 4 days waiting for levels to drop.    The GLB instructions actually state to add 4 oz per 250 gallons,  so it would take 8 oz to shock my 500 gallon.  I figured there has to be a better product out there.

[tileman]

Vinny / Chad

Thanks for the replies.  What brand of MPS do you use?  My dealer supplied me with GLB Activate and instructions for weekly routine of 4 oz MPS, and 1 or 2 oz Chlorine.    The first time i did this, my readings were off the charts I didn't use the tub for 4 days waiting for levels to drop.    The GLB instructions actually state to add 4 oz per 250 gallons,  so it would take 8 oz to shock my 500 gallon.  I figured there has to be a better product out there.

I use Leisure Time's mps, it's called Renew. It is buffered(no affect on ph). It's reccommended dose is 2 oz per 250 gallons. I have shocked my tub 4x (# 5 will be today). 3x with mps and 1x with dichlor. I am going to keep doing this once a month superchlorination until my water tells me different. So far it has maintained it's new, crystal clear look. With no surprises.
Mps will give false CC readings for a couple of days, as it takes a little while for it to fully rid the chloraminates. If after 2 days or so your CC is still at pre-shock level, you need to add more mps next shock. It's trial and error, kinda like finding the right post soak dichlor dose for YOUR water. Their reccommended dosing is just that, "reccommended". It has however been accurate for me thus far.
I find this alot less irratating than having to wait a day or two to use my spa after a superchlorination. A couple of days a month w/o spatopia is about my limit.

[Vinny]

I used Sea Klear in the past but for now I found an old bucket of Leslies MPS in the garage and when I'm finished with that I'll go back to Sea Klear, both doses are 1 oz to 250 gallons.

Chad, as long as I keep up with my dichlor on an every other day to every 2 day basis my water stays crystal clear. I used to use only 1 1/2 PPM dose whenever I soaked and added more if more people soaked but I bumped it up to 3 PPM minimum and go from there.

As I said all water reacts differently, I don't have a problem with PH stability like I read that other people do. I can go 3 to 4 weeks without adjusting my PH. I start out with 7.6 to 7.8 and eventually it works it's way down to 7.2 to 6.8. I try to catch it at 7.2 and bump it back up to 7.6 to 7.8 with baking soda. I also have water that retains chlorine longer than others ... as I posted I can get a residue 36 to 48 hours after putting in 3 PPM chlorine. N2 and ozone don't seem to work for me as it does for others, so I don't see their benefits.

[tony]

 I find it odd that your water gets cloudy like that. It'll be 5 weeks tomarrow with my initial fill water and I'm yet to have a hint of cloudiness. Even when my FC is low for a couple of days it still stays crystal clear. I guess I'm either very lucky or I have really good tap water.

Tileman

Are you using a mineral cartridge?  I can get up to a week of non usage with one verses a couple of days without one.

[tony]

Vinny / Chad

Thanks for the replies.  What brand of MPS do you use?  My dealer supplied me with GLB Activate and instructions for weekly routine of 4 oz MPS, and 1 or 2 oz Chlorine.    The first time i did this, my readings were off the charts I didn't use the tub for 4 days waiting for levels to drop.    The GLB instructions actually state to add 4 oz per 250 gallons,  so it would take 8 oz to shock my 500 gallon.  I figured there has to be a better product out there.

GLB Activate is the exact same thing as LeisureTime Renew.  GLB and LeisureTime are the same company.  The instructions for Activate that I find say 2 oz for 250 gallons.  Don't confuse with GLB Enhance, which says 4 oz per 250 gallons.  Enhance is liquid bromine.  GLB has their two part bromine system Enhance/Activate (LT has the same system Reserve/Renew).  Eight oz is double what you need.  I don't even like adding four oz, so I use a non buffered shock that calls for one oz for 500 gal.

[tileman]

Tileman

Are you using a mineral cartridge?  I can get up to a week of non usage with one verses a couple of days without one.

Tony, all I use is ozone, dichlor, and Renew.

[tony]

Steve, all I use is ozone, dichlor, and Renew.

You're doing pretty good.  I don't get that with my water without a mineral cartridge.  So far this week I seem to be doing OK without the ozone, though.  Water went half a week without use and looked, smelled sweet this morning.

[tileman]

You're doing pretty good.  I don't get that with my water without a mineral cartridge.  So far this week I seem to be doing OK without the ozone, though.  Water went half a week without use and looked, smelled sweet this morning.

Tony
Sorry for calling you Steve, I just woke up. Thanks, I take great pride in my water. The things I learned from this forum helped me immensly.(ok, I did do a little reseach myself as well ) I took all the info and adapted it to my water and so far I haven't had one surprise or any cloudiness. Maybe I'll break the record for the longest lasting, initial fill water.

Chad

 Btw, please keep me updated on your water w/o the ozone. I'm curious to see if there will be a noticable difference.