Newbie Product Panic

[ASAP]

It’s finaly here!

Our first soak was divine and we are looking forward to many more. I can tell this tub is going to be a great addition to our home. I’ll post more photos once our yard stops looking like a construction site.

I must say, we are a bit overwhelmed by all the products involved with regulating the water. From what I’ve read on this forum this is pretty common for a new spa owner.

We had our water analysed and they basically told us it was too soft at 90ppm. We needed to increase calcium hardness to 150ppm and we did so. We added a bromine tablet in the ‘built-in dispenser’ and we gave an initial dose of bromine booster of 125g I believe it was. How often do we add this booster?

They sold my husband a cartridge filter cleaner. I was under the impression that we were not supposed to clean the filters in our tub (Sundance Optima with Micorclean filter). Should we clean our filters?

We don’t know when to use the following products. Should they be used preventively or only as needed?

- Scale & stain preventing solution
- PH reducer. When do we use it?
- Foam preventing product
- Alkalinity increaser
- Increase calcium hardness product
- PH increase
- Test strips
(should I use them when the water appears fine just to make sure or only when there is an apparent problem

STRANGE THING: When we went in for our first soaK the tub had a yellowish ring around it. This is weird because it hadn’t been used so it couldn’t be soap, lotion or cleanser residue. I cleaned the ring easily with a Magic Ereaser. How could a ring appear when it hadn’t been used and the water was only a few hours old? Other than the ring the water smells, feels and looks fine.

The dealer is sending someone to install the ozone unit next Thursday. We were told he will also answer questions about the spa and chemical management. I don’t want to screw the water up in the mean time so any advice will help.

[pg_rider]

Nice choice in tubs....

I asked a lot of the same questions as you when I took delivery of my Optima and you know what?  The only thing I add to my water is a little dichlor after each use and MPS shock once in a while.  That said, I happen to have very good water (thank you Colorado Springs!) that doesn't need a lot of pH or calcium adjustment.  But -- the moral of the story is that less is usally more when it comes to chemicals....

Your delivery looks nicer than mine -- my dealer and his goons were just terrible...

http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1161651030/7#7

[Repeat_Offender]

The bromine "booster" is used initially to provide a bromine reserve. You'll need to add this each time the tub is refilled. After that the bromine tablets are used to maintain the sanitizer level.

[ASAP]

I'm just in from a nice evening soak. Ahhh!

The water seems just fine, clear and feels nice.

A dealer rep suggested adding a dose of the Scale & Stain preventing solution for the ring around the tub. I did, and the yellow ring is gone. There is still a clear, barely noticeable film that forms around the tub. I've been taking the Magic Eraser to it and it disappears in no time. I'll ask the tech about it when he comes for the ozone unit installation.

Repeat_Offender, you mentioned that you add dichlor after each use. Do you add it in addition to bromine? I thought you could only use bromine or Lithium with the SD Optima.

Thanks

[Chad]

Asap,

You can use dichlor in an Optima.