Anyone used these chemicals?

[CBrown.tx]

Well couldn't add pic: the chemicals are Hot Tub Serum - Total Maint watercare & SpaGuard Oxidizer - Enhanced Shock for spas/hot tubs.

We got our hot tub delivered this week and the dealer provided these chemicals and said to add 2 capfulls of each and that's it.  Said to add 2 caps of each once a week.  So we added and tested the water the next morning using Taylor K2005 kit. Our chlorine levels didn't even register; water was clear.  The PH was off the scale in darkness.  So I added an additional cap of serum and waited another 6hrs.  Same result!

My father-in-law has a pool and he checked it with his test kit (different brand and looked much simplier) and some test strips he had.  At least now we had something registering on free chlorine but WAY high and Ph was between 8-8.5; He said we needed to add acid and once we got the Ph straight the chlorine would straighten out.  Note... both his kits and strips were showing relatively same numbers.

Trying to find faith in this system our dealer swears by but something doesn't make sense.  And where is the chlorine coming from? Just the shock?

I searched the forum and only found this reference of it with Ahh Some: http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/forum/index.php/topic,19278.msg195261.html#msg195261

Anyone used this stuff and suggestions one way or the other on what to do?

Thanks in advance
Chris

 

[Tman122]

Is there any labeling on the bottles that say the ingredients? Yes you need acid to get your PH down. (Spa Down) There's alternatives to Spa Down but they are far trickier to handle. Oxidized, MPS (peroxymonopersulfate.....spelling) Enhanced shock usually has MPS and chlorine in it. Total Maintenence Water Care likely dichlor/bromine? (chlorine) Labels? Or MSDS.

You didn't mention your Total Alkalinity? (TA) or the Hardness of your water?

 

[Compatico]

Is there any labeling on the bottles that say the ingredients? Yes you need acid to get your PH down. (Spa Down) There's alternatives to Spa Down but they are far trickier to handle. Oxidized, MPS (peroxymonopersulfate.....spelling) Enhanced shock usually has MPS and chlorine in it. Total Maintenence Water Care likely dichlor/bromine? (chlorine) Labels? Or MSDS.

You didn't mention your Total Alkalinity? (TA) or the Hardness of your water?

Like Tman said, the shock is likely adding chlorine and your pH is too high. I've never used this "serum" stuff and have no idea what's in it. I tried to find out what's in the "serum" but the website doesn't say anything about ingredients and says water change every 6 months - which is way too long if you're using the tub almost every day. It might last 6 months before a change if you only use it on weekends which is rare especially for a new owner.

Since there's no science behind their product, it's probably just a clarifier with a scent and they're selling bulls#!t. I use the dichlor & bleach method and it's very easy to keep the tub clean and sanitized without all the other expensive chemicals.

 

[Hideaway_King]

Hot Tub Serum is made by the same company that makes Ahh-Some.  They make 2 products, one comes in a very small container and is a paste that will purge your plumbing of any build up or bio-film.  Works very well, just like Ahh-Some.  The second product comes in a container about a gallon is size.  This is the weekly maintenance product.  Works really well, prevents bio-film build up, and seems to eat up foam and oils.  The Hot Tub Serum products are expensive but they work well.

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Hot Tub Serum is a program that works.  There is science to back this up.  It is made by the same company that makes Ahh-Some Hot Tub Plumbing & Jet Cleaner.  Hot Tub Serum is a wonderful alternative to other higher priced maintenance hot tub chemical programs that are nothing more than Borate and Metasilicate.  These higher priced alternative programs are high profit centers for their retailers.  Hot Tub Serum dealers offer a 100% money back guarantee to their customers and provide a superior program at half the cost of the two leading programs.  Used as directed, we know of nothing else that will keep hot tub water as super clear and continuously mitigate the build-up of contaminants that are usually lurking within the plumbing and jet system.

 

[newtoit]

I've been using Hot Tub Serum for a year now, it keeps the water super clear and my free chlorine reading stays way up so I have been able reduce how much I use, which my wife likes. The one thing my dealer told me you have to do when starting with new water or a new spa is to make sure you set your PH at about 7.2-7.3 first. Serum will hold the PH in place. I put in Two capfuls per week a little more when the spa get heavy use and I'm happy. I'm on my second bottle now. I tried both Aqua Finesse and Silk Balance and found them not to be as good as Serum and way more expensive. 

 

[Tman122]

Well couldn't add pic: the chemicals are Hot Tub Serum - Total Maint watercare & SpaGuard Oxidizer - Enhanced Shock for spas/hot tubs.

We got our hot tub delivered this week and the dealer provided these chemicals and said to add 2 capfulls of each and that's it.  Said to add 2 caps of each once a week.  So we added and tested the water the next morning using Taylor K2005 kit. Our chlorine levels didn't even register; water was clear.  The PH was off the scale in darkness.  So I added an additional cap of serum and waited another 6hrs.  Same result!

My father-in-law has a pool and he checked it with his test kit (different brand and looked much simplier) and some test strips he had.  At least now we had something registering on free chlorine but WAY high and Ph was between 8-8.5; He said we needed to add acid and once we got the Ph straight the chlorine would straighten out.  Note... both his kits and strips were showing relatively same numbers.

Trying to find faith in this system our dealer swears by but something doesn't make sense.  And where is the chlorine coming from? Just the shock?

I searched the forum and only found this reference of it with Ahh Some: http://www.whatsthebest-hottub.com/forum/index.php/topic,19278.msg195261.html#msg195261

Anyone used this stuff and suggestions one way or the other on what to do?

Thanks in advance
Chris

As stated before all the sales BS took over, get you PH down and be sure to sanitize what ever you choose to sanitize with.

 

[Compatico]

As stated before all the sales BS took over, get you PH down and be sure to sanitize what ever you choose to sanitize with.

I read about both products and not one scientific report or chemical ingredients were posted on either website. Their "proof" is so called scientific results that have no data and they show tub plumbing that looks like it was fouled on purpose suggesting that's what all hot tubs are like. They also suggest that "biofilm" is not sanitized with typical tub sanitizers like chlorine and bromine. Seems to me that these magic cleaners are nothing more than clarifiers that bond with organic material to allow them to be trapped by the filter making the water appear "crystal clear". My water always looked clear, even when I knew that after a good 1 hour soak with 2 people it had to be full of organic material that needed to be broken down with a typical shock. Most of the organics and bacteria are microscopic so we can't see them anyway. Doesn't mean your tub is perfectly clean.

And it's funny I checked my tub and piping carefully prior to selling it, and it was absolutely spotless as expected using normal chlorine sanitizers. I guess the marketing BS that Tman mentioned is just that...BS...intended to generate sales of an unneeded product. I'm sure using these products your tub will appear to look clean...doesn't mean it's sanitized or safe to use.

No thanks...I'll stick to proven methods that work - dichlor and bleach method for me. Clean, sanitized water in the hot tub is what I want...not something that makes it appear clean.
8)

 

[Tman122]

Hot Tub Serum is a wonderful alternative to other higher priced maintenance hot tub chemical programs that are nothing more than Borate and Metasilicate.  These higher priced alternative programs are high profit centers for their retailers. 

So let the consumer decide.

Hot Tub Serum is what? How much does it cost?

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Hot Tub Serum does NOT replace using a sanitizer.  What Hot Tub Serum does do is allow the hot tub owner to use LESS sanitizer to do the same job.  Sanitizers do NOT kill or aid in the removal of biofilm.  Even super high sanitizer levels are no match for it.  Sanitizers do kill or oxidize planktonic biofilm, those specks that have broken away from the thicker matrix build-up you can't see within the plumbing infrastructure.  Hot Tub Serum works by penetrating and breaking up the build-up so the flow from the pumps can push it into the hot tub proper where the sanitizer does it's intended job.  Every hot tub owner should read about biofilm and how it may affect their hot tub.  Using your browser simply type in biofilm and it will take you to,the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University.  These are the gold standard people in the biofilm arena. 

 

[Chief Kyle]

http://www.ahhsome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/MSUBiofilmTestResults_1.pdf

 

[Tman122]

So let the consumer decide.

Hot Tub Serum is what? How much does it cost?

Nobody got nothing?

 

[BullFrogSpasMN]

So let the consumer decide.

Hot Tub Serum is what? How much does it cost?

Nobody got nothing?

I'm smelling the BS all the way up here in MN...same key marketing terms as Silk Balance and Aquafinesse..."backed by science" "treats bio-film" "100% money back guarantee" just another super high margin "snake oil" product I'm sure just like Silk Balance...post up some ingredients and let Chem Geek take a peak, until then I'm not buying the story

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

Someone has been expousing the benefits of Ahh-Some and Hot Tub Serum in earlier posts.
They are familiar with our test results.

 

[Tman122]

Cost and ingredients please. Otherwise....snake oil. Someone said "less expensive than others" Someone said "it's not a sanitizer" All I want is cost and ingredients. Ahh-Some IS NOT a sanitizer and requires a couple drains and refills to do it right, it cleans out pipes, like Drano cleans out pipes, there are other products that do that to. This is??????? Besides likely 20-30 times the cost of dichlor and bleach.

 

[Compatico]

http://www.ahhsome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/MSUBiofilmTestResults_1.pdf

Which just makes claims but no hard data to back up those claims. And no ingredients list either.

 

[Compatico]

Chem Geek has been expousing the benefits of Ahh-Some and Hot Tub Serum in earlier posts.
Chem Geek is familiar with our test results.

Actually I've read many of ChemGeek's posts and he doesn't brag about these products. He prefers a clean tub with proper sanitizer levels.
A lot of people are familiar with the claimed results...still no scientific data to back up those claims.
Yet there's TONS of data to back up the proper use of sanitizers to maintain a clean tub.

 

[lets]

Chem Geek has been expousing the benefits of Ahh-Some and Hot Tub Serum in earlier posts.

Oh reeeeeeeaaaly? Do a search for "Hot Tub Serum" and tell me where, any where, it's even in the same THREAD that Chem Geek has posted in.

Come back ad tell me where...or, if there is no where...........................

 

[Ahhsomeguy]

The cost for the Ahh-Some Hot Tub/Jetted Bath Plumbing & Jet Cleaner can be seen on numerous websites and found at many hot tub retailer's showrooms.  Our ingredients are a proprietary formulation that is based on over 18 years of tweaking.  As stated in scientific reports, Di-Chlor and Bleach, also my favorite hot tub sanitizers, are incapable of removing plumbing build-up even at very very high ppm's.  This is why it is necessary to use a product that can loosen it and allow it to migrate to the water inside the tub so the sanitizer can do it's job as a killer of "planktonic" cells.  Proprietary formulations are very common in the recreational water industry and many other industries as well.  Look at Coke.  We provide an up to date MSDS sheet on all our products.
The single best thing a hot tub owner can do is to "purge it" on a regular basis to eliminate what is, NOT may, be lurking inside the dark crevices of the plumbing and jet infrastructure.  When doing so their water will be much easier to maintain, feel and look better than ever.  Would love to have Chem Geek sound in here.  He is the water guru and has wonderful insights about water maintenance in hot tubs.

 

[hottubdan]

What people get confused about is sanitation and biofilm.  Chlorine is a commodity and a sanitizer.  Spa Serum, Silk Balance etc. are proprietary formulas that cut down on or eliminate biofilm.  Which should mean the sanitizer is more effective; you have to use less to maintain proper levels.