Test Strips and Chemicals?

[Venissa]

Hi all.
I have a few questions that I hope you can answer for me before I fill my tub.  I purchased the tub in Jan and was not sure if I was maintaining and checking the chemials correctly.  I hope this year to do it right.

1) I have two different types of test strips....2-way and 6-way.  The 2-way only checks for Free Chlorine and PH.  6-way tests for Total hardness, Total Chlorine, Free Chlorine, Bromine, PH, Total Alkalinity & Stabilizer......With different tests strips available it has confusing me on what I need to be testing for...Should I test for everything on the 6-way strip or are there only certain things I need to be worried about?

2) Correct me if I am wrong but you dont use Chlorine and Bromine together in the tub.......you only use one or the other right?  Isn't Bromine safer?

3) I keep a bull frog in the tub..........and I am not sure exactly what its supposed to do other than someone told they are good to keep in the tub.....Can someone explain what it does and if it is good to keep in the tub?

4)  There are SEVERAL chemicals for hot tubs........should I have ALL of them to maintain everything in perfect reading for the 6-way strips?  If so, why do they even make a 2-way strip?

I hope you guys can help me out.

Thanks a million.

 

[Confused_in_Canada]

Hi all.
I have a few questions that I hope you can answer for me before I fill my tub.  I purchased the tub in Jan and was not sure if I was maintaining and checking the chemials correctly.  I hope this year to do it right.

1) I have two different types of test strips....2-way and 6-way.  The 2-way only checks for Free Chlorine and PH.  6-way tests for Total hardness, Total Chlorine, Free Chlorine, Bromine, PH, Total Alkalinity & Stabilizer......With different tests strips available it has confusing me on what I need to be testing for...Should I test for everything on the 6-way strip or are there only certain things I need to be worried about?


You should test for Chlorine, Ph, Alkalinity let you dealer test for stabilizer and hardness



2) Correct me if I am wrong but you dont use Chlorine and Bromine together in the tub.......you only use one or the other right?  Isn't Bromine safer?

Correct Bromine oChlorine not both, as for bromine being safer, I personally use chlorine and follow the vermonter method,  next to no chlorine present at tub time.r


3) I keep a bull frog in the tub..........and I am not sure exactly what its supposed to do other than someone told they are good to keep in the tub.....Can someone explain what it does and if it is good to keep in the tub?

Let the poor little guy out ;D  I think you meant spa frog and I think they are a mineral cartridge simalar to Nature 2 and assist in tub santizing

4)  There are SEVERAL chemicals for hot tubs........should I have ALL of them to maintain everything in perfect reading for the 6-way strips?  If so, why do they even make a 2-way strip?


You should have Ph up or down depending on you local water conditions,  Alkalinity up(baking soda), possibly a clarifier, MPS (shock) and thats about it.  Other chems can be bought in small quantities as needed.

I hope you guys can help me out.

Thanks a million.


Hope it helped and your welcome

 

[Venissa]

1) Why cant I test for stabilizer and hardness?  The reason I asked is because I am 30 minutes from the nearest dealer.....How often do I need to have the stabilizer and hardness checked?

2) Can I ask why you use Chlorine over Bromine? Whats the difference in the two?  I used Bromine the beginning of the year and with a fresh re-fill am wondering if I should change to Chlorine.

3)  You are right - SPA FROG.....not BULL FROG.....thats hilarious!  Are these products worth the money?  Spa Frog - Nature 2 - I was unable to tell a difference in using it verses not using it......

4) To increase Alkalinity I can use baking soda?


Thanks for your assistance!

 

[Joel_T]

I've only been doing this chemical stuff for a week but have read a LOT of opinions over the past couple months. Clorine seems to get more votes as being simpler, "cleaner" and cheaper. I've pretty much adoped Vermonters methods. Regarding your questions, here's some input from Waterbear whom I've gained respect for along the way.

"The 'minerals' (a marketing term for metals) in the Frog system are silver and zinc, although the website was recently updated and all references to zinc are now absent. Either they removed the zinc or it served no purpose in the water sanitation and the claims they made for it were not true. Silver is bacteriostatic but it has very slow kill times so a residual santizer is still necessary. The newest research on water borne pathogens suggests that chlorine residuals in a 'mineral' system should not go below 2 ppm."

"Most state health departments now say that free chlorine levels should never be below 2 ppm and can be as high as 10 ppm. This is a big change from just a little while back when free chlorine levels were supposed to be between 1-3 ppm."

"Plain old borax (the 20 mule team stuff, sodium tetraborate decahydrate) can also be used to raise pH while having almost no impact on TA when this is needed and can make pH adjustment much easier than trying to use sodium carbonate to to this, which raises TA quite a bit as it raises pH."

Joel

(We just got a Coleman 482 and love it. Never saw the the 461 you've got.)

 

[spa-ing]

When my Ph seemed a bit low, I added 2 T of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda and it went up nicely. Lot cheaper than Ph Up from the spa store.

 

[Venissa]

Joel,

Thanks for the info........

Spa-ing,

Thanks for the tip.......I had no idea you could use baking soda!

I'm learning something new every day!

 

[Vinny]

To test for all the parameters, use a Taylor test kit, K-2005. I use it to test both pool and spa. Stabilizer testing is not an accurate science but as you approach about 100 PPM your about maxed out. Chlorine supposedly becomes less effective at this level.

Depending on the PH and alkalinity, you can use just baking soda but if your alklinity is high you need to use PH up. Forget about Arm and Hammer, buy store brand - I get 2 lbs for $0.79!

As far as borax, I use it in my pool and have used it in a pinch in my tub but a tub's chemical usage is so low just use PH up (soda ash). Buy it in the pool size and it will be real cheap to use. With dealing with warrantees, you don't want anything in your arsenal that'll void it!

 

[Venissa]

Thanks much for all the info - I am going to search for the Taylor Kit now!

 

[Confused_in_Canada]

The reason I said to let your dealer test for stablizer and hardness is beacause they don't have to be tested for as often as Ph and alkalinity but, seeing that its a 1/2 hr drive for you kinda changes things.  You should only need to test stablizer (CYA) about once a month and hardness at the time of fill and then about once a month.

 

[Vinny]

The reason I said to let your dealer test for stablizer and hardness is beacause they don't have to be tested for as often as Ph and alkalinity but, seeing that its a 1/2 hr drive for you kinda changes things.  You should only need to test stablizer (CYA) about once a month and hardness at the time of fill and then about once a month.

This is very true. I very rarely test either but I mentioned the Taylor because we all know that sometimes dealer's testing procedures "lie"!