New and frustrated: can't balance water!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

SusieQ1982

0
Nov 8, 2016
10
Waterloo, ON, Canada
I have a new-to-me hot tub that is FINALLY in place and I'm dying to get into it but it seems that I can't get the water right and I am not sure what to do.

I own a 2000 Arctic Spa Cub model. It holds 1135 litres of water. We just filled it last night with the hose filter and then when it came up to temp this morning I added one capful of Arctic Pure Boost stabilized chlorinating granules as directed by the sheet I got from Arctic Spa. After a couple of hours I used the hth 6 way test strips and it looks like I must have put in too much chlorine because it's off the charts high, looks like 10.

Alkalinity looks like it's around 220 and pH looks like around 9, and TH at 450. My area is known for hard water so they said to add 2 capfuls of pH reducer, wait 2 hours, then another 2 capfuls. I've now added a total of 8 capfuls and continued to tell my hot tub to cycle so it circulates the chemicals and the numbers aren't even budging. On such a small tub shouldn't I be seeing some kind of change at this point?

We were hoping to use the tub tonight. I am guessing this isn't going to happen.

What should I do at this point?

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
I looked at that article but I got confused because of the bleach stuff. I bought all these products at the hot tub store and I'm honestly not comfortable diverging from there for now. I want to at least figure out what I am supposed to do first!

I thought I followed the directions they gave me but my water is way out of whack.

It's really hard to read these stupid colours! Now I am not sure if the pH did come down but alkalinity still seems too high. I don't have a specific reading for calcium hardness just total hardness, is that the same? The bottle says 250-450 is OK and it looks like I have about 450.

Am I screwed for using it if the chlorine is too high tonight?
 
One of the big problems with those test strips will be the fact that, if the free chlorine is too high (above 10ppm), then none of the other indicators can be trusted. High FC levels will cause the pH test to read high and it will likely interfere with the other tests as well.

Total hardness (TH) is not the same as calcium hardness (CH). Total hardness includes both calcium and magnesium ions.

My suggestion is you do not soak in that tub tonight. You have no idea what the chemical levels are and you could make yourself ill if you soak in high chlorine. My suggestion is for you to invest in a good spa test kit. Test strips are, for all intents and purposes, worthless or, at the very best, are only somewhat indicative of the actual chemical levels IF your water is already balanced. You live in Canada so getting a good test kit based on Taylor reagents is going to be expensive since there is only one company that is allowed to import and resell Taylor reagents and kits - Lowry & Associates (don't ask, it's a long story as to why they hold a monopoly). Taylor makes a spa kit that you can purchase that has all of the tests you will need. You should seriously consider investing in it as it will make testing a lot easier.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
One of the big problems with those test strips will be the fact that, if the free chlorine is too high (above 10ppm), then none of the other indicators can be trusted. High FC levels will cause the pH test to read high and it will likely interfere with the other tests as well.

Total hardness (TH) is not the same as calcium hardness (CH). Total hardness includes both calcium and magnesium ions.

My suggestion is you do not soak in that tub tonight. You have no idea what the chemical levels are and you could make yourself ill if you soak in high chlorine. My suggestion is for you to invest in a good spa test kit. Test strips are, for all intents and purposes, worthless or, at the very best, are only somewhat indicative of the actual chemical levels IF your water is already balanced. You live in Canada so getting a good test kit based on Taylor reagents is going to be expensive since there is only one company that is allowed to import and resell Taylor reagents and kits - Lowry & Associates (don't ask, it's a long story as to why they hold a monopoly). Taylor makes a spa kit that you can purchase that has all of the tests you will need. You should seriously consider investing in it as it will make testing a lot easier.
Click to expand...

I'm confused as to why the company told me to add so much chlorine if it's that far off. Do they not expect people to want to use tubs right away? :( I added the chlorine about 7 hours ago.

I live in a relatively small town. If I can't find the Taylor kit tomorrow, what can I try? I've been waiting since May to use this tub. I know it's not related but it's just been one disaster after the next. My deck/base contractor scammed me out of $2200 and didn't do the work properly- didn't even level the ground! It's taken this long to get that fixed and then an electrician to come out (which cost way more than I had planned). I just want to relax in my tub :(
 
This is basically why TFP exists - pool and spa owner that can't stand being robbed blind by the pool industry ;)

Any idea how much a "capful" of the granules is by weight? Even if you can guesstimate the volume of a "capful" then we can probably figure out how much chlorine and CYA (stabilizer) has been added to your tub.

Sorry to hear about your install issues....that's another reason why TFP exists - shady pool installers and builders that try to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers....
 
Well, 2 tbsp would be about 29mL or 28 grams (give or take a few ball parks) and the stuff is basically 99% dichlor. If you put your tub volume into Pool Math you can figure out that that much dichlor adds about 15ppm FC to your spa and about 14ppm CYA (about half of where you want to be in terms of stabilizer). So your FC was definitely way over 10ppm making the "guess"-strips fairly inaccurate. The dry acid is a little more worrisome because you've added quite a bit, enough to drop the pH drastically. However, because your TA was so high and spa's will always tend to have rising pH, it's probably ok for now.

I would not add anymore chemicals into the tub until the FC readings come down to some normal range, likely by tomorrow morning or so. Leave the tub lid open and the pump circulating (if you can) and it should help dissipate the chlorine. Once the FC comes down, you can get a better measure of pH and TA.

Can you get stuff online from Amazon? If so, look up what Taylor test kits you can get through Amazon Canada or eBay. The Taylor K-2105 might be available to you in Canada.
 
Amazon.com doesn't ship here. I just looked on .ca and see these (holy cow expensive!)
Taylor Complete Pool Outdoors - Amazon Canada
Taylor Technologies K-1004 Trouble-Shooter Pool/Spa Test Kit: Amazon.ca: Sports Outdoors

Is one of those right?

I told it to circulate but not sure I can make it stay on. I really don't want to leave the cover off all night because it's cold and the electric bill. In the morning I'll take it off though. I'm frustrated because I thought I followed the directions exactly. I've just been waiting to add the buffer stuff which makes you use way less chlorine pucks and it says it keeps everything the way it's supposed to be.

Thank you for your help. It's just been a long few months! I just spent like $500 at the spa store although I think half of that was for four new pillows since the ones that came with this tub were garbage.
 
The K-1004 gives you some of the tests - chlorine, pH and TA, but doesn't have the CH (calcium hardness) or CYA (stabilizer) tests. That's not such a big problem because you can guesstimate your CYA levels if you accurately track how much of that dichlor powder you add. Once you get to 30ppm CYA you want to stop using the dichlor powder and simply switch to chlorinating liquid, aka laundry bleach. Now the spa shop will tell you that you should never add bleach to your spa and if you do you'll void your warranty, you'll be a bad citizen and you'll cause the start of the apocalypse. It's all scare tactics so they can sell you overpriced spa products.

As we say here, it's up to you who's advice you want to follow - the pool store or TFP. You can't do both.

The other kit is way too much money for what you need to do so I would say if you really need to know CYA and CH, then use the pool store for that or try to find test strips that ONLY measure those parameters. CH is only a problem if you let your waters pH and TA get severely out of balance and then you can get calcium scale.

Last bit of advice before I drink a shot of bourbon, go to bed and mourn the sad state of the American political system - I would not add anything else the store sold you until you get a handle on your levels and testing. Chlorine, pH and TA are key right now. Nothing else matters until you get those three properly sorted out.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You really can't do much until the chlorine comes down. I would not trust those pH and TA values at all because the chlorine can bleach the dyes used in those tests and the colors you are seeing may not be accurate.

Does the hot tub get any sunlight? I know leaving the cover off is not ideal, but sunlight (UV) will help break down the chlorine faster.
 
I just realized that you are near Niagara Falls/Buffalo NY....any chance you have a friend in the USA who can receive shipments for you? If you can get stuff shipped to a US address and go pick it up yourself, you can get all the test kit chemistries you need from TFTestkits.net. TFT sells only Taylor brand products and they ship fast and have excellent customer service (the owner is a member of this site).

Anyway, many Cannucks get their test kit supplies by ordering through a US address and picking up across the border. Just a thought to save you a bunch of money on test kits (the high end test kit you found in Canada will cost you less than $90 USD).
 
I'm going to disagree with others here about no getting into the tub because of high chlorine levels.

At 15ppm FC, two people soaking will have it down under 10 in 15 minutes. I just did my winter water change here in WI last weekend, and I added 10ppm before I even got in. 5 more got added whilst soaking, and 10 more when we were through. FC was under 5 the next morning, and nobody got sick lol.

just keep adding dry acid till PH drops to 7.5. You'll get there.

Without tile/grout or plaster, I don't see any reason to test for alkalinity/hardness/calcium. Focus on chlorine and PH, that's what's important.

just my 2 cents.
 
apparently my test strips suck. I went into the Arctic Spa store with a water sample and they showed me that the numbers were way off. The chlorine was high, but not crazy high. They gave me something to drop it down enough to use the tub tonight. The TA was OK, the hardness was OK, the pH was a little high so she gave me some stuff to put in that would drop pH but not affect alkalinity.

So we're going to use it tonight and then put in the buffer and go from there I guess? I am going to get one of those Taylor water test kits. I had no idea my test strips were a waste of money.

We live about 90 min from the border and I can get packages from a box there, but I don't know how long it'll be before we get there again. Gas is expensive too :(
 
Well, I disagree with just dumping more chemicals in to fix the problem and, in my opinion, a good deal of they sold you was likely not necessary although you'd have to post up the chemical names they sold you so we can find out what they are (likely sodium thiosulfate or peroxide to reduce the chlorine and, maybe, boric acid to reduce the pH without affecting TA....although that last one is a mystery to me because reducing pH and TA go hand-in-hand....). However, I understand you're between a rock and a hard place with the spa water out of balance and no reliable way to test it. It's your hot tub and if all you can do is get spa store testing done then you'll have to follow their advice.

When you do get a reliable test kit, feel free to post your results back into this thread and many folks will be willing to help you get the spa water sorted out. Until then, you'll just have to keep running samples to the spa store.
 
Hi Susie. You can also try Aquatech logistics (google). I ordered a ColorQ kit from them. They have some Taylor kits but they were expensive. Everything is quite a bit more expensive here in ON than down south.

I ordered a TF100 to the border and that worked. No duty either so it was basicslly 70 USD.

Does your pool store have a real tester or just strips for analysis?
 
bikeguy, they ran the sample through a little machine connected to a computer. She gave me some better test strips to use at home for now though.

I just went out and tested it- I'm a little confused. So looks like the chlorine has come down nicely to about 3 but now pH is slightly low? Looks like chlorine is 3, pH is 6.8, and TA is 80. Does this need correction or will it be OK on its own? We used it for about an hour last night and then had to turn it off for the evening until we solve the noisy pump problem. Would that really make everything drop so low? I didn't add the buffering liquid yet since it seems not to be right.
 
As I said, high chlorine levels produces false-high pH readings and will mess up TA measurements as well. Now that your FC is back to a normal level, the pH is probably more accurate. You added a lot of dry acid initially, the results of which were masked by the high FC levels.

Borax from 20 Mule Team borax is a good way to raise pH without increasing TA. All pH-Up products are typically sodium carbonate which will increase both pH and TA. Alternatively, if you don't have borax handy, you can run your tub with the jets in and the aeration will naturally increase pH.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply