The problem with maintaining a chemical balance in a hot tub is that the chemical levels vary dramatically from even one day to the next.
This is due to the relatively small size of the body of water as well as the high temperatures.
It does not take much in terms of time or contaminants to drastically alter the state of the water.
If you do not understand water chemistry, then owning and maintaining a hot tub is going to be an absolute nightmare for you, not to mention a costly enterprise to be sure.
The bottom line is that you simply can't guess with hot tub chemicals.
If you are just guessing as to what corrections the tub needs, you are very unlikely to be able to maintain a correct water balance.
Going with a Coles Notes of what you need to do to not overspend on spa chemicals, the first thing that you need to do is maintain a bromine level somewhere between 2 to 10 ppm.
If the water has the opportunity to turn green then you will need to spend money to fix it.
Test the water at home with a test strip every 2 to 3 days, or every morning following the day where the hot tub was used.
If you do not have a bromine level in the range of 2 to 10 ppm then you must correct this.
The first step in fixing bromine levels that have dropped to zero is to add oxidizer to the water.
This oxidizer, either hydrogen peroxide or potassium monopersulfate, will reactivate bromine that has been used in the water already.
Add this oxidizer according to the label directions of your product.
Wait two hours and retest the water.
If a bromine level is still not there, you need to proceed to adding powdered or granular bromine to your water.
Wait two hours and retest again and keep repeating this process until you have a bromine level between 2 to 10 ppm.
Because of the effectiveness of using oxidizers to reactivate bromine, it is a good idea to add one at teaspoon of oxidizing powder per person per hour into the spa directly after use.
If you add this oxidizer after use every time it will dramatically reduce the occurrence of finding your bromine levels to be at zero.
If your bromine levels do not fall to zero then you should never open your hot tub to find that it has turned green.
This will absolutely save you money.
The next tip about saving money on your hot tub chemicals is learning the correct order to add the chemicals to the water.
Since pH and total alkalinity are directly related to one another they have the tendency to follow each other in the water.
If you add these chemicals and correct the water in the wrong order that you will effectively work in a circle and be right back where you started.
In order to get the most of your spa chemicals.
You must add them according to the alphabet.
Alkalinity always gets corrected first then the bromine and then the pH levels.
If you follow this you will avoid overspending on pH and alkalinity control chemicals.
A great tip for saving money on your hot tub chemical expenses is to avoid buying hot tub filter cleaners.
Cleaning your hot tub filters is an important part of hot tub maintenance however there are less expensive alternatives available.
If you buy your filter cleaner from the hot tub store you are definitely over paying.
You can use automatic dishwasher detergent, as in the granular variety, and this is the exact same thing that is being sold to you as a specialty hot tub filter cleaner.
Use the proportion of one cup of granular automatic dishwasher detergent to 5 gallons of hot water.
Let the filters soak overnight in the solution and rinse thoroughly the next day.
This is due to the relatively small size of the body of water as well as the high temperatures.
It does not take much in terms of time or contaminants to drastically alter the state of the water.
If you do not understand water chemistry, then owning and maintaining a hot tub is going to be an absolute nightmare for you, not to mention a costly enterprise to be sure.
The bottom line is that you simply can't guess with hot tub chemicals.
If you are just guessing as to what corrections the tub needs, you are very unlikely to be able to maintain a correct water balance.
Going with a Coles Notes of what you need to do to not overspend on spa chemicals, the first thing that you need to do is maintain a bromine level somewhere between 2 to 10 ppm.
If the water has the opportunity to turn green then you will need to spend money to fix it.
Test the water at home with a test strip every 2 to 3 days, or every morning following the day where the hot tub was used.
If you do not have a bromine level in the range of 2 to 10 ppm then you must correct this.
The first step in fixing bromine levels that have dropped to zero is to add oxidizer to the water.
This oxidizer, either hydrogen peroxide or potassium monopersulfate, will reactivate bromine that has been used in the water already.
Add this oxidizer according to the label directions of your product.
Wait two hours and retest the water.
If a bromine level is still not there, you need to proceed to adding powdered or granular bromine to your water.
Wait two hours and retest again and keep repeating this process until you have a bromine level between 2 to 10 ppm.
Because of the effectiveness of using oxidizers to reactivate bromine, it is a good idea to add one at teaspoon of oxidizing powder per person per hour into the spa directly after use.
If you add this oxidizer after use every time it will dramatically reduce the occurrence of finding your bromine levels to be at zero.
If your bromine levels do not fall to zero then you should never open your hot tub to find that it has turned green.
This will absolutely save you money.
The next tip about saving money on your hot tub chemicals is learning the correct order to add the chemicals to the water.
Since pH and total alkalinity are directly related to one another they have the tendency to follow each other in the water.
If you add these chemicals and correct the water in the wrong order that you will effectively work in a circle and be right back where you started.
In order to get the most of your spa chemicals.
You must add them according to the alphabet.
Alkalinity always gets corrected first then the bromine and then the pH levels.
If you follow this you will avoid overspending on pH and alkalinity control chemicals.
A great tip for saving money on your hot tub chemical expenses is to avoid buying hot tub filter cleaners.
Cleaning your hot tub filters is an important part of hot tub maintenance however there are less expensive alternatives available.
If you buy your filter cleaner from the hot tub store you are definitely over paying.
You can use automatic dishwasher detergent, as in the granular variety, and this is the exact same thing that is being sold to you as a specialty hot tub filter cleaner.
Use the proportion of one cup of granular automatic dishwasher detergent to 5 gallons of hot water.
Let the filters soak overnight in the solution and rinse thoroughly the next day.
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