we use colloidal silver for keeping our hot tub sanitized as we both have very sensitive skin. We have been doing this for 1 yr now and I love it. That is all we use. Sometimes there is a film on the top of the water or more so on the sides of the tub. I wipe it down with a micro fibre cloth (norwex) and clean the filter every 3rd day
You should aim to get the total alkalinity of your tub between the range of 80 and 120 parts per million (ppm) as anything above or below this will make balancing your pH level difficult.
I was a lab tech for many years and a high quality digital pHmeter is the best way to get a pH reading . ( Providing it has been properly calibrated ). Many swimming pools use bromine instead of chlorine .
Bromine is better for hot tubs and chlorine is better for swimming pools. Bromine works better in hot water while chlorine works better in cooler water.
I have well water and this is what works for me for startup: I use hot softened water from the laundry and hook up a hose. My PH starts off low but the alkalinity is off the charts high. PH will chase alkalinity so the next day ph is sky high. Then I use muratic acid a couple oz at a time every 30 minutes and it takes about 20 oz to finally get the alkalinity correct. It takes a few days to do this because I don't want the ph going too low while attacking alkalinity with acid. I wait 30 minutes with jets on between acid doses. Don't use too much acid in one day. The ph down is too expensive and acid works great just be careful. By running the jets the ph will chase the alkalinity. Once alkalinity and ph are set it barely ever changes. Then I add calcium and then finally sanitizer.
Been using baking soda and it t works great to Raise alkalinity and pH I hope that’s OK I only use 1 to 2 tablespoons maybe once a week if the levels are low
Got our covid project hot tub Oct- '19 and I was put in charge of maintenance. I'd never even been in a hot tub before! Your vids have been a sanity saver- they are so informative and easy to follow. The biggest way we've kept the water balanced is to install a gutter above it. Turns out that pine and cedar oil constantly dripping into the tub off the roof from fall/winter rains runs havoc on the alkalinity and ph! And makes the water super cloudy. Cleaned the tub, installed a gutter and bingo!, water settled right down.
Hey team. I changed out my hot tub water, added some chlorine, and some PH Up. I let the hot tub run for an hour, and then I tested it. The readings were all in line except my PH level. That was high. I went two days and it was still high. Everything else was still okay. Will adding the PH decreaser and letting the tub run, bring those numbers down?
My alkalinity seems to always be high 200+, but PH is fine, I then put in PH decreaser to get the alkalinity down, then try to bring PH back up, but then my alkalinity shoots back up again. How do I beat the vicious cycle?
Could you possibly look into doing some sort of bespoke lay z spa chemical video please? Loads of people have bought them in the UK and have no idea how to maintain. I’m constantly pasting your channel on fb posts sending them here for tutorials. But, these lay z spa’s are not fixed hot tubs so could be slightly different due to design of the pumps etc?
When testing our hot tub it almost always says Chlorine 0 when we have added it ? Ph and Alkalinity seem to keep varying and then we got a gross film and bubbles! Help!!
I never knew I was supposed to leave the cover off! Also, the previous owner left me Baqua Spa stuff, but I keep getting calcium deposits on the walls. He left calcium hardener, but why?
Thank you for your video. My water was just changed and the chemical levels were in balance. The next day after a soak the chlorine is gone and the PH is 8.4. This is a regular problem. It is extremely difficult to get the PH down. Any thoughts?
I notice that when I drain and fill, my bubbles caused by the jets will dissipate quickly. However after a while maybe a month or so, the bubbles will remain way longer and leave the hot tub looking milky in color for several minutes. Is there a way to keep the bubble dissipating immediately like when I use freshly filled water?
Where does chlorine come in? Is it also put into a spa? I added a tablespoon of shock chlorine crystals into the spa and it turned it green, I drained it, cleaned it, and now have fresh well water in it. So what the heck do I add now? So many chemicals on the market, why aren't there just three or four that do the basics. Confusing.
New hot tub owner and i am beyond frustrated -- its been 24 hours and I have done everything the manual said and watched alot of your videos LOL. A girl just wants to get in LOL. I cannot for the life of me get the Alkalinity to come down but the ph is right at 7.5 based off testing strips. Do I keep adding the spa down ( sundance told me to use this ) to get that down? or leaving it around 240? I mean it hasn't moved and I have done the recommended messurements. tep of the water is at 103 and I am using the jets for 20 minutes then testing every 30
Great job of clearing up the procedure!......I drained my tub this weekend and now I'm ready to refill it.......I live in area with pretty hard water (45 gpg so around so around 770 ppm calcium hardness). (Am I correct? Pls let me know if I'm not, as I'm no expert). Should my first step be to fill the tub with mostly softened water(1 gpg), and some hard water (45 gpg), trying to arrive at the correct gpg to equal the recommended calcium hardness of around 200 ppm ( I'm thinking around 12 gpg). Thank you.
I just changed my water and refilled it. Starting Total alkalinity with clean water is 220. I lowered the ph to 7 and TA is the same. What should I do? Do I lower the ph to like 6 with muriatic and aerate?
Hey Matt. We were out of town for a week and when I tested my hot tub water this morning with my teststrip, my PH was a little high but I had a very low chlorine reading. After adding six cupful of chlorine granules, the reading was still low. Not sure if I should keep adding the chlorine until I see the purple chlorine reading, because it had been over a week. What do you think
Before adding in too much chlorine, you want your PH and Alkalinity to be balanced in the proper ranges. Once PH and Alkalinity are balanced, it will allow the Chlorine to be more effective. Also if your Total Chlorine is too High, it will eat up all the Free Chlorine and the Chlorine won’t be able to do its job. To bring your Total Chlorine down, you’ll want to use an Oxidizing Shock (Non-Chlorinated) to “free up” that Free Chlorine. Your Free and Total Chlorine should be right around the same with each other.
Just bought a house and they left their hot tub. These videos have been invaluable! Thank you! You've got a new subscriber 😉👍 Random question... what do you do if your pH levels are at the lowest wrung and your Alkalinity is at the highest?
When do you ever add chlorine? I'm new at this and my water is only clear for a short time after refilling. When I added shock, it turned the water green.
During the winter (in Canada) it doesn't seem practical to add chemicals then leave the lid open 15 minutes unless I can be in it. Never heard of anyone doing this.
Hi Matt! First off, thank you 100 times over. You are "my pool and hot tub guy" and I only trust what you say. In this video at 1:11 you mention 125-150 PPM for TA. But in your Chemicals 101 video at 5:01 you mention 100-150PPM. Just curious if there is a special consideration that would change the range? I know this is splitting hairs and i'm sure 100-150 is all okay but ideally 125-150 is better. Thanks for any clarification on that! I'm writing my notes for maintaining a brand new hot tub!
Do you have any video's on using Aqua Finesse? We live in Germany and hot tubs are not common at all here, so there are no hot tub dealers around. We purchased our tub on line from the Netherlands. it came with a chemical system called Aqua Finesse and some chlorine tabs. We rinse the filter and add in the appropriate amount of chemicals weekly, but the Chlorine levels are always on the low side, so we add in 2 tsp. of granulated chlorine after each use. I have developed some fungal infections from the hot tub or it could just be chlorine sensitivity, but it is super annoying, so I am not able to enjoy our hot tub very often. I don't know much about the aqua Finesse product and I use test strips to check my water. Customer support from our dealer is quite a difficult process, so I though I would reach out to some American based companies or smart hot tub guys like you for some answers if possible. Thanks much!
I think it's something to do with water temperature. Spa water is much hotter than pool water and is more prone to bacteria. Some test strips are spa-specific, some pool-specific and some do both.
If your tub is between 101 - 105 degrees, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get SI to 0 within reasonable PH if Calcium is within the rage your mention unless TA is 80 or so which is far under what you mention. SI is the most important consideration and should be explained as there are now online calculators that make it easy. Tubs should have approx. 150-175 CH with approx. 90 TA I find to keep it balanced at 101-105 with a 7.5 - 7.6 PH. PH also spiks (less acid) due to aeration (running jets) as well so adding acid is often needed which "slowly" lowers TA so I always add about a TSP of soda every 2-3 weeks to keep it in the 90 range. This video is way too general and could cause very cloudy water and scaling at the suggested ranges. (PS: Bromine is also very acidic and should be considered which again many free online calculators help the inexperienced understand)
This video is geared towards a chlorine or bromine hot tub, not a salt water system. Idea is the same but levels are not, ex: alkalinity range is usually 80-120 for salt and calcium is 25-75. If you follow this video, your salt water hot tub is going to be a hot mess😅
The Hot Tub Cheat Sheet (Free): swimu.com/spasheet
The Hot Tub Handbook: swimu.com/handbook
The Hot Tub Video Course: swimu.com/spacourse
Thank you! First time spa owner and was feeling overwhelmed by the chemistry. This helped a lot!
I wish u were around along time ago your videos are very helpful
we use colloidal silver for keeping our hot tub sanitized as we both have very sensitive skin. We have been doing this for 1 yr now and I love it. That is all we use. Sometimes there is a film on the top of the water or more so on the sides of the tub. I wipe it down with a micro fibre cloth (norwex) and clean the filter every 3rd day
Brian, how much colloidal silver do you use for how many gallons?
NO way!! This is BRILLANT! do you make your own silver? how much sliver do you use per gallon? Love to learn more from you.
You should aim to get the total alkalinity of your tub between the range of 80 and 120 parts per million (ppm) as anything above or below this will make balancing your pH level difficult.
I was a lab tech for many years and a high quality digital pHmeter is the best way to get a pH reading . ( Providing it has been properly calibrated ). Many swimming pools use bromine instead of chlorine .
Bromine is better for hot tubs and chlorine is better for swimming pools. Bromine works better in hot water while chlorine works better in cooler water.
BEST hot tub 101 I've seen...thanks!! Makes me fee re-assured that I was doing everything correct!
I have well water and this is what works for me for startup: I use hot softened water from the laundry and hook up a hose. My PH starts off low but the alkalinity is off the charts high. PH will chase alkalinity so the next day ph is sky high. Then I use muratic acid a couple oz at a time every 30 minutes and it takes about 20 oz to finally get the alkalinity correct. It takes a few days to do this because I don't want the ph going too low while attacking alkalinity with acid. I wait 30 minutes with jets on between acid doses. Don't use too much acid in one day. The ph down is too expensive and acid works great just be careful. By running the jets the ph will chase the alkalinity. Once alkalinity and ph are set it barely ever changes. Then I add calcium and then finally sanitizer.
Been using baking soda and it t works great to Raise alkalinity and pH I hope that’s OK I only use 1 to 2 tablespoons maybe once a week if the levels are low
How do YOU keep your hot tub water balanced?
booze and dirty panties
I went through loads of PH increaser before realising I should raise the total alkalinity beforehand. Thanks for the advice
Got our covid project hot tub Oct- '19 and I was put in charge of maintenance. I'd never even been in a hot tub before! Your vids have been a sanity saver- they are so informative and easy to follow.
The biggest way we've kept the water balanced is to install a gutter above it. Turns out that pine and cedar oil constantly dripping into the tub off the roof from fall/winter rains runs havoc on the alkalinity and ph! And makes the water super cloudy. Cleaned the tub, installed a gutter and bingo!, water settled right down.
Can you update this video for salt water system tubs?
How long do you wait to test and add more chemicals if needed?
Hey team.
I changed out my hot tub water, added some chlorine, and some PH Up. I let the hot tub run for an hour, and then I tested it. The readings were all in line except my PH level. That was high. I went two days and it was still high. Everything else was still okay. Will adding the PH decreaser and letting the tub run, bring those numbers down?
My alkalinity seems to always be high 200+, but PH is fine, I then put in PH decreaser to get the alkalinity down, then try to bring PH back up, but then my alkalinity shoots back up again. How do I beat the vicious cycle?
Let the alkalinity and pH fall down together. Then, add pH increaser so it won't bring up the alkalinity.
Thanks, this takes the confusion out of it :)
How do we decrease the water hardness?
I do great woth keeping my pool in good shape all summer. I shouldn't have any trouble with a hot tub, right?
Could you possibly look into doing some sort of bespoke lay z spa chemical video please? Loads of people have bought them in the UK and have no idea how to maintain. I’m constantly pasting your channel on fb posts sending them here for tutorials. But, these lay z spa’s are not fixed hot tubs so could be slightly different due to design of the pumps etc?
Thanks for the advice
Thanks for your info
When testing our hot tub it almost always says Chlorine 0 when we have added it ? Ph and Alkalinity seem to keep varying and then we got a gross film and bubbles! Help!!
Thank you!
I never knew I was supposed to leave the cover off!
Also, the previous owner left me Baqua Spa stuff, but I keep getting calcium deposits on the walls. He left calcium hardener, but why?
Step one, flip your filter, step four, one scoop and two halves purified battery acid, five stir with ten foot Eternium pole, 6: run for your life 😅
How do you clean the filter?
You didn’t mention anything about adding chlorine or bromine...??? Confused on when to add that???
I usually add chlorine after I get my alkalinity and ph in check so the chlorine can work properly
Thank you for your video. My water was just changed and the chemical levels were in balance. The next day after a soak the chlorine is gone and the PH is 8.4. This is a regular problem. It is extremely difficult to get the PH down. Any thoughts?
What product do I add to raise alkalinity? Still not understanding that
What type of chlorine should I use? Tri-chlor, cal hypo?
I don't chase alkalinity, I just adjust my pH & alkalinity level follows naturally.
I notice that when I drain and fill, my bubbles caused by the jets will dissipate quickly. However after a while maybe a month or so, the bubbles will remain way longer and leave the hot tub looking milky in color for several minutes. Is there a way to keep the bubble dissipating immediately like when I use freshly filled water?
Hi RJ, check out our cloudy hot tub water video to see if that helps: th-cam.com/video/vHs8f-Gv3Wo/w-d-xo.html
Where does chlorine come in? Is it also put into a spa? I added a tablespoon of shock chlorine crystals into the spa and it turned it green, I drained it, cleaned it, and now have fresh well water in it. So what the heck do I add now? So many chemicals on the market, why aren't there just three or four that do the basics. Confusing.
Many other sources say ideal Alkalinity is 80-120 ppm, not 125-150.
Right so I get TA to the correct level first
Then deal with pH?
Is this correct as I've read differently elsewhere
New hot tub owner and i am beyond frustrated -- its been 24 hours and I have done everything the manual said and watched alot of your videos LOL. A girl just wants to get in LOL. I cannot for the life of me get the Alkalinity to come down but the ph is right at 7.5 based off testing strips. Do I keep adding the spa down ( sundance told me to use this ) to get that down? or leaving it around 240? I mean it hasn't moved and I have done the recommended messurements. tep of the water is at 103 and I am using the jets for 20 minutes then testing every 30
How much time between adding Alk, PH, and non-shock?
20 minutes is usually fine
Great job of clearing up the procedure!......I drained my tub this weekend and now I'm ready to refill it.......I live in area with pretty hard water (45 gpg so around so around 770 ppm calcium hardness). (Am I correct? Pls let me know if I'm not, as I'm no expert).
Should my first step be to fill the tub with mostly softened water(1 gpg), and some hard water (45 gpg), trying to arrive at the correct gpg to equal the recommended calcium hardness of around 200 ppm ( I'm thinking around 12 gpg). Thank you.
I just changed my water and refilled it. Starting Total alkalinity with clean water is 220. I lowered the ph to 7 and TA is the same. What should I do? Do I lower the ph to like 6 with muriatic and aerate?
Just refilled the hot tub with clean water. What and how much bromine do I put into the hot tub? How long before I can get in?
just got a new hot tub and i want to know where i find the link for the bioi filter cleaner , Sorry i`m new to this love the info many thanks
Thank you 🙏
Merci!!🥳
Hey Matt.
We were out of town for a week and when I tested my hot tub water this morning with my teststrip, my PH was a little high but I had a very low chlorine reading. After adding six cupful of chlorine granules, the reading was still low. Not sure if I should keep adding the chlorine until I see the purple chlorine reading, because it had been over a week.
What do you think
Before adding in too much chlorine, you want your PH and Alkalinity to be balanced in the proper ranges. Once PH and Alkalinity are balanced, it will allow the Chlorine to be more effective. Also if your Total Chlorine is too High, it will eat up all the Free Chlorine and the Chlorine won’t be able to do its job. To bring your Total Chlorine down, you’ll want to use an Oxidizing Shock (Non-Chlorinated) to “free up” that Free Chlorine. Your Free and Total Chlorine should be right around the same with each other.
Just bought a house and they left their hot tub. These videos have been invaluable! Thank you! You've got a new subscriber 😉👍
Random question... what do you do if your pH levels are at the lowest wrung and your Alkalinity is at the highest?
Change the water out and start fresh :) its not a lot of water to swap
Ho do you measure the parts per million for alkanility ??
can you add the alkalinity increaser and ph at the same time?
Start with alkalinity first, as that might effect your pH levels. Then adjust pH
How long do you leave the Jets on when adding chemicals?
15 min
When do you ever add chlorine? I'm new at this and my water is only clear for a short time after refilling. When I added shock, it turned the water green.
Add chorine daily, shock it once a week.
During the winter (in Canada) it doesn't seem practical to add chemicals then leave the lid open 15 minutes unless I can be in it. Never heard of anyone doing this.
wife complains about hot tub smell, any suggestions?
How to else eliminate calcium buildup on the walls of hot tub
Lower ph add vinegar and scub
What would you do if the Alkalinity was low and pH is normal?
Hi Matt! First off, thank you 100 times over. You are "my pool and hot tub guy" and I only trust what you say. In this video at 1:11 you mention 125-150 PPM for TA. But in your Chemicals 101 video at 5:01 you mention 100-150PPM. Just curious if there is a special consideration that would change the range? I know this is splitting hairs and i'm sure 100-150 is all okay but ideally 125-150 is better. Thanks for any clarification on that! I'm writing my notes for maintaining a brand new hot tub!
Do you have any video's on using Aqua Finesse? We live in Germany and hot tubs are not common at all here, so there are no hot tub dealers around. We purchased our tub on line from the Netherlands. it came with a chemical system called Aqua Finesse and some chlorine tabs. We rinse the filter and add in the appropriate amount of chemicals weekly, but the Chlorine levels are always on the low side, so we add in 2 tsp. of granulated chlorine after each use. I have developed some fungal infections from the hot tub or it could just be chlorine sensitivity, but it is super annoying, so I am not able to enjoy our hot tub very often. I don't know much about the aqua Finesse product and I use test strips to check my water. Customer support from our dealer is quite a difficult process, so I though I would reach out to some American based companies or smart hot tub guys like you for some answers if possible. Thanks much!
Why is your recommendation for Alkalinity higher for a spa than a pool (test strips and drop kit both state 80-120 ppm for both pool and spa)? Thanks!
I was just wondering the same thing! All my test kits say 80 +120
I have the same question. Your recommendation for Alkalinity and Calcium levels are not in line with what all of my test strips recommend
I think it's something to do with water temperature. Spa water is much hotter than pool water and is more prone to bacteria. Some test strips are spa-specific, some pool-specific and some do both.
What's your view on spa marvel?
We love it!!
Thank you for the advice. Decreasing the alkalinity first and then raise the Ph, should do the trick for me :-)
If your tub is between 101 - 105 degrees, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get SI to 0 within reasonable PH if Calcium is within the rage your mention unless TA is 80 or so which is far under what you mention. SI is the most important consideration and should be explained as there are now online calculators that make it easy. Tubs should have approx. 150-175 CH with approx. 90 TA I find to keep it balanced at 101-105 with a 7.5 - 7.6 PH. PH also spiks (less acid) due to aeration (running jets) as well so adding acid is often needed which "slowly" lowers TA so I always add about a TSP of soda every 2-3 weeks to keep it in the 90 range. This video is way too general and could cause very cloudy water and scaling at the suggested ranges. (PS: Bromine is also very acidic and should be considered which again many free online calculators help the inexperienced understand)
What about chlorine? Do you need chlorine?
This video is geared towards a chlorine or bromine hot tub, not a salt water system. Idea is the same but levels are not, ex: alkalinity range is usually 80-120 for salt and calcium is 25-75. If you follow this video, your salt water hot tub is going to be a hot mess😅
Wait, so you don't add chlorine or bromine?
Did anyone ever answer you? Yes, after the water is balanced.
Just bought a Inflatable Hot Tub and cannot get it right.
Chlorine? Bromine?
Never mix together! = Mustard gas.
Chlorine? No discussion at all.
too bad your guide is $100. I can buy every book on spa maintenance on Amazon for that price