Hot Tub Newbie

Here's my current care routine for my hot tub.  Its goals are to minimize chemical use, use a variety of chemicals to help break up bio film and other continents, and maximize pleasure.    Continuous Monitoring of Temp, pH, ORP, and TDS via iCare Adjusting of pH, Salt Setting as Needed 1st of Month Check Phosphate Level - Reduce if Greater than 300 Check Calcium Hardness Check & Clean Filter with Filter Cleaner Add MPS 15th of Month Add Enzymes Double Check Water with Dealer Clean & Protect Cover Quarterly Replace Mineral/Silver Stick Shock with Chlorine.  Skip dose of MPS As-Needed Replace Salt Cell (When it Stops Working) Change Water (At 3300 TDS, 6-12 months, or issues with red light on salt system) Under Evaluation Weekly Treatment with Soft Skin Spa by Ideal Water Care  as a candidate to: Reduce need for pH reducer / alkalinity increases Increase feeling of softness Reduce need for reducing phosphates Eliminate purchase of mineral stick (it include...

There's quite a few resources online comparing testing methods and which is "the best".  There's so many to pick from.  I won't try to repeat those discussions here.   At this point, I've come to the following conclusions: Don't strive to hit targets perfectly.  Testing is about staying within acceptable ranges.   Each test and testing method will give you different results, even on the same water.  Actual values will be different than what an individual test reads (every test has a confidence range around it / mistakes can be made when testing / some tests sample more water than others). Your best bet is to test regularly, use multiple testing methods, and look at averages / clusters of those testing methods. Strips These are the cheapest/easiest to use.  That said, I sometimes have trouble matching colors.  They tend to work well for a quick spot check to see if anything is way off. I personally recommend the Freshwater 5-Way Test Strips, Freshw...

Adding chemicals seems simple on the surface.  Measure, add to the water, and mix.   That said, there's some important details to follow, and I wanted to understand the reason behind the recommendations. Here's some more context around the direction label that I wish was more easily available: Why add chemicals to the filter compartment? First, this is where the most concentrated flow of water is within your hot tub.  This will help mix up the chemicals and ensure they are easily distributed.  Second, adding granular chemicals to the main body of water can actually damage your hot tub.  If they are to land on the bottom/seats of your hot tub, they may cause discoloration, take longer to mix up, and potentially are harmful to occupants if they haven't fully mixed and come into contact with skin. Pro tip - Try to drop any granules on your filters.  That way discoloration/damange happens to replaceable components.  In a worse case though, discoloration f...

Brands   One of my first questions was which brand of chemical was the best.  Hot Springs recommends their own Freshwater brand.  My dealer primarily carries Spa Guard and gave me a great start-up kit of these chemicals.   I don't always believe that manufacturer products are the best, but I hoped to find some objective data comparing the different chemicals online.   Unfortunately I have not found one and hope someday someone will do some objective testing. So I relied on surveying the Hot Springs Freshwater Salt Hot Tub Owners Facebook group to see what people were using.  Of the 44 respondents, here was the breakdown: Freshwater (64%) SpaGuard (15%) LeisureTime (14%) Clorox (7%) Even though SpaGuard is in the minority for salt water hot tub owners, I take away from this (combined with my dealer recommendation and The Hot Tub Lady's glowing recommendations) that it's still a very viable product and I'm continuing to use it because I value supporting my de...

Many people's first sources of information is their hot tub dealer.  I was incredibly fortunate to have an amazing sales person who was willing to answer my questions and continue communicating via phone/text messaging to help me be successful.   I recommend that everyone start with their dealer and follow their advice (after all, they'll be the one servicing your tub).  That said, not everyone is as fortunate as I was.  I also didn't want to be constantly bothering my sales person.  So I set out to see what I could find online. One of the first things I started looking for online was sites to learn about hot tub care and use.  At first I was surprised that many web sites didn't answer the questions I had.  Then, I discovered communities.  Hearing first hand from others and being able to ask questions of the communities was the fastest way that I learned. Communities Facebook Hot Spring Freshwater Salt Hot Tub Owners Facebook Hot Spring Spas Custo...

The blog is dedicated to sharing my experiences and learnings as a first-time hot tub owner. During the panemic, my wife and I decided to add a covered patio to our back yard for our family to enjoy.  While doing this project, we couldn't help but add something we've always wanted--a hot tub.  As we started to figure out what it would take to make this happen, that's when the learning began.   On the internet there's lots of resources around hot tubs.  That said, finding them and separating them from the noise of the internet is hard. I also ultimately decided upon a Hot Spring Limelight Flash Hot Tub  with Freshwater (Salt System) Chlorine Generator .  Given that not many people choose salt water chlorine generation systems, it was even harder to find resources that discussed some of the specific nuances.   This is the guide that I wish I would have had available when I started my journey.  I hope it is helpful on yours--especially if y...