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Grittiness on sides of spa?

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10:16 AM
February 1, 2012

spasoaker

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they make spas that have different materials on the inside, which don't collect residue (or at least make it harder for debris to gather?) I think they have some new cleaning products that help get that grime off as well. I'd make sure if you use it, you make sure it's organic and free of dangerous chemicals. Spas can really heat up, and those chemicals might be hard to breathe in. I'll ask the hot tubs kansas city company I bring in to put our next hot tub in what they think, and I'll see if they have any made of new materials.

9:26 AM
July 29, 2010

waterbear

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This is why water testing is very important in a hot tub! Jarad is correct that high calcium hardness and hgh total alkalinity and high pH lead to scaling. However, unless you added the calcium and overdosed and bumped up the TA too high then these two factors are not the easiest to change, particularly the high calcium, since these are constituents of your fill water.

pH on the other hand, IS easy to monitor and change if needed and, luckily enough, pH has the MOST impact on whether water will form scale or not than any other factor! (Temperature is the next most important factor in determining scaling–higher temps equal more tendency to scale but we can't do much about that in a hot tub, can we?)

So we are back to pH. Just check you pH daily (it only takes a minute!) and lower it when it creeps up above about 7.8. Try to keep TA below 90 for chlorine spas and between 100-120 for bromine spas (there is sound chemistry behind this but I won't go into confusing you with such things as 'pH rise from outgassing of carbon dioxide' Confused )

9:40 AM
July 27, 2010

Jarad

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cyclonica said:

Hi. I got this hot tub used a couple months ago and now the sides feel like sandpaper. I called the local pool store which told me it could be high calcium hardness, but I checked it with test strips and it seems to be in the ok range. Can someone help me figure out what could be causing this? I have scrubbed it, but it seemed like it came back in a day or two. Thanks!

nice question cyclonica , it happens to everyone there first few drain and refills. What i have found to be most common in this situtaion is that when you first fill your hot tub up with water it naturally has alkalinity , ph , calcium in the water already.. the thing is when you first fill up with water before you add chemicals in do a test on your water with a test strip or take it to your local spa store and have your water checked if you dont trust your readings on your test at home. What you most likely will find with test is that you have high alkalinity in there! When alkalinity gets too high it can cause the calcium in the water to be pulled from the water and causes it to stick's to the surface of the spa (aka the sand paper) as we calll it .. the best way to treat that is putting in a triple dosage if you will of ph – where you would normally put in 1 tbs to drop down ph you would put in 3 tbs of ph -. However you only do that as needed not on a regular basis. That will effect the alkalinity with that dosage. and will help in you not getting that sandpaper feeling anymore. Doing weekly test will help you in preventing it . i hope that helps

12:17 AM
July 27, 2010

cyclonica

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Hi. I got this hot tub used a couple months ago and now the sides feel like sandpaper. I called the local pool store which told me it could be high calcium hardness, but I checked it with test strips and it seems to be in the ok range. Can someone help me figure out what could be causing this? I have scrubbed it, but it seemed like it came back in a day or two. Thanks!

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