There are seven chemicals, you absolutely need to keep your hot tub clean and clear, and there are a few that aren't really necessary. So we'll show you how to pick the right chemicals and how much to add to your hot tub check it out. If you want to keep your hot tub water balance and avoid major problems like algae bacteria and biofilm, buildup you'll need to have at least seven hot tub. Chemicals on hand, a hot tub, sanitizer hot tub shock, alkalinity increaser, ph increaser, ph decreaser, calcium, hardness increaser and a plumbing or line flush cleaner.

Before you add anything to your hot tub, you'll need to test your water use, test strips or for more accurate results. A liquid test kit, you can also take a water sample to your local pool and spa store, and once you have the baseline readings, you can start adding your chemicals. The first chemical you need is sanitizer. Sanitizer keeps your hot tub water, well, sanitized and you'll need to decide which sanitizer you want to use chlorine, bromine, lionine, minerals or a salt water system, and each one has its pros and cons.

Now. The biggest debate is whether to use chlorine or bromine, and a lot of folks tend to use chlorine to sanitize their hot tub. It's cost effective, it's easy to add and manage, and it's an aggressive bacteria and algae killer. One of the downsides that chlorine smell chlorine kills contaminants by oxidizing, but, as this chemical reaction occurs, it gives off waste products called chloramines.

They are what causes that chlorine smell. Now, if you can smell chlorine, it probably means that your chlorine has been used up in your water and you need to add more. The proper chlorine level is one to three parts: per million bromine, on the other hand, doesn't produce that chlorine-like smell in your hot tub, and it has a few advantages too. It has a lower ph making it a little bit easier to keep the water balanced.

It lasts longer and it's gentler on your skin. Now bromine does have a couple of drawbacks. While it lasts longer than chlorine, it works more slowly. It's also more expensive, though you should be able to use it less often than chlorine, so the proper bromine level is three to five parts per million.

Finally, bromine is unstabilized. That means, if you use it in an uncovered outdoor hot tub, it'll burn off pretty quickly under the sun. Bromine is best for indoor, hot tubs or hot tubs that are not directly in the sunlight. Now there are other sanitizer options like bequinine, minerals and salt systems.

So be sure to check out our other video talking about all the different types of sanitizers. Okay, so you've got your sanitizer. The next chemical you need is hot tub shock. Hot tub shock is a great problem.

Solver and a must have for regular hot tub maintenance. If you see algae starting to bloom or you notice, cloudy hot tub water, your hot tub shock will help and a weekly shock treatment is a great way to help refresh your sanitizer levels and prevent issues down the road in a chlorine or bromine hot tub. You can either use chlorine or non-chlorine shock if you use non-chlorine shock you'll be able to use your hot tub a lot sooner after you shock it, but chlorine shock is more effective at killing, algae or bacteria. So that's what we recommend in a mineral, hot tub.

We recommend using non-chlorine shock to keep your chlorine levels low in a beguine hot tub. You want to use the shock design specifically for the brand that you have and in a salt water system use chlorine shock if you're worried about chlorine levels being too high. It's okay to use a non-chlorine shock, real quick before we continue. If you're looking for an easy to follow, tutorial, that'll answer, all your hot tub questions go check out our hot tub handbook and video course you'll.

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Now, let's talk about the most confusing elements of hot tub, water, chemistry, ph and alkalinity, ph and alkalinity interact with each other ph measures how acidic your water is and alkalinity acts as a buffer for ph neutralizing incoming acid and keeping your ph from drastically changing you'll Need to adjust your alkalinity levels before your ph levels. There are a lot of products out there designed to raise or lower both ph and alkalinity all at once, but it's important to have chemicals that do one thing at a time: you'll want your alkalinity levels to be between 100 and 150 parts per million. If your water's alkalinity dips below 100 parts per million, it can also bring your ph levels down and that's why it's important to have an alkalinity increaser, but what if the alkalinity gets too high? Well, there's actually no product called alkalinity decreaser so to lower your alkalinity. You need to use a ph decreaser.

Now, a ph decreaser obviously lowers ph2. The proper level for ph is between 7.4 and 7.6. If your ph is too high, it can reduce your sanitizer's effectiveness and cause cloudy hot tub water, and if your ph is too low, it can cause burning eyes and corrode parts in your hot tub and that's when you need to use a ph increaser. So you've got alkalinity.

You've got ph here's how they work together when adding chemicals. If the ph and alkalinity levels are both low, just add alkalinity increaser to raise both of them, then test the ph again to see if it needs additional help. If both the ph and the alkalinity levels are too high, you can use a ph decreaser to drop them back down to the right level. Now, while you're adjusting alkalinity and ph, you may need to test the water numerous times to get everything right, so keep a supply of test strips on hand.

The next chemical you need is a lot simpler to use and that's calcium, hardness increaser. If you live somewhere with hard water, you may get calcium deposits on faucets and shower heads, but you actually want the calcium hardness in your hot tub to be a bit on the higher side, because if the water is too soft, it can eat away your hot Tub shell pipes and other parts, and that's why calcium harness increaser is so helpful. Your calcium hardness levels should be between 175 and 250 parts per million. Unfortunately, if your calcium levels are too high, the best solution is to drain your hot tub, scrub it and start over with fresh filtered water.

The last chemical, you absolutely need is a hot tub plumbing or line flush cleaner over time. The plumbing inside your hot tub can begin to accumulate mineral deposits dirt and grime. The only way to get rid of this buildup is to use a special line: flush, cleaner and then drain. Your hot tub you'll want to flush the plumbing and drain your spa at least every three to four months so be sure to check out our other video with a complete walkthrough on how to drain and clean your hot tub.

Now there are a few optional chemicals that you may want to have on hand. The first is a hot tub. Enzyme enzymes help break down organic contaminants like skin cells, body oils and leaves they're not really necessary. As long as you keep your sanitizer level balanced and you drain clean and refill your hot tub, every quarter, the other chemical is water clarifier.

This is helpful for clearing up your water right away. If you're in a rush, but water clarifier treats the symptom, not the actual cause of cloudy water, if you don't address the root of the problem, your water will go back to how it was once the clarifier wears off and that's it. Those are all the hot tub chemicals that you need. If you missed anything or have any questions, please leave a comment to.

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