A clean hot tub isn’t just about adding sanitizer. If you don't add in the right amount of hot tub chemicals in the right order at the right time, you’re going to end up with some funky hot tub water. But don’t worry: the secret to keeping your hot tub alkalinity and hot tub pH balanced is knowing a little basic water chemistry.
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⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Hot Tub Chemistry
00:45 - Hot Tub pH and Alkalinity
02:37 - Calcium Hardness
03:17 - Hot Tub Care Course
03:57 - Optional Chemicals
05:23 - How To Add Chemicals To Your Hot Tub
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📺 Subscribe to our channel if you want more information on swimming pool and hot tub maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/swimuniversity
Swim University®️ has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University®️.
😎 Visit our website for more in-depth information on spa maintenance and care: https://www.swimuniversity.com/
💦 Get 10% off our hot tub maintenance video course and ebook by using the promo code VIDEO: https://www.swimuniversity.com/hot-tub-handbook/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description'>https://www.swimuniversity.com/hot-tub-handbook/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Hot Tub Chemistry
00:45 - Hot Tub pH and Alkalinity
02:37 - Calcium Hardness
03:17 - Hot Tub Care Course
03:57 - Optional Chemicals
05:23 - How To Add Chemicals To Your Hot Tub
👍 Our Favorite Hot Tub Maintenance Gear: https://www.swimuniversity.com/hot-tub-essentials/'>https://www.swimuniversity.com/hot-tub-essentials/
📺 Subscribe to our channel if you want more information on swimming pool and hot tub maintenance: https://www.youtube.com/swimuniversity
Swim University®️ has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University®️.
😎 Visit our website for more in-depth information on spa maintenance and care: https://www.swimuniversity.com/
Time to clean that hot tub, i'm just gon na dump in some whoa wait hold on a clean hot tub, isn't just about adding sanitizer, if you don't add in the right amount of chemicals in the right order at the right time, you're gon na end up With some funky hot tub water, but don't worry the secret to keeping your water balanced, is knowing a little basic hot tub. Water chemistry check it out. We're gon na cover three basics of hot tub, water, chemistry, alkalinity, ph and calcium hardness. I know i know who thought you would ever need to know all this chemistry to enjoy your hot tub, but once you understand these concepts, you'll be able to troubleshoot most hot tub water problems.
First up ph and alkalinity. These two go hand in hand when you start balancing your water's chemistry. The first thing you're going to adjust is the alkalinity specifically the total alkalinity total absolutely is the water's ability to neutralize acids. It acts as a buffer, reducing acidity in your hot tub water.
No one wants to soak in acidic water right. You want to aim for an alkalinity level between 125 and 150 parts per million. Then there's ph, as you may remember, from high school chemistry ph measures, whether a solution is basic or acidic. The ph scale goes from 0 to 14, with 7 right in the middle being neutral, the lower the ph the more acidic the water is, the higher the number the more basic it is.
You may want to aim for a ph level between 7.4 and 7.6, with 7.5 being ideal. Now, here's why they work together because total alkalinity buffers acidity adjusting the alkalinity first may be enough to bring the ph in line. If you need to increase alkalinity, you can use an alkalinity increaser. However, if you need to bring the alkalinity down, you'll actually use a ph decreaser.
That's because bringing ph down also brings alkalinity down again. This is why we adjust the alkalinity first. Finally, if, after reaching a good alkalinity level, the ph is still out of whack, you can add ph increaser or decreaser. Getting these two levels balanced is essential if they're not right, your sanitizer won't work.
The way it's supposed to now. This is another reason to test your hot tub. Water at least once a week, keep a supply of test strips on hand, or you can use a liquid test kit for more accurate results. You can also always take your water sample to your local, hot tub dealer and have them tested too.
Next up is calcium hardness. This is the measure of how hard the water in your hot tub is. If you live somewhere with hard water, you know how you can get calcium deposits on faucets and shower heads right. Well, you actually want the water in your hot tub to be a little bit on the harder side.
If it's too soft, it can eat away your hot tub, shell pipes and other parts, slowly breaking them down over time. Now, to keep the water hardness steady, you can add calcium, hardness, increaser. The ideal, calcium, hardness level in your hot tub is 175 parts per million to 250 parts per million 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. Get in-depth video lessons, plus a step-by-step downloadable guide, covering everything that you need to know about: hot tub maintenance, it's packed with money, saving tips, so you can save money and time keeping your hot tub clean. This is the ultimate manual for every type of hot tub. The best part is, we always keep it up to date, so once you buy it, you have access to the latest and greatest version for life.
That's swimuniversity.com, spa and use the promo code, video, so alkalinity, ph and calcium. Harness are the chemicals that you absolutely need to maintain your hot tub, water chemistry, but there are a couple more. You can keep on hand for special circumstances. First is hot tub enzymes.
They help break down organic contaminants like skin cells, body oils leaves twigs insects and all other kinds of nasties that can end up in your hot tub, but if left too long, they'll break down and leave a gross film on top of your water and scum ring Around your spa, enzymes aren't absolutely necessary as long as you keep your sanitizer level balanced and if you drain and clean your hot tub on a regular basis, at least every three to four months. Next, there's water clarifier. Now, while clarifier will help you clean up your cloudy water, it's only a temporary solution. Water clarifier treats the symptoms, not the cause of cloudy water, so it'll clear things up for a little while, but not forever.
But if you don't address the actual problem, it'll go right back to the way it was once the clarifier wears off. If you're, in a rush, because, let's say you're having people over to use your hot tub, clarifier gets the job done. Instead of spending a lot of time, testing and balancing you can just pour in some clarifier and then deal with the root issue later, but just remember it's always better to keep your water clean and balanced water. Clarifier is just a last and temporary resort.
Okay, now that you know what chemicals to add, let's go over, how to add them. First keep the hot tub running. When you add chemicals, you want the chemicals to mix into the water and the hot tub jets will do this for you once you add, the chemicals do not cover your hot tub. You might have heard.
This is a good idea to keep the chemicals from evaporating, but, right after you add chemicals, they need to gas off, which means a portion of the chemicals will be released into the air. Off-Gassing is normal and you want those chemical gases to dissipate so don't trap them under your hot tub cover. If your hot tub is indoors, it's a good idea to open a window or turn on a ventilation fan or even both, just so that these gases don't hang around the room where you'll have to breathe them in. If your hot tub has air valves that increase jet pressure turn them off, you don't want off gassing to happen too quickly. You need some of the chemicals to remain in the water to do their jobs too much air in the water and too much of the chemicals will off gas. Now, before you add any chemicals test, the water using test strips or a liquid test kit remember focus on alkalinity and ph first, if your alkalinity and your ph are out of whack, the sanitizer can't do its job next determine how much of each chemical you'll need Refer to the manufacturer's instructions to figure out which chemicals you need and how much to add, then measure them out. You don't want to just pour chemicals into the water straight from the container. Remember the goal here is balanced water, and that requires precision.
Finally, pour the measured chemicals straight into the hot tub water and walk away. The jets will mix everything up and leave it for at least 15 minutes, and then you can cover your hot tub to prevent evaporation before you get into the hot tub test. The water again to make sure that the levels are where they need to be and if they're, not repeat the process until they are and there you have it, you just passed hot tub, chemistry. 101! Congratulations! If you missed anything or have any questions.
Please leave a comment to let us know and to help out your fellow hot tub owners hit the like button below. If you found this video helpful and if you want to learn more about hot tub, maintenance and troubleshooting subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one and check out the hot tub handbook and video course at swimuniversity.com, spa don't forget to enter that. Promo code. Video to get 10 off, that's it thanks again and happy soaking.
What about chlorine? Do you need chlorine?
Thank you! First time spa owner and was feeling overwhelmed by the chemistry. This helped a lot!
can you add the alkalinity increaser and ph at the same time? Are you in Nepean ?
Just bought a Inflatable Hot Tub and cannot get it right.
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?
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
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 .
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
Thank 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.
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? Service area Orleans??
Many other sources say ideal Alkalinity is 80-120 ppm, not 125-150.
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!!
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. Are you in Barrhaven ?
What type of chlorine should I use? Tri-chlor, cal hypo?
BEST hot tub 101 I've seen…thanks!! Makes me fee re-assured that I was doing everything correct!
How do you clean the filter?
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
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. Are you in Kanata ?
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.
Wait, so you don't add chlorine or bromine?
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?
But if you add pH increaser it will also raise your alkalinity 😆 the problem I'm having right now 🤣. So aggravating.
Thank you for the advice. Decreasing the alkalinity first and then raise the Ph, should do the trick for me 🙂 Service area Ottawa??
Chlorine? Bromine? Are you in Orleans ?
Thanks, this takes the confusion out of it 🙂 Service area Barrhaven??
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!
You didn’t mention anything about adding chlorine or bromine…??? Confused on when to add that???
What's your view on spa marvel?
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?
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.
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?
How long do you leave the Jets on when adding chemicals?
How long do you wait to test and add more chemicals if needed?
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?
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?
How do I get the alkalinity down, if the Ph is fine?
Thanks for the advice
How do YOU keep your hot tub water balanced?