A is for Alkalinity

Alkalinity in a hot tub refers to your waters ability to buffer pH changes. Put simply , when your alkalinity gets too low it will become unstable. When the alkalinity gets too high , the water can become locked out of balance.

When balancing water start by establishing an alkalinity reading of

80 - 120

You can use your pH Plus and pH minus products to slowly adjust your alkalinity into range. Follow the products labels for your particular pH products.

B is for Balance pH

pH describes how acidic your hot tub water is. When your water is too acidic it can irritate our skin. Water that becomes to basic won't allow your sanitizer to function properly. In other words a spa might have sanitizer added to it but if the pH is off then the sanitizer will not clean the spa.

Once alkalinity is established use your pH adjusters to achieve a balance of

7.2 - 7.8

Note that it can be a common to find you're initially using pH Plus to correct alkalinity and then immediately using pH down to balance the pH. This can seem counter productive but the chemicals are reacting differently depending on the state of the waters balance. Check out the In-Depth Guide to pH for more details.

C is for Chlorine

Don't get me wrong. Feel free to use your preferred sanitizer. Trichlor, dichlor, bromine, and even peroxide, can be used as sanitizers. The key to remember is that the sanitizer is the last thing we add.  The water is stable and balanced and is now ready to activate our sanitizer to let it do it's job.

While sanitizers will all have slightly different instructions a good rule of thumb for your spa is a sanitizer level of

3 - 5 ppm with chlorine based systems or 5-7 ppm for bromine based systems

S is for Shock

Shock here refers to non chlorinated oxidizing treatment. Sanitizers work by binging to the cell wall of the bacteria and denaturing that cell. What remains are molecules made of the combined sanitizer/bacteria pieces. If these build up in the spa you will not allow your sanitizer to be effective.

The day before you plan to balance and sanitize your water and after you're done using the spa for the evening add your shock treatment to clear out the old junk that your sanitizer has collected the week before.

After adding shock make sure to leave your cover open with the jets running for 10 - 20 mins to allow the oxidized wastes to burn off.

Summary

Hot tub chemistry is simple. Balance your alkalinity to create stable water. Balance your pH to allow proper sanitizer activation. Chlorinate your spa to keep it clean and clear. Shock the tub before next balance and sanitize sequence.

Balance and sanitize water at least once a week to maintain clean, clear, healthy water.