Everything you need to know about hot tub chemistry

If the thought of keeping hot tub chemicals balanced is keeping you from getting a hot tub, fear not! With this simple guide you won’t have to worry about keeping chemicals balanced. You can put your focus back on the fun and relaxation that comes along with hot tub ownership.

Basically there are 4 things that need to be kept in check to maintain ideal water balance.

• Alkalinity
• PH levels
• Sanitizer levels
• Presence of organic materials

Those words may have you checking out already, but it really isn’t as bad as you think. In simple terms; the presence of organic materials, like leaves and dirt, cause bad stuff like algae and bacteria to grow. You need a sanitizer to fight the bad stuff. Proper PH levels make the sanitizer work better and the alkalinity makes the PH more or less stable.

Your chemicals will adjust the alkalinity and PH to make your sanitizers work against the organic material. Since you can’t see the levels of PH and alkalinity by simply looking at the water you will need test strips that change color to let you know what the current levels are in your hot tub.

A test strip that tests all levels with one dip like the Insta Test 4 Plus test strip makes testing chemical levels a breeze. Simply dip the test strip in the water and compare the color of your test strip to the package. If any of the levels are off you will want to add chemicals like PH Up, PH Down or Alkalinity Boost to adjust the level.

Because all of these levels are dependent on the others, you will want to adjust the chemicals one at a time, even if several of your levels are off. Begin by adjusting alkalinity (if needed), then PH (if needed), and lastly your sanitizer (if needed). After adding the appropriate chemical, wait several hours or even overnight, then retest the water to see if any further adjustments are needed. Many times correcting one level will bring the others back into an acceptable range. If more adjustments are needed add the correct chemical, wait, and retest.

All you need to remember is test, adjust, wait, test again, repeat if needed. Anyone can do it, even if you are a chemistry drop-out.