Couple of question for experienced spa/hot tub owners on chemicals

[2QUIK6]

I went into 2 pool/spa supply places and neither could tell me jack, so I'll post it up here. I recently bought a tub and am confused on the mass array of chemicals available...I've got the basic idea of the chlorine/bromine, Ph +, Ph-, alky+, etc. My Spa starter kit came with Chloraid granuals, PH+, PH-, alky+, and some stabilizer stuff to add only at refills.

My questions are:
1) I see in the store there is "SPA Shock with Chlorine" and "SPA Shock without chlorine"...when do I use one over the other?? The spa shock that came with the kit was without chlorine. I'm figuring if my chlorine levels is low I should use the one with chlorine...if its good, then use the one without..that right??

2) If I switch to Bromine instead of the chlorine granuals, do I have to drain it and refill and use the bromine or can you switch in mid-stream?

3) I see in the store all these other chemicals for water clarity, scale, etc...I thought if the PH/chlorine level/alky levels were ok then those problems wouldn't exist and would take care of itself...what the heck are those chemicals for as they were not part of the starter kit?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[granatl]

I can't exactly answer all your questions, but I'll give you my experiences.

1. DO NOT use soft water!!!! The salt kills the heating element (electric) in a matter of months.
2. I prefer bromine over chlorine, simply because chlorine makes me sneeze. I can't see a reason to have to drain it. Just give it a few days after your last chlorine, and then start using bromine.
3. After the 3rd heating element in 2 years, I had an expert tell me not to get carried away with chemicals. I was constantly trying to get to the perfect pH (7.2, if I remember correctly), so I was always hitting the water with acid or base -- drove me nuts. As long as you're not at the far ends of the spectrum, don't get carried away like I did. Adjust the pH weekly, not daily.
4. Forget about clarity, etc. I used to do that on a fresh fill, and all the calcium (etc.) will precipitate out of the hard water and clog the filter. It took days until the water was clear.

HTH

 

[The Blob]

What granatl said.

Just keep it as simple as possible... I'd just float that bromine tablet thing in there and adjust the pH like once every couple of weeks and it was fine. It seemed like the more I tried to get it perfect the more messed up it got.

I ended up giving mine away because the mofo took so much damn electricity to keep warm.

 

[2QUIK6]

Thanks for the info, I took what ya'll said and so far after about 2 weeks its been pretty simple just looking at the chlorine, ph, and alky every few days or so so and only adjusting chlorine once a week. I may switch to bromine as at first the chlorine wasn't really noticable..but now after a few weeks I'm starting to notice it more and more.
I do put shock in it after every 2 or 3 uses and its been used almost every day so far.
According to my meter, it uses about as much electricity as the big screen tv except its on 24/7...course the heater isn't doing much right now since its 97-99 degrees out.