PH and Alkalinity are one of the most common areas of confusion for many hot tubbers and the risks associated with unbalanced water can damage your hot tub so it’s very important to get right.
As the UK’s leading provider of hot tub chemicals, Aqua Spa Supplies prides itself on knowing everything there is to know about balancing your pH and alkalinity. Here’s our guide to ensuring your spa is balanced and ready for use.
What is Total Alkalinity?
Total alkalinity (TA) is the measure of the capacity of water to neutralise acids. It is different from PH as it's measured by parts per million rather than a scale. Alkalinity is important as it acts as a buffer when balancing PH. If your alkalinity is unbalanced, then it will be very hard to balance your PH level. In fact it is a good idea to balance your Alkalinity before doing anything else as this may allow your PH to fall into line too and will make balancing PH much easier. Your Alkalinity level should be between 80-120ppm.
What is PH and Why is it Important?
So once you have balanced your TA, the next step is to use a test kit or strips to check your PH level. PH is the measure of how acidic or how alkaline your water is. 7 is the neutral PH level but in your hot tub you want to aim to get your PH between 7.2 and 7.8. If you do not do this you may in for some nasty and potentially costly surprises!
How to Balance PH & Alkalinity
Balancing your PH and Alkalinity follows the same concept for both. If your levels are low, add increaser, if your levels are high, add reducer! The only difference is what chemicals you need to use.
If your PH and/or Alkalinity is high, you need to add a PH Minus to reduce these levels.
Do this gradually. Add the correct dose of PH Reducer, then run the jets and re-test in an hour or so and see if you need to reduce further.
PH Minus is the sole chemical used to reduce PH and Total Alkalinity in your hot tub. If your PH is low, you need to add a PH Plus to increase these levels.
Do this gradually. Add the correct dose of PH Increaser, then run the jets and re-test in an hour or so and see if you need to reduce further.
PH Plus will increase your Alkalinity level slightly too so keep an eye on this as remember Total Alkalinity is the buffer to allow your PH to be set.
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