Hot tub owners often get confused with all the balancing involved in the water chemistry of their hot tubs. Despite the confusion, getting your water levels right should not be an excuse. Otherwise, you will have cloudy and dirty hot tube water.
Your hot tub water’s alkalinity and ph are a complex water composition. It’s always advised to adjust alkalinity before adjusting pH. But If your total alkalinity is low, how will you raise it without affecting your balanced ph level?
While it may seem pretty challenging, the good thing is that there is a way to do that, and it isn’t as complex as you think. Tune in until the end of this article to learn how to raise the alkalinity in the hot tub without affecting the ph.�
Using Baking Soda
Follow these steps to raise your alkalinity level without affecting the level of your hot tub.
1. Check Your Alkalinity
With test strips or a hot tub water testing kit, assess the acidity or basicity of your hot tub. The appropriate range is between 80 and 120 parts per million. If it is less than 80 ppm, you must increase the hot tub’s alkalinity.
2. Determine the Baking Soda Amount Needed to Raise Alkalinity In A Hot Tub
Determine how much baking soda your hot tub will require. To increase the alkalinity level by ten parts per million for every 10,000 water gallons, which is about 37,854 L of water in your hot tub, you will need 1.5 pounds or approximately 680.4 g of baking soda.
3. Add The Mixed Baking Soda
Just 1/4 or 1/2 of the total computed in step 2 should be added. Do not add all of the baking soda to avoid overdoing and boosting the alkalinity level to a high amount. For around six hours, combine it and let it settle and circulate in the hot tub. For thorough mixing, keep the pool pump off the hot tub running throughout the procedure.
4. Check The Alkalinity In A Hot Tub And Ph Again
Check that both levels are within the advised ranges by grabbing your test kit once more. More baking soda should be used if the TA level becomes low. Add additional or muriatic acid and sodium bisulfate if the pH; level is too high. After 24 and 48 hours, continue checking the pH and alkalinity levels in the pool and make some small chemical modifications at a time to guarantee optimal values.
What Is Total Alkalinity?
Let’s first understand the total alkalinity level to know how this process works in the hot tub’s water.
Total alkalinity, or your hot tub’s water capacity to withstand pH variations, keeps your pool’s pH levels from fluctuating too much or too little when chemicals like chlorine are administered. In short, total alkalinity aids in maintaining the hot tub’s pH level, which needs to be raised if it is too low.
Here are some of the possible reasons why your alkalinity level is low:
- Overusing chlorine tabs
- Too much spa shocking
- Adding too many muriatic acids and other pH-lowering agents to the hot tub water.
- Backwashing or draining because when you fill the hot tub with fresh water, the water dilutes, lowering the alkalinity.
It’s crucial to keep in mind the connection between pool alkalinity and pH. In most cases, an increase in alkalinity level will be accompanied by a rise in pH level, and a decrease in alkalinity will result in a reduction in pH. But we will learn later that there is a way to raise the hot tub alkalinity level without affecting the ph.
What Is Ph Level?
A neutral PH is 7, but for the hot tub water, one must aim for a PH between 7.2 and 7.8. PH is an indicator of how acidic and how alkaline your hot tub water is. You can be in for unpleasant and possibly expensive surprises if you don’t keep this balance and the alkalinity level. For instance, an imbalance of ph can cause corrosion to the parts of the hot tub and can affect the skin and eyes of hot tub users by making them itchy and dry.
Why Do You Need To Raise Total Alkalinity Without Affecting Ph Level?
Other than these two closely related, it can also cause detrimental effects when you need to raise alkalinity and lowering the ph.
If your pool’s pH is low, a rise in alkalinity may be acceptable despite the pool’s increased ph level. However, if the pH level has been close to 7.4 or 7.6, you might be in trouble.
The capacity of chlorine to destroy germs and the user�s bathing experience are both impacted by a pH above 7.8 in your pool. Additionally, there are many other issues like the following:
- Skin rashes or irritation
- A murky pool
- Possible viral and bacterial diseases
- Pointless chlorine
- Pool equipment scaling results in pricey repairs.
- Limited pool circulation as a result of pipe scaling
It is why there is a need to keep these two levels balanced. When there is a need o raise the alkalinity level, do it in a way that will not affect the ph. So how do you do it?
Raise Alkalinity In Hot Tubs Without Affecting Ph
Applying baking soda to increase your hot tub’s alkalinity level is the best and safest way to do it without increasing pH. The chemical name for baking soda is NaHCO3, and it contains sodium and bicarbonate. It is offered for sale as a fine, white powder for both indoor and outdoor use.
There are hot tub-related products that are often made entirely of baking soda. You could also use regular baking soda that you can find at home since they are typically less expensive and more widely accessible.
Two substances are usually utilized to raise the total alkalinity level without affecting the ph . These are the Soda Ash and Baking Soda.
However, despite many claims that soda ash is a preferred method, it can significantly raise the hot tub’s ph. Thus, it is still best to use baking soda in the hot tub water to be on the safest side possible.�
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions to guide you in raising alkalinity in a hot tub without affecting the ph.
What Should Be Adjusted First Alkalinity Or pH?
Since alkalinity indicates the amount of acid the hot tub water can absorb and neutralize, it is always advised to adjust alkalinity before adjusting pH.
How Do I Fix Low Alkalinity In My Hot Tub?
You can use Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and any other alkalinity increaser product to raise the hot tub alkalinity level. Sodium bicarbonate, the primary compound used to boost pH, should be present in any alkalinity increaser products you decide to buy.
Does Raising Alkalinity Raise pH?
A hot tub with a rise in alkalinity level will require frequent acid addition from a water balancing and functional standpoint, as it will constantly elevate the pH.
Conclusion
Making sure that your water chemistry is balanced is essential to maintaining your hot tub to an optimal level. While increasing the total alkalinity level may also mean increasing the ph level, using a baking soda solution of 680.4 g and approximately 37,854 L of water will do the trick to your hot tub. You can raise your hot tub alkalinity level without risking your ph rising. Make appropriate adjustments by checking your water using a test kit.
