The first and most important step for maintaining crystal clear, clean hot tub water, is routinely checking your chlorine and PH levels. This is done using a Taylor water testing kit. Please DO NOT use test strips. They are not accurate.
We recommend buying this Taylor test kit on Amazon:
Step 1: Testing Your Chlorine Levels
Your Taylor water test kit will include a test filler that has labeled on it “Cl Br” (Chlroine / Bromine) and “pH” (potential of hydrogen) black bordered, transparent squares. This is the filler kit we are going to use in this guide.
Please take the black rubber seal off the top of it and dip the filler under the water in your hot tub as shown below:
Fill it with water to where both the Cl Br and pH columns water levels are level with the top black line that crosses the top square as shown below:
To test the Chlorine levels, the next step is to add drip agents to the water. We will begin by testing the Cl levels. To do this, we will need to use the drip bottle labeled “R-0001”. Please add 5 drops of “R-0001” into the “Cl Br” column. Please reference the pic below:
Once you have added 5 drops of “R-0001” the next step will be to add 5 drops of the reagent “R-0002”. Please reference the pic below:
If your hot tub water has active chlorine in it, the test water color will change to a light or dark pink color. The ideal range is either “1-2” or “2-4”.
Please match the test result color with the color indicator column under “Cl Br”. For accurate readings, please hold your test kit in a bright area, against a white background to make reading the test results easy.
If your test water color is above the “2-4” level, your chlorine levels are too high. You can either leave your hot tub cover off for 30 minutes to an hour and let the sun reduce the level of chlorine, or you can dilute the chlorine levels by slightly draining and adding more water to your hot tub.
As shown in the picture below, my hot tub was in the “.5-1” range with a slightly pink hue. This means I need to add more chlorine.
If there is no color change after adding the “rR-0002” reagent, then you have no active chlorine in your hot tub. The means your hot tub is likely unsanitary and has no means off fighting off bacteria to maintain clean water. The solution is to add 1/4 to 1/2 cap of chlorine granules to your hot tub. This should be enough to get your chlorine levels in the 1-2 or 2-4 range. Now, before we do this, lets first next check our pH levels, as our pH needs to be the correct levels BEFORE adding chlorine.
Step 2: Testing Your pH Levels
Much like testing your Chlorine levels, testing your pH levels is the same process. The only difference this time is we are using the water sample collected in the “pH” Column.
Open your test kit and grab the reagent labeled “R-0014” also labeled “pH Indicator Solution”. It looks like this picture below:
Next, we will squeeze 5 drops of “R-0014” into the pH test column. There are no other reagents to add after this.
Once you have added 5 drops of solution as shown above, make sure you mix the contents lightly, by rotating the test kit up and down as shown below.
After you have mixed the solution, hold up the test kit against a white backdrop with adequeate light to get an accurate reading.
As you can see from my example, my pH is just right. You want your pH level to be in the “7.2” to “7.5” range. If your pH level is low it will be yellow, if it is high, it will be red. Having an orange color is just right!
Now if your pH is too low, the solution is adding pH up granules. These are sold on Amazon by many different vendors, but the one I reccomend is here:
If you PH is too high, then you need to add pH down granules. These are also sold on Amazon as well. Here is my recommendation:
The amount of pH up or pH down is all dependent on the current reading of your test kit and how many gallons of water your hot tub holds. It’s always smart to start with small amounts of granules rather than higher amounts to correct your pH levels. Simply add, run the jets for 15 minutes, test the water, add, run jets for 15 minutes, etc etc. Do this until you get your pH levels just right.