How to Keep Your Hot Tub Water Balanced
Three numbers decide whether your hot tub water is clear and comfortable: pH, alkalinity and sanitiser.
By Oldyon Team1 min read
Clear, comfortable hot tub water is not luck. It comes from keeping three readings inside their target ranges and checking them often enough that small drifts never turn into cloudy water or sore skin.
Start with total alkalinity
Alkalinity acts as a buffer for pH. Aim for 80 to 120 ppm and adjust it first, because a stable alkalinity makes every other adjustment easier and keeps the pH from swinging after each top-up.
Then adjust pH
Keep pH between 7.2 and 7.8. Below that range the water stings eyes and corrodes heater elements; above it, sanitiser works poorly and scale forms on the shell and in the pipework.
Finish with sanitiser
Test chlorine or bromine before every soak and shock the water weekly. If you run a salt system, still check the readings: the cell only generates sanitiser, it does not tell you the water is balanced.
