Understanding Water Care with Your Lifesmart Spa
Knowing which chemicals you need and how to use them can be one of the most difficult aspects of owning a hot tub. But Lifesmart has made it easier than ever to select and use the right sanitizer for your system!
Our first recommendation for your Lifesmart rotomolded hot tub is the FROG @Ease Inline sanitizer:
- Only the Sanitizer (already have the new filter basket)
- Full Sanitizer Kit (to upgrade your filter basket)
- @Ease Floater System (does not require special filter basket)
FROG is the preferred sanitizer for Lifesmart Spas, and you can learn specifically about their systems here:
Chlorine vs Bromine
Which sanitizer should I use? That is a common question when it comes to new hot tub owners. And, the truth is, it is simply a matter of preference. And, you only need one or the other, as you cannot use chlorine and bromine together.
Bromine naturally works best with hot water. Chlorine is much less effective than bromine in its regular form, which is why chlorine in hot tubs is usually referring to DiChlor (sodium dichlor). The important thing to note here is the swimming pool chlorine and hot tub chlorine are not the same thing!
FROG has created a special SmartChlor sanitizer (a DiChlor product). This product maintains the proper sanitizer levels automatically throughout the lifetime of the cartridge. This is our recommended sanitizer for multiple reasons:
- Lifesmart has integrated their filter baskets specifically to work with this product
- The FROG @Ease system (SmartChlor) is easy to use
- It only requires shocking the spa once a month (compared to weekly shock required by bromine systems)
At the end of the day, it is about your preference and which you feel best about. If you don’t have a preference, we suggest starting with the one made for your hot tub:
Balancers
Adding the sanitizer is the last step of proper water care and maintenance. Before adding sanitizer, you need to be sure to properly balance your water.
- First, you need to understand the total hardness of your water and adjust so it is in the proper range
- Hard water can be addressed with chemical options or a physical filter on your hose when you fill your hot tub
- Soft water can be addressed with a chemical option (calcium)
- We do not carry these solutions yet, but they are easily found with a basic internet search!
- Second, you need to be sure there is no metal in your water
- If you have metal in your water, it can react with the sanitizer and cause a rust-like staining around the sanitizer area on your hot tub
- You can remove metal with a special hose filter, and there are also chemical options to remove metal
- We do not carry these solutions yet, but they are easily found with a basic internet search!
- After you have good water quality, you need to balance the water chemistry
- Alkalinity
- pH
We have kits available with Alkalinity Increaser and pH Decreaser: