I test twice a week as I use the tub twice a day on average. My regular is to test for FC,TC,PH,ALK,Hardness. Once I get the hardness up over 100ppm I quit testing for that. I can test for CYA very occasionally if I suspect something is wrong.

My water is not cloudy. My biggest issue is the ALK. On a fresh fill it is like 290. I will then use muratic acid 1/3 cup to bring it down to range then switch to the regular granular PH decreaser. If I don't do it this way it takes days to get the ALK down.

My next issue is my PH is continualy climbing so I am always adding PH decreaser and in the end my alk goes to the basement. It is like 70 now with a PH of 7.5. So I added 2 TBLSP baking soda

Hmmm... A high CYA is an interesting issue. My initial TA and Hardness is way higher than yours. We have very hard well water here. I think you are trying to drive down your TA too fast. Slow it down a bit. The use of Dichlor will raise CYA and in small bodies of water, that rise could be relatively rapid . The issue is that dichlor doesn't affect pH all that much but bleach will -- but not as much as other posters here will tell you. We're not talking gallons and gallons like in larger bodies of water. We're talking less than oz. depending on available chlorine.

I use both liquid chlorine and dichlor in order to keep control of CYA. I keep my tub at a low TA (currently below 65) - it is a portable spa with an acrylic shell -- and control my pH around 7.5. My test kit shows that my water is wonderfully balanced, is crystal clear, I have very stable FC, and a low CYA. I filled it on 6 Nov and would like to change it but our weather here has been horrendous and I can't dump nearly 500 gallons yet.

With your numbers, is your water balanced?

My opinions are this... bleach makes an excellent sanitizer. I don't understand those who counter that argument. I have never heard of chemical rationale that states otherwise. I used to maintain a small above ground pool with bleach alone but fell back to trichlor because the cost savings was not worth the effort. For shocking, yes, too much bleach will raise your pH to levels that are too high and then you go into the cycle you are describing. For me, I have been shocking with dichlor because I am trying to simplify my chemical usage. I haven't tested my CYA in a while and will do so this weekend and post my results of 4+ month water.

In Feb, I had a foam issue that I thought might be the end of my water but related that to four little girls playing mermaid and shocked and threw in one scum ball. Sure enough, all better. Probably excessive "schmutz" in their suits and hair.

I think you are doing fine and your TA may be something that you just let go for awhile unless someone here can tell us otherwise.

AGE