So last Tuesday I finally had enough. Jumped in my hot tub after work and whoosh – crazy foam everywhere, like some bubble bath party gone wild. And the water? Felt weirdly slippery. Not the good kind. Like, you know that gross film you get on cheap goggles? Exactly that feeling.
Time to Test This Mess
Fished out my little water test kit. You know, the drops and vials kind. Focused on the hardness test first. Followed the instructions: filled the vial, added the special hardness drops one by one, shaking after each. I swear I added ten drops before it finally decided to turn that tiny hint of blue. Yup, hardness was way down low. No wonder it felt like soaking in dishwater.
Hardness was bottoming out. That explained the excessive suds and that uncomfortable slickness on my skin. Plus, I’d noticed some light staining around the water line lately – another clue.
Grabbed the Hardness Juice
Luckily, I had a container of that stuff you use to fix this exact problem – calcium hardness increaser. Looked at the label on my tub model to see how many gallons it holds (super important!). Did the math: based on how low my test showed hardness was, I figured I needed about half a cup of this stuff.
- Made sure the jets were running strong.
- Turned the air controls down to keep the sudsing manageable. It was already wild enough!
- Put on rubber gloves – that powder’s no fun on dry skin.
- Grabbed a clean plastic cup, measured out half a cup.
Walked over to the tub, poured the powder slowly right over where the water was churning the most near a jet. Didn’t just dump it all in one spot. Wandered around the edge, sprinkling it in bit by bit so it spread out nice.
Waiting Game & Double-Checking
Left the jets running full blast for like an hour. You gotta let the stuff really dissolve and mix in completely. Got impatient after about 30 minutes, sure, but forced myself to wait the full hour.
Dipped the test kit vial back in after the hour. This time? Bam! Two drops and the blue showed up strong and clear. Perfect!
But hold up. Knowing this stuff can mess with your pH a bit, I smartly went ahead and tested that too. Yep, pH had drifted down a tiny bit, sitting just below 7.2. So grabbed my pH increaser powder (just a sprinkle this time), turned the jets back on, added it, and gave it another 15 minutes of mixing. Retested pH back to 7.4 – nailed it.
The Sweet Relief
Hopped back in that evening after letting everything circulate. Night and day!
- Zero foam. Not a single bubble rogue bubble.
- Water felt clean and balanced again, no slimy nonsense.
- Skin felt normal afterwards, not tight, not slippery, just right.
Honestly, it made the whole hot tub relaxing again. No more wrestling with foam monsters or feeling like I dipped in cooking oil. Simple fix for a problem I kept ignoring, but boy does it make a difference. Don’t sleep on your hardness level, folks!
