Buying Spa Test Strips

All spa users will need to purchase spa test strips if they want to avoid problems and risks associated with dosing spa chemicals such as chlorine granules.  Testing your water allows you to dose more accurately to maintain a safe and healthy balance of both chlorine and pH levels.  Water that is unbalanced can cause a range of symptoms such as eye irritation or skin irritation.

Again, just to confuse you, the industry has provided a thousand brands and variations, such as 3 in 1 Test Strips or 5 – 1 Test Strips.  For most, as long as the product provides testing results on Chlorine and pH, it will generally be sufficient.  However, sometimes (and especially in certain areas) spa owners can experience additional problems with water balance that have nothing to do with Chlorine or pH.  A good 5 in 1 test strip will also alert you to other potential problems such as total alkalinity readings, total hardness and calcium levels, or even cyanuric acid levels which can occasionally cause a problem.  And generally these strips can be purchased for the same or even less than the less informative test strips.

Quality is an issue sometimes with cheaper test strips.  With brands such as AquaChek Test Strips or QualAqua Test Strips you can be guaranteed of sensible and clear consistent readings, whereas with some cheap test strips you can experience problems with colour bleeding and unclear and dull colours on the result readings.  Since starting to sell QualAqua Test Strips we have abandoned all other brands due to the flexibility, quality and price.  At the low prices offered, you can afford to test your spa water every day and several times throughout the dosing routine!

Test strips are simply strips of plastic with several soft pads containing chemical re-agents which change colour depending on the levels being tested for.  By comparing the colour on the strips to the colour charts provided on the packaging, you can see how high or how low each indicator is and use it to calculate how much of each chemical to add. When using spa test strips, please always consult the dosing specification on you spa chemicals to safely gauge dosing.

A common problem with spa test strips is when users experience a distinct lack of colour regardless of how much chlorine they continue to add.  The problem is caused by bleaching, and happens when the chlorine level is so high the colour on the strips is removed.  Watch out for this and too much Chlorine can be dangerous.  To resolve the issue, wait for the chlorine to evaporate and disintegrate as it does it’s job PRIOR TO BATHING or change/dilute the water until acceptable levels are indicated on a fresh spa test strip.