The water in your hot tub is similar to that of a swimming pool and is unlike the water with which you fill your bathtub. For one thing you do need to use a hose to fill the hot tub and you do not let it empty out once you use it. This means that once you finish bathing, you simply leave it in the tub and reuse it for bathing at another time. You have to use a sanitizer to keep the water clean, just as you do with a pool. However, there is less water in the hot tub, so you don’t need to use as much sanitizer.

One of the sanitizers you use for the water in the hot tub is chlorine, but you also need to use other chemicals. Bromine is one of these chemicals and is not as harsh on the skin or does it have the string chemical smell of chlorine. You do not have to pour in this chemical because it comes in the form of tablets that contain a combination of chlorine and sodium bromide. Most of these spa, hot tub (http://www.mybath.biz/besthottub.html), and Jacuzzi sanitizing systems make use of a floating brominator that helps the tablet to dissolve slowly in the water.

Another method you can use for sanitizing the water in the hot tub is an ozonator. This requires a special piece of equipment that has to be installed inside the motor, which will produce the ozone into the water to destroy the bacteria and other contaminants that will develop in the water from the use of cologne and other materials that you and your guests use in the water. However, ozone will not do everything that you need for cleaning the water and you will still need to use bromide tablets on occasion. All the newer models of spas and hot tubs do have this ozonator included in them.

It is important to test the water in spas, hot tubs (http://www.mybath.biz/servlet/the-Hot-Tubs/Categories), and Jacuzzi tubs on a regular basis to make sure it is clean. This means testing the level of the chemicals to make sure you do know how much chemicals to add. When you add chemicals from time to time, this is known as balancing the water. The pH level of the water is one of the things you should test to measure the amount of acidity. The best level to look for is a neutral pH level of 7. Anything lower than this is too acidic and will have a corrosive effect on the plumbing.

There are test strips you can purchase for this purpose, either from your spa dealer or from retailers online. Each of these strips contains little plastic squares and each one tests a different chemical in the water of the hot tub. When you find that one of the chemicals is out of balance by using this test strip, then you only have to add a small amount to the water and then retest until the strip shows that you have the proper balance.

You should drain the water out of your hot tub every three or four months and give it a good cleaning. The filter needs to be cleaned on a monthly basis and replaced once a year. When the filter is not cleaned, the water will be dirty and adding chemicals will not sanitize it as much as is needed.

By Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer from San Diego, CA. She specializes in do-it-yourself hot tub maintenance and installation, home improvement, and landscape architecture. For a wide selection of hot tubs, check out http://www.mybath.biz