Hot Tub question - Balancing the water

[CanuckPool]

Wow, that more more than 2¢... more like $20 worth. Thanks for the in depth answer. On start up I put in the 2 part A liquid/B powder to bring my bromine reserve up at initial fill. Ok to sum up the rest, sorry if I get things wrong, its been 6 months since I touched pool chemicals. I can shock with Bleach. Use borax to bring my Ph up when needed and dry acid to bring it down. where do I buy dry acid anyways, is it available at my local hardware store?? and how does baking soda fit into it? Yikes, this is what happens when you dont have your pool open all year around, you forget!

Now I just have to wait for some warm weather to drain my hot tub :-(

[waterbear]

Wow, that more more than 2¢... more like $20 worth. Thanks for the in depth answer. On start up I put in the 2 part A liquid/B powder to bring my bromine reserve up at initial fill. Ok to sum up the rest, sorry if I get things wrong, its been 6 months since I touched pool chemicals. I can shock with Bleach. Use borax to bring my Ph up when needed and dry acid to bring it down. where do I buy dry acid anyways, is it available at my local hardware store?
You already have it...It is the pH-...look on the ingredients and you will find it is sodium bisulfate.
? and how does baking soda fit into it?
baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. You can buy it for a lot of money packaged as total alkalinity increaser at the pool store or just go to the grocery store and buy a box of baking soda. It's exactly the SAME chemical! (Some of the pool store products might say Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate instead of Sodium Bicarbonate but it's just a different name for the same chemical!) It's purpose is to raise total alkalinity! (NOt a good idea to use it to raise pH, btw, even thought it will slightly. Some people try to use it for this pupose in their spas, however)
Yikes, this is what happens when you dont have your pool open all year around, you forget!

Now I just have to wait for some warm weather to drain my hot tub :-(

Does this raise the ante to $30
Still just my 2 cents!

[waste]

CannuckPool, let me remind you of the thread we shared in Oct https://poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=6138 , I'm sorry I didn't think to tell you of the other 'chemically equivalent' items you could be using.

[CanuckPool]

Sweet jesus!! I knew this topic sounded familiar! thanks again... I see your $30 and raise you $10.

[waste]

Evan, I may not have said it correctly in the other post but, your 'pennies' are made of gold!