Owning a hot tub should be all about luxury and relaxation: steaming water, bubbling jets, a crisp night sky… that perfect moment of pure escape. But for many hot tub owners, the dream quickly collides with an unexpected reality: the maintenance.
Maintaining a hot tub can sometimes feel like a full-time job. Balancing chemicals, managing sanitizer levels, fighting against cloudy water, battling foam, and keeping the plumbing and pumps in good health — it's enough to make some owners wonder if it's even worth it.
If you've ever spent your Saturday afternoon hunched over a testing strip, squinting at colour charts, you know exactly what we mean (“Is this supposed to be dark yellow, or light orange?”)
The Chemical Juggling Act of Hot Tub Water Maintenance
The first major hurdle for most hot tub owners is the chemistry. Water balance isn't just "nice to have" — it's critical for your health and for the longevity of your tub. Getting it wrong can mean bacteria growth, skin irritation, damaged equipment, and costly repairs.
Typically, maintaining a hot tub involves juggling:
Sanitizers (like chlorine or bromine)
pH increasers and degreasers
Alkalinity boosters
Shock treatments
Water clarifiers
Anti-foam agents
Scale preventers
Pipe and pump cleaners
Each chemical has its own role, and they interact in ways that can be tricky to manage. Adjusting one often affects the others. It's not just "add and forget" — you need constant testing, adjusting, and rebalancing to keep good hot tub maintenance. It's chemistry class all over again, except this time, the final exam comes every week.
You probably didn’t buy a hot tub expecting to become a part-time chemist. In fact, it’s probably the opposite: you bought it to relax, to recover from those long days, and to make the most of your precious downtime outdoors.
Plus, most new hot tub owners don’t get a crash-course on hot tub maintenance. At most, you might leave the store with a long list of products to buy (from them, of course, at mark-ups that’ll make your eyes water.) That’s it.
So, it’s really no wonder that hot tub maintenance feels like a struggle. It’s not your fault! This stuff shouldn’t be complicated, and the good news is, it doesn't have to be (stick with us, and we’ll show you how.)
But first thing’s first, let’s go through some of the most common headaches we hear about from hot tub owners like you. We’ll get into what causes them and look at the ‘conventional’ solutions you’ll hear from most hot tub stores. Then, we’ll talk about a different approach – one we think you’ll agree makes hot tub maintenance much simpler.
1. The Mystery of Cloudy Hot Tub Water
Even owners who are careful about testing often find themselves facing cloudy hot tub water. Maybe your sanitizer level dipped too low, maybe the pH crept too high, maybe organic debris built up. Whatever the cause, clearing cloudy water usually requires even more chemicals: shock treatments, clarifiers, and a reset of your sanitizer levels.
The worst part? Cloudy water can return quickly, and sometimes without a clear cause. Many frustrated owners end up draining and refilling their tubs more often than they'd like — wasting time, money, and water.
2. Hot Tub Foam: The Unexpected Enemy
Hot tub foam seems harmless — maybe even a little bit fun — until you realize it's often a sign of trouble. And gross. Really gross.
Foam usually forms because of oils, lotions, detergents, and organic buildup (including skin oil and sweat) in the water. Once it starts, it can be stubborn to remove.
Anti-foam agents are a band-aid solution, but ultimately, foam means your water chemistry isn't where it should be.
Fighting foam requires:
Draining and refilling (again)
Rebalancing all your chemicals
Sometimes replacing filters prematurely
Again, more time, more cost, more frustration.
3. Hot Tub Pipe and Pump Problems
One of the lesser-known (but highly critical) aspects of hot tub maintenance is taking care of the internal plumbing. Biofilm — a slimy buildup of millions upon millions of bacteria — can grow inside pipes and pumps where sanitizer levels are lower. Most people just call it ‘gunk’.
And this gunk isn't shy. Biofilm, like most bacteria, unfortunately, thrives in dark, hot water (that’s anything over 90°F or 32°C). The bacteria that forms hot tub biofilm can reproduce in as little as 20 minutes. That means leaving your hot tub for just a few hours without proper disinfection can lead to billions of times more bacteria than when you stepped away.
Once biofilm forms, it becomes extremely resistant to normal sanitizers. Even with sanitizers designed for hot tubs, this biofilm will stubbornly stick around unless the concentration is kept consistently high (at least 1 ppm for chlorine and 2 ppm bromine).
To prevent this, many owners perform "pipe cleanings" as part of their hot tub maintenance every few months using specialized chemicals that break down biofilm. It's messy, smelly, and adds yet another to-do to the list. And if you don't keep that sanitizer concentration just right afterwards, the biofilm can quickly return, sending you right back to square one. It all comes back to chemistry.
4. It's Easy to Fall Behind
The hard truth is that many people fall behind on hot tub maintenance because it's complicated, time-consuming, and easy to forget. And sometimes, life just happens – it’s not always somebody’s fault. But in any case, falling behind often leads to:
Algae or bacterial contamination
Damaged pumps, filters, and heaters
Unpleasant smells
Skin rashes or eye irritation
Expensive repairs or even tub replacement
When you're struggling to keep up, hot tub stores often point you towards an all-in-one hot tub maintenance system. Traditionally, this meant a big bundle of expensive chemicals (and sometimes ‘cubes’) designed to work together, complete with a strict schedule for what to use and when.
The idea is that if all the products are all part of one system and clearly labelled, it’ll be easier to manage, and you'll be less likely to forget or make mistakes.
But these bundled systems come with their own set of issues. Cost is a big one; it’s tough to stick to a maintenance plan that costs an arm and a leg.
Then, there’s the fact that these niche chemicals and ‘cubes’, designed as a closed system, might not work well with any other products you might already have. The expectation is that you'll use their brand, and nothing else.
And finally, even with fancy packaging, a bundle of numerous products is still numerous products to juggle. In the end, you might find you're just as likely to fall behind.
Which brings us to a very important question: Isn't there a better way?
Simplifying Hot Tub Maintenance in 2 Easy Steps
Thankfully, innovation has arrived. Instead of buying, measuring, adjusting, and guessing at multiple different chemicals, it's now possible to manage your hot tub water in just 2 easy steps.
TubTabs are a unique water maintenance tablet designed to replace all the various chemicals people currently need for hot tub maintenance — pH balance, water clarity, scale prevention, pipe cleaning, and more. Instead of pulling out a chemistry kit every week, you simply drop a TubTab into your tub.
And when it comes to sanitation, a traditional bromine sanitizer is still necessary. That's where BroTabs come in. BroTabs provide reliable, no-frills bromine sanitation — but the magic happens when paired with TubTabs. The TubTab "supercharges" the BroTab, ensuring that sanitizer levels stay consistent and effective all week long.
For a normal-sized hot tub, it's as simple as:
1 TubTab + 1 BroTab every week.
That's it.
No more cloudy water. No more foam battles. No more guessing if your pipes are clean or your sanitizer is still active. And, best of all, no more struggling with a closet full of expensive chemical "potions" with a schedule as convoluted as an international airport.
Benefits of a Simplified Hot Tub Water Maintenance System
Maintenance Task
Traditional Method
TubTabs + BroTabs
Test water
❌ 3–4x/week
✅ Not needed
Add chemicals
❌ Multiple messy liquids and cubes
✅ Just 2 simple tablets
Fix cloudy water
❌ Frequent
✅ Rare
Fix foam buildup
❌ Frequent
✅ Rare
Clean pipes
❌ Every 3 months
✅ Not needed
Monthly chemical cost
💲💲💲 High
💲 Low
Save Time: Spend less time testing, balancing, and adjusting.
Save Money: Fewer products to buy, fewer emergency repairs.
Better Water Quality: Crystal-clear, fresh-smelling water week after week.
Longer Equipment Life: Protect your pumps, pipes, filters, and heaters.
More Relaxation: Focus on enjoying your tub, not managing it.
Hot tubs are supposed to be a haven of relaxation, not a source of stress. With the right maintenance system, you can get back to what you bought the hot tub for in the first place: pure, effortless enjoyment. You’ve earned it.
Hot Tub Maintenance Doesn’t Have to be a Struggle
If you've been feeling overwhelmed with hot tub care, know that you're not alone — and that a simpler way is finally here. With just two small additions to your routine, maintaining a sparkling, healthy hot tub can be as easy as lighting a candle or pressing "start" on your jets.
Life is complicated enough. Your hot tub maintenance doesn't have to be.
Interested in learning more about TubTabs and BroTabs? See how they make hot tub maintenance a whole lot simpler.