Ah, doesn’t it feel great to have your very own spa on that new deck you built? After a hard day’s work, you can go out there and melt your cares away, and as you watch your worries dissolve in the bubbles, you can find a state of being that spa-less people just can’t attain. I’m sure its heaven. But as with all things, reality does set in, and you will realize that there is some upkeep involved with owning a spa. To keep your spa in tip top shape, clean and running smoothly, there are an assortment of spa chemicals that you will need to purchase and use faithfully, or at least when you absolutely have to. All joking aside, using the right chemicals when they are needed means the difference between having a spa you can enjoy or having a spa that sucks the life and pocket change out of you. The first spa chemical that you will need is called a sanitizer. There are two basic types of sanitizers and they are referred to as sodium dichlor, "dichlor" for short, and bromine. Dichlor is a chlorine-based sanitizer and is your least expensive option. It dissolves easily and produces no residue on the inside of your spa. Bromine comes in tablet form and has no odor. It also stabilizes at a higher pH than chlorine. If you maintain proper levels of your sanitizer, taking care of your spa should be a breeze. But problems do occur and spa chemicals can get out of whack. When this happens, you need to shock your spa water into behaving properly. You can do this with potassium monopersulfate, an oxidizing agent. As you know, not all water is created equal, or should I say treated equally. In some communities, there are high levels of minerals and metals in the water supply. While these minerals do not affect the quality of water, they can affect your spa. You see, minerals and metals in water can stain your spa and corrode the equipment. To keep this from happening, you need to use a sequestrian agent and clean your spa shell regularly. If you already have a shell stain, you can use this agent along with a little elbow grease to take care of it. Cloudy water happens when the pH level of your spa gets too high. To lower your pH and reduce cloudiness, use sodium bisulfate. If your pH is too low, sodium carbonate will raise it to the proper level. Even if you do everything right, the chemicals in your spa can combine with things like make up, deodorants, soap and perfume residue that is left on your body. When this happens, the situation gets a little foamy. To combat foam, you can use a bubble remover. This will break down and remove the foam. As this is just a review of the most likely chemicals that you will need for your spa, there may be other problems that you encounter that is not listed here. Maybe you’ve just moved into your home and the spa is in major disrepair or maybe the kids decided that a bubble bath in the spa sounded like a good idea. Never fear, whatever problems you face, there is a spa chemical to handle it. Where there is a will, there is a spa chemical. You just have to figure out what it may be. Talk to a spa chemical dealer to find out the answer.