How To Lower Alkalinity In Hot Tub With Vinegar. You should, therefore, aim to keep the total alkalinity readings above 80 ppm. Add ten to fifteen drops of essential oil into your hot tub to mask the vinegar smell, if desired.
Test hot tub alkalinity regularly. Using vinegar pour one gallon of white distilled vinegar into the hot tub or spa water. If you need to lower the total alkalinity in a hot tub with 1,000 gallons of water, use 0.21 lbs.
This will allow the vinegar to penetrate the inner workings of the tub and begin to eat away at all of the buildup.
To lower high alkalinity, you can use a ph reducer or muriatic acid. Even worse, chlorine loses its effectiveness around ph 7.8, becoming an oxidation agent that corrodes the metal in your hot tub instead of killing bacteria. To raise low alkalinity and stabilize your ph, use sodium bicarbonate over a period of time. To use vinegar to clean a hot tub, simply pour a one gallon jug of white vinegar into the tub and turn on the jets through one cycle.