Finally, an alternative to soaking in harsh chemicals. I ran across ahhNatural at a local fair, and was both pleasantly surprised and skeptical. After all, if treating your hot tub naurally without harsh chemicals, like chlorine and bromine, was so easy, then why isn’t ahhNatural more readily available? It was worth a shot.

For $240 you get “the system” (best I can tell, you can only buy this at their site). The kit contains a perforated bag they call the “pad” (presumably some sort of rock mixture), sea salt, sodium bicarbonate, and vitamin C. The vitamin C was not labeled, so I only recently figured out what this was. Besides not knowing what was in the mystery bag, the rest of the kit seemed like grade school science.

Probably the biggest downfall to the whole system is the additional time and maintenance required. But I guess that should be expected – you’re not nuking your water, but going for a natural balance. I followed the instructions to prep my natural hot tub for the new approach – basically you need to clean everything thoroughly – kill all of the bacteria. The instructions recommend emptying the tub, but I did not – I just shocked it with some chlorine and cleaned the filter as they suggested. It appears the system relies on the mystery bag soaking up the sea salt and sodium bicarb to help clean the hot tub water – this step takes about a day in itself.

After the initial prep, it’s pretty much just like any other tub – except you have this bag in the bottom. You still need to play with your water for the first week or so to find the balance. I also found that you should clean your filter frequently for maximum benefit. You’ll find ahhNatural a little more demanding than normal chemicals – you need to clean and recharge the bag monthly and it is suggested to replace the bag annually (another $240).

While the instructions suggest using hydrogen peroxide for the chlorine alternative (it breaks down into water and oxygen), it also mentions using MPS (monopersulfate), they claim is a more concentrated peroxide. I found this stuff at my local spa store and it seems pretty effective. The instructions also suggest using a natural clarifier, like the Sea Klear brand, which I also found locally (or buy at ahhNatural). I use the MPS after every soak – a little goes a long way. And I use the clarifier when the water looks funky.

I would not recommend the ahhNatural system for people who want easy maintenance, although this isn’t much harder than the traditional method. The instructions suggest that heavy users probably won’t find this of great value, but I often soak after a sweaty day. As a result, I just need to clean the filter and use the clarifier more often.
All in all, this is a great natural hot tub, spa or pool water treatment alternative.

Related Reviews:

• Update: ahhNatural Dependent on pH
• ahhNatural Update: Tips to Keep Your Spa Clean