It is critically important that the fresh or potable water system aboard your vessel not harbor any diseases, bacteria, viruses, or anything else that may be harmful to your or your crew. Proper use of Aquatabs Marine in your onboard water system will help accomplish this goal.
Our Starter Kit provides all of the equipment needed in order to confidently maintain the fresh water system on your boat. It includes our boat water purification tabs, testing strips, and a water meter.
Here is the recommended process for the use of Aquatabs Marine and the related products we provide to assist with your water system maintenance.
First Treatment
The purpose of this treatment is to treat the full volume of all of the water that will be in your tank after you fill.
1. Before filling or topping off your water tanks, add 1 Aquatabs Marine tablet for every 4 gallons of water needed to fill your tank's full capacity. For example a 40 gallon tank will require 10 tablets.
2. Fill or top of your water tank(s) and wait 30 minutes.
3. Run enough water out of an unfiltered faucet on board so that water is drawn from the tank, usually a couple of gallons would be sufficient.
4. Test the water from the faucet using the Sensafe Free Chlorine Test Strips. You should get a reading of between 1 and 1.5 parts per million (ppm or mg/l).
5. For the first week or so, test the water daily to ensure that the treatment is holding. A significant drop in free chlorine (ie below .5 ppm) may indicate that you have biofilm, algae or bacterial growth in your tank that may require a shock treatment. We will discuss the process of a shock treatment in another article.
6. If the free chlorine reading falls to .5 ppm or below, you should treat the water again.
Topping Off
The purpose of this water purification tab treatment is to treat the volume of the water added to your tanks, assuming that the existing water in the tank has already been treated appropriately.
1. After attaching a Save-a-Drop water flow meter to your supply hose (for ease you may use a 4' potable water hose between the meter and your tank), you can begin to fill your empty or partially filled tank.
2. After each 4 gallons added, drop in 1 Aquatabs Marine tablet into your water tank.
3. After filling your tank and adding the appropriate number of tablets, go through steps 2 through 6 above.
1 comment
Step 5 in your “Fresh Water System Maintenance – Best Practices” article talks about a different article that discusses “shock treatment” but I do not find that article on the education page of your site. I also remember discussing that when I purchased Aquatabs at the Annapolis Boat Show last fall. Can you point me to where that information is?
Do you recommend treating tanks and lines with bleach first, before filling and treating w/ Aquatabs? If so, do you have a recommend solution strength and procedure? Thank you!