We bought an Aquaterra Spas Ventura 96-jet, 6-person Spa from Costco (online). It was delivered as promised, wrapped on a (partially broken) pallet. It was delivered to the edge of our property. Prior to it arriving my husband (who is a contractor) set a paver stone base for it to sit on. He was able to use his rigging skills to relocate the nearly 918 pound spa from our front property edge, on to the paver stones. After we unwrapped it, we were glad to see there was no damage to the spa caused by the broken delivery pallet.
Spa Won’t Hold Water
When we started to add water, we quickly realized there was no drain cap! The spa was also missing the cover lock key(s). I called the manufacturer. They sent them to us – no problem. Next we hired a local, licensed electrician to run the electrical. The electrician buried the electrical line under the pavers so it would not be a trip hazard. Once it had power, we were thrilled to see it had no leaks when we turned the jets on!
Within a few weeks, we decided to buy a cover lift from the manufacturer, Watkins Wellness. To add the cover lift, we had to empty the spa so we could install it under the spa. If you buy a spa, consider buying the cover lift prior to installing the tub. We think Costco should offer the cover lift when you buy the spa.
We love that the spa comes with a Bluetooth sound system. The subwoofer sounds like it is located under the spa. We learned that if the spa drops or will not connect via Bluetooth, we need to flip the circuit breaker on and off.
Got Privacy?
Our next goal was to create some spa privacy. After scouring Pinterest and HGTV for ideas, we decided to build a bamboo privacy fence to surround our tub that does not block our sunset view or inhibit star gazing.
At first we were going to put a tall fence on the back and front sides, and a short fence facing our backyard, but we quickly changed that decision. We ended up with a tall fence all the way around and we used the short fence for the gate on the front side. Once the fence was complete, my husband secured the exterior pavers with concrete.
Creating Our Desert Oasis
We added a couple solar lights, and of course I added some decorative touches! I’m sure you can understand when you look at these pictures, why we wanted to preserve our sunset view.
Finally, we added a sun shade over the hot tub to protect it from the strong Arizona sun. Large enough to create shade, yet allow us to view the night sky. We used spring clips so we can easily take it down during monsoon season.
Spa Challenges & Lessons Learned
Balancing the chems has been challenging. We’d get one right and another would go wrong. One day we opened the tub to find it cloudy! We found the following website helpful: https://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/adjusting-ph.htm
We added a drain valve prior to adding the drain cap. This makes it much easier to hook up a hose to drain the tub!
We learned that it is recommended you use an RV water filter on your hose when filling your spa. Who knew?!!!
It can get windy where we live, so I added some extra strong Velcro along the front edge to stop the cover from lifting and allowing dust and sand to enter the tub.
Another lesson: Don’t forget to loosen the clips on the backside of the tub BEFORE you lift the spa cover. They will break. And if (when) you break them, you can get replacement clips on Amazon.
Within 3 months we noticed that the screws on the speakers were rusting. We bought a set of stainless steel screws to immediately replace the screws.
Inspiring Home Life,