help a newbie to get bromine level correct!

[titianmom]

Help!

We had our  tub installed last Thurs 27 Sept. By Saturday the bromine level was nil.
I made the mistake of turning our frog down to 5...but I put it back to 6 on Sunday.
Sorry I'm a dummy. Anyway, I added 2 caps full of bromate (beachcomber brand)
Sunday night, then I added 4 cap fulls today, waited about 1 1/2 hrs and tested the
water again and it's just at 1.0!  What's up with that?!  

The PH was really high on Saturday and I added the PH minus and it seemed to help.

My probelm is the bromine....any more suggestions? Do I pour yet more of the bromate
in?!  Seems excessive.

Kim

[Nosher]

Bromine Noobs are us !!

I had exactly the same problem when I first got my hot tub - the trouble was that the puck dispenser could not deal with the use!  You need to get the level of Bromine up to the IDEAL levels.....keeping it there is the trick!

What I do now, is every OTHER time the Mrs and I go for our soak, I put a teaspoon of granulated bromine in when we have finished - this gets the bromine level up again and the pucks do a pretty good job of keeping it up there......

....just relying on pucks to keep the bromine level up on a new Spa (with oodles of usage) resulted in a very frustrating first 30 days of Hot Tub owenrship for me.

Granulated bromine attains and the pucks maintains.........

There again (as my FL mate tells me ALL the time) it might be because Spas don't like Limeys

Hope you are enjoying the soaking!!

Nosh.

[Renee]

Well said Nosh....I, too, figured this out after a lot of trial & error!

--renee

[titianmom]

That's prob it, as we soaked Friday night for about an hour (3 of us), then on Sat
even tho the bromine levels weren't great - I tested after we got out on Sat...

But, how to get it back to snuff at this point? That's the question. Can I add yet
more bromate to it?  Again, I've added 2 cap fulls last night and 4 more today.

Kim

[marks]

I have a Beachcomber 580 and have the Frog set at level 3 and the Bromine stays at about 2 with not issues.  What I do is shock the spa once a week with 2oz of MPS.  You might want to shock it with MPS.

[Bonibelle]

That's the ticket, you need to shock. What kind of tub do you have? Is the frog system built into the tub?

[titianmom]

I have a beachcomber 378 with a floating frog for chemicals.  I've already shocked it to death, pls read my other posts.

I put in 2 caps last night, and 4 today.  That's about 1 1/2 cups of bromate!  That's
pretty shocked to me.

Why is the level still low?

We haven't been in it since Saturday and it's Monday as you know.

Kim

[titianmom]

Also, what's MPS?  I'm using Beachcomber's Bromate salts/crystals in a bottle.

Kim

[marks]

Kim,

You are shocking it with Bromine.  MPS is a non chorline shock.  Different than what you are doing.  Below is a link to it:

http://www.spadepot.com/shop/Oxy-Spa-2lb-Non-chlorine-MPS-Shock-P93C43.aspx

[titianmom]

No no, the frog contains the bromine, I am shocking it with Bromate, the same as your MPS.

Bromate is the "part B" to the Bromine (part A).


FYI, I did yet another 2 caps and still at 1.0.  I'm wondering if the Bromate is
old or something. Is it possible that the stuff has a shelf life?

Kim

[D.P. Roberts]

When I first used bromine, I was told I needed to add "bromine activator" whenever I filled the tub to establish a bromine reserve. Bromine activator is sodium bromide - from reading the Beachcomber site, I believe that's what "Bromate" is.

So here's what I believe is happening - you have a bromine dispenser (frog) that's full of slow-dissolving bromine. You just filled the tub, so not much bromine has dissolved into your tub yet - you need more BROMINE in your tub. You keep adding more "activator" but there's nothing in your tub to activate, so nothing is happening.

I would stop the Bromate. Leisure Time (one of the popular brands) recommends one half ounce of Sodium Bromide per 100 gallons, and if your Bromate is the same stuff you're probably way over that. Add some quick-dissolving Bromine  - not as a shock,but to get your Frog "jump started" (alternately, crank your Frog up as high as it can go, and give it a few days, until you get a bromine reading on the test strips). Then, the slowly dissolving tablets in the Frog will keep your Bromine at a proper level over time (once you get the frog set at the right level).

[titianmom]

I understand and agree. I was thinking the same thing tonight talking it over with my
husband.  I think I have so much bromate in there that the bromine hasn't caught
up yet.  I already have it wide open as far as I can go (number 6), so I'm hoping that
if I wait a while, say sometime in the next couple of days take another reading and see if it's better.

I'll let you know what happens.  I just hope I haven't over done it with the stuff. Oh well, live and learn.  I don't want to burn anything up....

Does anyone know if it's fatal to over sanitize?  I'm also concerned about my cover being on if it gets too high.

sigh.

 Kim

[titianmom]

Hi all, just wanted to help anyone else out there who may have had this prob
and tell you that all is well, now with my new tub.

Appears that the frog recommends 1.0 to 2.0 only if using the dual bromine and
mineral frog plus the bromate activator.

So I had it at the right level, after all.  I've since turned the bromine down to 5
and I shock the tub now and then. Appears my water  gets unsanitary easier
than others? Don't know why; there is only 3 of us and we shower before going
in. Oh well.

Anyway, hope it helps.

Kim