How Do You Keep Your Bromine Floater In Place?

[passmaster16]

I just got my Caldera Palatino delivered this weekend.  I decided to use the 3 step bromine process so I have a floater to dispense the bromine tablets.  My question is how do you keep the floater in place?  If you have the jets on it bounces all over the tub.  Not only is this an annoyance but I wonder if it would scuff the shell.  I've heard of some people taking the floater completely out while soaking but I'm not sure that it would be a good idea to not have the sanitizer dispencing while people are adding bacteria to the tub.  Would it be ok to put the floater in the filter area?  My tub has a floating weir ring but I wasn't sure if it would be a problem to keep the floater inside the weir.

[Chas]

Not sure what you meant by "3 step process."

The only Bromine I ever recommend on a covered spa is made by the same people who make Baquacil and Baqua Spa products. It is in square orange bottles, and goes by the brand name of 'Brilliance.'

I recommend that if you must use bromine for some reason, because it contains no chlorine. You add an oxidizer once per week, and it works great. Does far less damage to your spa cover, headrest pillows, and you. Bromine tablets are almost half chlorine, and that gives you the smell, burns your cover from the inside out (absorbs water and gets heavy) and so forth. Fine in open spas and pools, not for covered.

I always recommend Dichlor first - you add just a touch after every use. Skip a day or two? Fine, you don't need to add chlorine if you're not using the tub. Add it after use, no chlorine odor while soaking. Cheaper too!

And as to the floater - another reason I don't recommend bromine. You have to test, but if the levels get too high, most people don't think to take the floater out for a while. Most floaters will end up in the same place once the lid is down - and that place will show it years later whether it is damage to the shell or the top of the filter.

[BNMac]

Here's my bromine process:
New water, at 80° or hotter:
1) add Brom-start
2) fill floater with tablets, set it to two to three openings.
3) shock with MPS (non-chlorine).  This activates the bromine.

Test, adjust ph as necessary.  I no longer worry about hardness as my water is a tad under the ideal number.

In use, we pull the floater out an leave it on the rim, or set it elsewhere.  When we are done with the tub, it goes back in.
The intent of the brom-start is to provide a bromide buffer; the bromide is doing it's job while the tub is occupied in the absence of the floater.
I test, then shock weekly, sometimes slightly more frequently. 

I don't recall seeing any chlorine in the tablets I buy; I do not buy HTH or or other cheap brands that have a chlorine/bromine mix.

I've found that water changes are required about quarterly, sometimes slightly sooner depending on a variety of factors.

The problem that we've had lately is that even though we shower & rinse thoroughly prior to using the tub, we get a soap suds buildup over time.  Once we hit a saturation point where I can no longer control the numbers and have the sudsing problem, I clean the tub & start with a fresh batch.

Given that we are on well water that has a slight dirt content, getting started takes a little more work as it requires a couple of filter changes before we get that pretty blue color.

Good luck!