High bromine demand in Canada. What to do.

[hanexs]

Hi, I have been noticing a high bromine demand.  My tabs in my brominator disappear in a couple days.   Often if I shock to 10 ppm, a day or two after my bromine is at 0 ppm.

So yesterday I was trying to fix this issue, and used dichlor until my tub got up to 20 ppm, which was a bit high but it went up quick (e.g. after 6 tbs it was 2ppm, and after a few more it went up quick).

So I let 20 ppm swirl around for a bit, but I thought I shocked it too high, so I drained half my tub and refilled it.   24 hours later I checked it, and its at zero ppm again.

Im not sure if the tabs I am using are crap, or if something is growing in my tub that is demanding all this bromine.   My issue is that I am in canada, and it is really cold here and I do not think its safe to fully drain my tub. 

Is there anything I can do with a half drain, or not really?  Is it safe to fully drain and refill your tub in -20 C weather?

MY Alk and PH are normal.   I am using a taylor kit and generally know what I am doing (although much of my bromine tests are with the strips).     Usually I find the bromine easier to stay at 3-4 ppm, but lately its been bottoming out to zero every couple days.

[silverbullet]

Personally I like to use Bromine concentrate & just add a tsp spoon per person after each soak & maybe a spoon a half spoon on days that I don't use the tub.
This is what works best for me in controlling my bromine levels. What works for me may not work for others.

Yesterday it was 20 degrees F and the tub was drained to replace a pump. We had a pump that had the tub drained in 10 min. It took about 45 mins to fix before I could refill. If you have a good quick pump to drain your tub & refill it right away. Should be good.

[sksmoker]

Something in there is chewing up the bromine. -20C is -4F which is _much_ different than 20F.. depending on a wind or not you'll see -30C (-22F) pretty quickly. If you absolutely have to do a water change then do a partial.

Crank up your bromine for a few days constantly and see if it settles down. I had to do this last year to straighten out my cloudy water. Took 2 days of over 10 ppm chlorine and constant filtering to clear it up. Once it did though the chlorine demand was back to normal. I checked the chlorine as often as I could during the work week to make sure it sustained high readings.

I am assuming your brominator is a floater filled with pucks? Or are your pucks in the filter housing somewhere?

Do everything like you normally would but keep a close eye on the bromine. Does the water smell or is it cloudy?

[silverbullet]

I only use my floater when I go away on vacation. And then I keep only a small opening. I set it at one. and load it with pucks. Otherwise like I said I use a concentrate a tsp @ a time. Rarely do I end up with cloudy water. But when I do it tells me my ppm is low and from experience I'll add 2 tbl & maybe one tsp of concentrate to clear my water. I don't have any odor to my water. If & when I do I'll leave the cover open for a while to air the tub out. If that makes any sense.

When I first started this hot tub journey I was using a different dealer. He had me using a floater with the opening being 4 to 4 & a half. My ppm was all over the place had a constant rim around my tub & the water smelled.

So along with the daily care, Weekly I shock, add a capful of clarifier A capful of water softner & a capful of Spa Perfect. And I keep a spa frog in my filter. For the most part my water stays clean,& clear & soft! But its taken almost a year to figure out what works best for me. I'm still trying different softners.