Using Aquachek test strips, need help cant get hot tub readings right??

[kimba]

I have a cantabria from caldera, Had it for two weeks have used it everyday and some days more for a half hour each time.  I just cleaned filter again, put some new water in, and still not testing right.  Bromine is low to 0 , Hardness is low 0-100, akalinity only one that is ok, PH is high 8.4.  Any suggestions on what I can do.  I already raised Bromine from 4 to 5 and now 6.   Not sure what else to do.. Thanks ...

[castletonia]

You need to get that pH down.  Being that high it is going to burn through your bromine.  Also, is it the purple Caldera bromine cartridge or the yellow one?

[kimba]

its the yellow one , I called store and they said purple or yellow are the same.

[bud16415]

Sounds like you are fighting the same thing I mentioned to you before I had problems with on our Caldera Geneva. It is basically the same tub as yours except yours is about 2 foot longer.

I had the same stuff up and down and was making my bromine setting. You should be able to use your tub 10 times a day if you want. That’s what you bought it for.

I had a supplemental floater with bromine pills in for a while also. You do have to get your PH down before all else though as mentioned above.

When we bought ours they didn’t have the @ease cartridges out yet. If they did I would have switched to that right away. You will have to drain and refill if you switch and most dealers will exchange any unused cartridges for something else. I know I traded all mine for dichlor.

If you do switch I would be tempted to do it now rather than fight with the PH first. Make sure to drain it dry and then use a leaf blower or shop vac and blow in the jets to clear out the water in the pipes. Then make the switch. I’m told switching from chlorine to bromine isn’t a problem with mixing as much as going the other way. I haven’t used the @ease that much but am told it is easier to keep constant.

Many people use bromine and have no problems I wasn’t one of them and I couldn’t figure it out.

For now I’m very happy with my Dichlor and Clorox method and @ease when I go away for a week or two.   

[kimba]

Thanks Bud, I got the Ph down, I just filled the hot tub 2 weeks ago its brand new .. I will ask about the clorox and dichlor system ,, thanks a lot bud..

[bud16415]

The dealer will advise you to stay with the frog inline system. As they want to sell you the cartridges for it. They will never advise you to use Clorox or anything like that.

What you can ask about is the @ease cartridges they are a type of slow release chlorine not bromine. They fit right in your frog system just like the yellow ones, and are about the same cost.

Hopefully you will get the bromine to fall in line with getting your PH correct. If you keep having the problem then you can try something different.   

[castletonia]

its the yellow one , I called store and they said purple or yellow are the same.

The yellow cartridge holds 150G of bromine whereas the purple is 200G.  I will disagree with your dealer.  When I sold Marquis, I had all sorts of issues with the yellow cartridges getting enough bromine into the water, regardless of how long the filter cycles were set for.  Once I brought in the 200G cartridges, those issues disappeared and my customers were able to lower the setting on the bromine cartridge by (1).

It also doesn't help that the Cantabria has the max amount of water the system is designed for.  Even though I like @ease, I think it will be worse in that you might barely get 2.5 weeks per cartridge.

[Hottubguy]

its the yellow one , I called store and they said purple or yellow are the same.

The yellow cartridge holds 150G of bromine whereas the purple is 200G.  I will disagree with your dealer.  When I sold Marquis, I had all sorts of issues with the yellow cartridges getting enough bromine into the water, regardless of how long the filter cycles were set for.  Once I brought in the 200G cartridges, those issues disappeared and my customers were able to lower the setting on the bromine cartridge by (1).

It also doesn't help that the Cantabria has the max amount of water the system is designed for.  Even though I like @ease, I think it will be worse in that you might barely get 2.5 weeks per cartridge.

I will second this. The yellow are meant to last the same amount of time but have 25% less bromine in them.

[bud16415]

The trouble I had with yellow, never tried purple is that the rate of dispensing changed thru the life of the cartridge. It seemed like in the beginning having a more full cartridge gave more water contact to more granules and I could start out on setting 4. I was always testing and adjusting and resetting the cartridge. Then comes a point when you are looking to see if it is empty and it is full of water so I would drain it into the tub and shake it. That process would give you a stronger dose. The alternative is to just pull and replace before they are done wasting product. All that messing around took more time and was less accurate than putting a spoonful of sanitizer in the tub. For me the feeder intended to make life simple was anything but simple.
I also had the problem of what to do when bather load was super high and anyone that ever got a new hot tub for the first time knows you will be in it all the time with friends and family the first few months. I tried to work around that with a floater I would toss in to supplement the inline feeder.

That was the only way I could get enough into my Geneva and as mentioned above you have something like 30% more water to treat.     

[kimba]

Bud I now have cloudy water and dead skin floating around and scum build up around the tub.  Im going to the dealer today with my water.. I dont want to invite people and Im trying to keep it clean, cleaned filter monday, I just dont know what is going on.. 

[bradleyabell]

Bud I now have cloudy water and dead skin floating around and scum build up around the tub.  Im going to the dealer today with my water.. I dont want to invite people and Im trying to keep it clean, cleaned filter monday, I just dont know what is going on..

Sounds like you need some Leisure Time Defender!

[bud16415]

This is the exact same issues I had with the bromine and the inline frog. I have found once your tub gets skunked for me it was drain it and start over. Not being a fast learner I let it happen a couple times before I came to the conclusion the yellow cartridges just won’t keep up and that I didn’t care for bromine at all as a sanitizer. Thinking it was maybe the frog cartridges and how they dispensed because I read so much positive feedback on bromine in general I even switched to a floating dispenser and the bromine tablets you load it with. I even did both at the same time for a month or so and it was better but my readings persisted in being wonky.

Your tub needs drained and blown out and cleaned with vinegar and a micro fiber cloth. With the filter out and the GFCI switched to off. I then flushed mine with more water and let it drain. I stick my hose jet right in the spa jets and back flush some water thru and let it drain out the drain hose connection. Then I use the leaf blower side of my shop vac and blow air in the jets to blast the water in the lines out. The last thing I do is suck out the little water trapped in the seats and the foot well.

Now the tub is clean and the tub is free of bromine and skunk water. You can then start in for round two and repeat everything you did before adjusting your water and starting it up with bromine starter and then put the yellow cartridge in and hope for a different result. Or you can try some other method of sanitizing the tub.

After realizing the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result I switched to Dichlor and then the next water change in 6 months I switched to Dichlor and then Clorox method. That is what I’m doing now. If they had out the @ease chlorine cartridges at the time I was going thru this I would have most likely tried them before going to the Dichlor and Clorox. I have used them as they are compatible with Dichlor a couple times and they seem to me IMO to work better than the yellow bromine cartridges as far as worry free. On the other hand when I used them is when we went away and bather load was zero.

As I mentioned before your usage is high right now with a new tub and there isn’t any reason you shouldn’t use your tub as much as you like even if it is 10 times a day with lots of friends. Sure high usage will shorten your water life but you didn’t get yours shortened by usage yours was shortened by your sanitizer system not keeping up.

As an example my water now is about 4 months in the tub. Summer months so the temp is lower and hours of use higher. More swimsuits in it than winter along with tree pollen and bugs and such. The water is still crystal clear and this weekend our friends are coming over to hot tub with us. If it is like last time we were in it for several hours on and off talking and it made for a high bather load. I know the frog inline would never keep up if I was using it. Where I normally use between a half and a whole tablespoon of dichlor for the two of us after an evening soak for half hour to hour. I will add two or three tablespoons of dichlor. If the next morning it is at 5PPM that’s good, it will come down throughout the day and be perfect for after dinner. I now always try to stay a little on the high side. If I didn’t dose it hard after the heavy usage I would wake up the next morning to a foul smell cloudy water and a scum line. Instead the chlorine killed it all before it started and the filter took it out.       

[bud16415]

Bud I now have cloudy water and dead skin floating around and scum build up around the tub.  Im going to the dealer today with my water.. I dont want to invite people and Im trying to keep it clean, cleaned filter monday, I just dont know what is going on..

Sounds like you need some Leisure Time Defender!

Do you think the problem is scale buildup. 

[kimba]

My head is about to explode , wow thanks for all that info.  I would like to try the Dichlor and clorox system , how do I do that ..?? Do I need to empty tub and buy that stuff where .. Thanks

[kimba]

my store people said not to change it , they gave me bromine tablets that I let float in a frog, yes the level went up , its good for now, thanks