Marquis Inline Bromine System Problems

[jamiho]

Hello,

I bought a reconditioned Marquis Destiny and after a bit of a bumpy start (I previously posted about a fried control board), I am now very much enjoying the tub. 

The tub has an inline system with space for a mineral cartridge and a bromine cartridge.  Being new to tubs, I decided to try this out first, and I like the idea of not using chlorine. When I first filled my tub I did use a bromine booster to establish a reserve.  However, I have found it difficult to maintain the recommended bromine level.  Having the cartridge set at 2-3 as the manual suggests consistently gave me a bromine level of zero on the test strips, with or without shock.  I upped the setting to 6 and got up to a level of 4 for bromine, which is too high (my tub has an ozonator so suggested bromine level is 1-2), so I dialed it back to 2 but over a few days to went to 0 again.  Same thing when I dialed it to 3.

My husband and I have been using the tub for 15-30 minutes almost every day, and I have been adding shock about every other time we use it, up to 3 times a week.  Is this too much or too little for our use?  I have the filters set to run for an hour twice a day.  Again, too little or too much?

I am considering switching to bromine tablets in a floating dispenser so I have a little better control over the bromine level, and also because the cartridges are expensive and I don't like the amount of plastic wasted.  It's nice not to have a floater bumping into me when I'm soaking, but not sure the inline system is worth the hassle and cost. But I thought I would check here for any advice you may have.

[castletonia]

What color bromine cartridge, yellow or green?  I had all sorts of issues with the yellow (150 gram) cartridges dispensing enough bromine into any Marquis when I sold them.  Once I switched to the green (200 gram) all those issues went away.  Another thought, what is your filter settings at?  Default from Marquis was 1 hour twice daily, so a total of 2 hours.  That is not nearly enough time regardless of which cartridge you are using.  I had recommended to all my customers an F4 setting (4 hours twice daily = 8 hours).

There is no getting around the fact that the in-line system is not the cheapest option, but I like the convenience.  I now sell Hot Spring and Caldera and all Caldera's I sell start with the in-line system. 

[jamiho]

Thanks!  I am using the yellow cartridges, didn't know there were green ones.

I am a bit leery for 8 hours of filter time a day due to the electricity costs as well as the noise.  Is that much really necessary for 2 people using it 15-30 minutes most days?

[castletonia]

Seek out the green cartridges which are made for Marquis or the purple ones made for Caldera, they are both 200 gram cartridges.  Not sure what your filter times are, but generally speaking, I think you need at least 4 hours daily, but 6-8 provide in my opinion much better results.  Marquis makes a quality hot tub that is well insulated so I cannot imagine 6 vs 8 hours would make a huge difference.  The pump shouldn't pull more than 3 amps on low speed.

[jamiho]

Thanks Castletonia!

[MarKee]

Good advice by castletonia.  Also, if it's a used hot tub you may have bio-film built up in the plumbing from it's past use.  This bio-film may be sucking up all your sanitizer.  I would suggest buying a product called Ahh-Some and doing a heavy duty purge on the tub.  Your local dealer may carry it, or you can buy it on Amazon.

[bud16415]

As I have posted several times I started out with bromine in the frog cartridges along with the minerals in a similar system in our Caldera tub. My problems were exactly the same. The yellow cartridges and then the purple. In the beginning with a fresh cartridge you get more at any given setting because there is more in the cartridge. I was always tweaking the setting and still levels were up and down. I then started tossing a floater in when it seemed I wasn’t getting sanitized. The cost of the cartridges is 10X what they should cost based on how little material is in them.

I figured out I was in the tub every day I was testing every day and adjusting PH and such manually anyway and constantly adjusting the cartridge any way. Then why not when I was at it toss in some relatively cheap dichlor when I got out and or regular laundry bleach (super cheap). In doing this and we use way less shock and have a heaver user load. We shock once a week or longer up to two weeks.

As to the mineral cartridges I don’t use them at all and notice no difference.

The only draw back to daily dose is when you go away you need to get a neighbor or family member to come over every few days or you can stick in a @ease cartridge (compatible with dichlor) when you are away for up to a month.

Took me a year to give up on the yellow bromine cartridges.   

[jamiho]

I was told my reconditioned tub had been completely flushed and sanitized prior to being delivered to me, but I guess who knows if that really happened.

I think I'll try floating bromine capsules for now, and consider a bigger change when it's time to drain and refill the tub in the spring, when I'll also do a big clean and flush.

[bradleyabell]

I was told my reconditioned tub had been completely flushed and sanitized prior to being delivered to me, but I guess who knows if that really happened.

I think I'll try floating bromine capsules for now, and consider a bigger change when it's time to drain and refill the tub in the spring, when I'll also do a big clean and flush.

I tried the spa frog floating system and found it to be very expensive and not worth the money.  I then bought a cheap floater and put 1" bromine pucks in it and have loved it.  Add 2-3 pucks every week or so. 

I also bought a "filter spa frog" and the cap broke off it while in the tub and the cystals went all over the filter compartment.  Thankfully it doesn't appear any got sucked into the pumps, and I was able to remove all of them and then threw the junk away.

My personal recommendation would be to just use a bromine floater w/1" pucks and shock with MPS as needed.

[castletonia]

It's too bad that the inline system did not work for you.  Overall, I have had success with it selling both Marquis and Caldera, once all my customers were on the 200-gram cartridge.  I might also suggest the @ease SmartChlor over the bromine if you want to continue using the inline system. 

[Tman122]

Hello,

I bought a reconditioned Marquis Destiny and after a bit of a bumpy start (I previously posted about a fried control board), I am now very much enjoying the tub. 

The tub has an inline system with space for a mineral cartridge and a bromine cartridge.  Being new to tubs, I decided to try this out first, and I like the idea of not using chlorine. When I first filled my tub I did use a bromine booster to establish a reserve.  However, I have found it difficult to maintain the recommended bromine level.  Having the cartridge set at 2-3 as the manual suggests consistently gave me a bromine level of zero on the test strips, with or without shock.  I upped the setting to 6 and got up to a level of 4 for bromine, which is too high (my tub has an ozonator so suggested bromine level is 1-2), so I dialed it back to 2 but over a few days to went to 0 again.  Same thing when I dialed it to 3.

My husband and I have been using the tub for 15-30 minutes almost every day, and I have been adding shock about every other time we use it, up to 3 times a week.  Is this too much or too little for our use?  I have the filters set to run for an hour twice a day.  Again, too little or too much?

I am considering switching to bromine tablets in a floating dispenser so I have a little better control over the bromine level, and also because the cartridges are expensive and I don't like the amount of plastic wasted.  It's nice not to have a floater bumping into me when I'm soaking, but not sure the inline system is worth the hassle and cost. But I thought I would check here for any advice you may have.

You had it set to low so you set it as high as it would go and it was to high. How about something in between?

[jamiho]

You had it set to low so you set it as high as it would go and it was to high. How about something in between?

I've tried all the settings in between.  Everything I've tried is ether too low or too high.

[jamiho]

I tried the spa frog floating system and found it to be very expensive and not worth the money.  I then bought a cheap floater and put 1" bromine pucks in it and have loved it.  Add 2-3 pucks every week or so. 

I also bought a "filter spa frog" and the cap broke off it while in the tub and the cystals went all over the filter compartment.  Thankfully it doesn't appear any got sucked into the pumps, and I was able to remove all of them and then threw the junk away.

My personal recommendation would be to just use a bromine floater w/1" pucks and shock with MPS as needed.

Yeah, that's whar I intend to try out next.  I ordered a $7 bromine floater and the 1" tablets.