Cloudy....why?

[keating]

Ok.

why does spa water get cloudy?

I know the water will get cloudy, with TDS, etc, but say someone forgot to put the bromine floater in the tub after a soak, and 48 hours later the water is cloudy.

why? is the bacteria actually building up and they're white, so the water looks cloudy?

Say this hypothetically happened    then after this 48 hours, when the floater was discovered to be missing and water discovered to be cloudy, the spa owner topped up the tub with new water, added a 1/2 oz of stain & scale....waited an hour, added 2oz of bromine concentrate (to build reserve and shock), then waited 24 hours and added 2oz of pH Down, then another 24 hours later, tub is still cloudy.

what next? add a couple oz of MPS shock?

Going to see U2 tonight....tub was cloudy this morning.
would like to have clear water to soak in after the show....or at least, after tomorrow night's Ottawa vs. Boston game.

[Spatech_tuo]

Anytime a bromine spa gets a bit cloudy the best thing to do is to add some dichlor. That seems strange to some who think "but we're using bromine, not dichlor" but in reality about 25% of those tablets are chlorine and adding some dichlor to will clear things up usually.

[hymbaw]

Shock with your cover OFF for at least 15 min. and by tonite your water should clear up.

[keating]

Anytime a bromine spa gets a bit cloudy the best thing to do is to add some dichlor. That seems strange to some who think "but we're using bromine, not dichlor" but in reality about 25% of those tablets are chlorine and adding some dichlor to will clear things up usually.

The bromine concentrate I have says it's 56% dichloro-blabba-mine. Go figure.
I added about 2oz of that stuff, so that's a good oz of pure dichlor, hunh?

[keating]

Shock with your cover OFF for at least 15 min. and by tonite your water should clear up.

Well I guess I shocked with the 2oz of brom concentrate, no?
That was oh, about 36 hours ago now.
When I get home, I'll throw in a healthy dose of MPS, leave it running with the top off while we eat supper......close it up and head out to the concert.....and hope for clear water when we get home.

Thanks!

[stl-rex]

Bacteria multiply exponentially.  As they do they will increase the turbidity (cloudiness) of the water.

Are you using Arctic's products?
Peak Boost is Sodium Bromide.  That establishes the reserve.  If you shock with Refresh (MPS) and you have sufficient reserve whether through Peak Boost or the tablets, you should get an immediate Bromine reading.  If you do not, you don't have enough reserve and need to add some Peak Boost or equivalent.

The bromine tablets have chlorine in them but the chlorine will be coverted to bromine.

Watch your Bromine levels.  If you shock the heck out of it and have a good reserve, you're Bromine levels will go off the charts and could take a day or two to recover to the point where the water will feel "good" again.

With Bromine, if the water gets cloudy, you can shock with MPS and provided you get a decent Bromine reading, your water will clear.  If you don't have Dichlor, you don't have to buy it, but it won't hurt your spa or Bromine system either to use it.

[tony]

Anytime a bromine spa gets a bit cloudy the best thing to do is to add some dichlor. That seems strange to some who think "but we're using bromine, not dichlor" but in reality about 25% of those tablets are chlorine and adding some dichlor to will clear things up usually.

Agree 100%.

[Soakin]

The bromine tablets have chlorine in them but the chlorine will be coverted to bromine.

It's been a long time since I studied the chemistry of bromine and chlorine, but I don't remember anything that would cause chlorine to convert to bromine in a hot-tub (unless you are passing an electical current through the water ).  Could you please explain how that works?  Thanks.

[HotTubMan]

It's been a long time since I studied the chemistry of bromine and chlorine, but I don't remember anything that would cause chlorine to convert to bromine in a hot-tub (unless you are passing an electical current through the water ).  Could you please explain how that works?  Thanks.

hyperbromous acid (aka bromine) can be created many ways in your spa. A puck will dissolve and leave it in your water. Sodium bromide (15% or what makes bromine powder products) can be combined with MPS, dichlor, lithchlor to create it. Pucks will leave a residual of sodium bromide in your water.

We tend to over simplify water chemistry, I assume for the benefit or those buying and selling them.

Pure chlorine is a gas.

Pure bromine is extremely volatile and could not be packaged and sold in retail stores.

Hyperchlorous acid and hyperbromous acid (please excuse my spelling if its wrong) are what results in our water using pucks and powders that we all label as chlorine or bromine. Depending on the form and formulation, these products leave other things in the water too such as stabilizer (cyanuric acid), binding agents (pucks), etc.

[cappykat]

I don't know anything about the "science" of chemicals, but I had cloudy water also.  Once I started adding 3-4 oz of shock weekly it cleared up and has stayed clear.  

[keating]

Are you using Arctic's products?
Peak Boost is Sodium Bromide.  That establishes the reserve.  If you shock with Refresh (MPS) and you have sufficient reserve whether through Peak Boost or the tablets, you should get an immediate Bromine reading.  If you do not, you don't have enough reserve and need to add some Peak Boost or equivalent.

Yep...shocked with refresh, brom read top of the chart....after 24 hours, brom back down to around 2ppm and still cloudy.....added a dose of Peak Boost (Well, sodium bromide, but a different brand..can't remember the name) sent brom off the chart again.......now over 48 hours later again, brom reading 4ppm, and water still cloudy. GRRR!!
Oh well.....2 weeks today since spa was delivered, and weather calls for 9 above freezing.....thinking of draining/refilling, as per recommendation in manual, to get rid of any manufacturing residues, 1st time over-cheming, etc.

Watch your Bromine levels.  If you shock the heck out of it and have a good reserve, you're Bromine levels will go off the charts and could take a day or two to recover to the point where the water will feel "good" again.

Yep....recovers more quickly with mps than with a shock dose of sodium bromide.
with a "high" brom (~5ppm) reading coming down after a dose of sodium bromide, the water feels slippery...A chem smart buddy of mine referred to it as saponification (sp?) basically like when you get bleach on your hands and you're trying to wash it off, it feels almost oily.....something the chemical is doing to your skin.  

With Bromine, if the water gets cloudy, you can shock with MPS and provided you get a decent Bromine reading, your water will clear.  If you don't have Dichlor, you don't have to buy it, but it won't hurt your spa or Bromine system either to use it.

After looking at ingredients in various chems, it seems many of the brom chems contain some dichlor.

Wonderin if my cloudiness could be related to something other than bacteria.....ie soap/oil scum etc.

Was in the tub last night with all jets going full bore, and every time I opened the venturi, the whole tub would foam like a bubble bath.....turn the venturi off and it would subside in seconds....I let it run and foam as much as possible and scooped off untill it stopped foaming....the foam looked white till it was splatted against the pure white snow. EWWW