Bromine start up without Sodium Bromide

[D9lek]

Hey,

Can anyone help me out.... 3 days ago I had the hot tub installed. During the start up the shop rep didn't put any Sodium Bromide in despite using the bromine tablets in a floating dispenser. I wasn't actually there at the time but the wife tells me all he did was fill it with water from the garden hose, add a small amount of Fi-Clor Superchorinator and told her to wait for 24hrs until putting the floating dispenser in which she did without knowing any better.

She's just done a test strip and that's what the tubs reading after the floating dispenser has been in 36hrs set at 3/4's open.

Am I ok to add the bromide now or will I have to drain the tub and start from scratch??

[dlleno]

there are some good bromine articles here;  it would be good to study those.  you won 't have to start over,  but I would recommend understanding the bromine program you are using, so you can solve problems later.  without sodium bromide in the water you may have a partial CL/ Br spa which isn't a disaster its just a fact.  no reason you can't add the bromide when the CL reading drops to 3ppm or so. 

I'd also recommend investing is a good drop test kit like the taylor 2106.  it may seem daunting at first but you will get way more accurate readings, and that will be important as you dial in the floater so that your Br concentrations don't get too high.  floaters are popular and many are successful with them:  I just find that i would rather do things myself so I just use granular CL (no floater) to make bromine from the bromide salts.