canTub

I won't lie, I'm pretty lazy these days. I've done bromine in the past and have all the gear but hate the smell. If Nature 2 is a decent product can someone point me to some forum info on it? i.e. what other chemicals and frequencies I need to use with it?

No fix on the acid test. My tub is typically 7.6 pH, 40 ppm TA, 110 ppm CH. I do run at 0 FC from time to time. The flakes are soft and slimy. My guess would be a buildup on the inside of the pipes. Most of it now has been beat by the jets so it's more like tiny dirt than flakes. I've ordered some Ahh-Some to give a try.

So I'm a DiChlor Bleach guy, haven't had too may issues with the tub. UV filter on circ pump. Likely related to a 0ppm day or two, I started seeing some flakes in the tub. A dull yellow color when grabbed with a fish net. Changed the water and still see some when I run the jets hard. Today I pulled the filter (will put a new one in), shocked and am continually fish-netting until I see it go away - there's quite a bit of it. I'm assuming this is biofilm? The odd part is my chemistry is still spot on. 7.4-7.6 PH, no combined chlorine, and I don't see excessive chlorine consumption. Biofilm? Anything else I should do besides Cl shock and fish-net?

For me, the smell was there immediately after adding sodium bromide. I don't really understand why BCD would smell worse either - My Dichlor/bleach setup smelt great. I was going to try a 50/50 mix of BCD/DBD to see if it makes a difference. I'm not really thrilled on going completely DBD - the required oxidizer maintenance wouldn't be much less than Dichlor/bleach. We'll see how the next couple weeks go - my tub may not make it to 500 TDS before a refill w/ Chlorine.

So I've been using Bromine now for about a week on a fresh fill, previously Dichlor/Bleach. I used to keep FC at around 1-2ppm and it was great, virtually no smell. I've moved to 3-Step Bromine and it absolutely stinks, not just the tub but our skin afterwards. Initial Sodium Bromide bank added, PH 7.5, TA 60ppm, CH 150ppm, Borates 50ppm, BCD floater @ 2ppm. To me the smell is about comparable to dipping in 20ppm FC. I have DBD tabs on order but I doubt it will do much, it smelt like this even after the initial Bromide bank before any floater. I can't see different brands of Bromine making a difference, their composition seems very similar. What gives, how do you Bromine uses tolerate this?

While I was running Dichlor/Bleach I tested the effect of my UV system several times (by turning it off). I noticed a significant difference in required maintenance (CC buildup). With the UV I could leave my FC very low (1ppm) and many times at 0 for half-days without building CC. Without the UV, I would notice CC buildup very quickly if I let the spa drop to 0 FC. One comment though is that my UV system is on a 24-7 circulation pump circuit. I'm one week in on Bromine now, once I get a stable setup I'll play with the UV again to see the effect. I have to say that I'll definitely be switching back to Chlorine once the weather warms up (and I can do daily maintenance without freezing to death) though. My wife and I absolutely hate the smell of Bromine on our skin (and I'm keeping it at 1-2ppm).

Well I had a party last night and added no Bromine. My level should have been -20ppm (figure of speech) with the dirt we put in the pool but this morning I tested and it actually got worse. Same rise of color but the FAS-DPD came out as 15ppm. So enough was enough, I drained/flushed today and went straight bromine, standard 3 step w/ the addition of borates. Everything now looks great and the DPD turns pink/purple immediately. As you said, something in my Di/Bleach much have been interfering/skewing the readings. For the record (if it helps anyone) I was using Purox 12% bleach with my remaining original Beachcomber products. "Care Free Boost" appears to be standard Dichlor and "Care Free" appears to be MPS. "Soft" may have been the culprit - I assumed it was Boric Acid but there were no details on the container. Anyways, thanks for the input, things are good now. Next step is to find a decent Boric Acid supply in Canada. The little Canadian Tire tin is going to put me in the poor house.

I'm down to about 7ppm today. There's still something odd with the testing - it still "ramps" the color, both in DPD color and FAS-DPD tests. I added 3 scoops of powder and it behaves the same, 0 color and gradually goes dark (no quick flash indicator of bleaching).

Chem geek, I did do the 2.25x. With FAS, I put the powder in (10mL) and it takes about 30s of swirling before it starts to turn pink. The longer I wait, the deeper the pink color. Once "somewhat pink" it takes 9-10 drops to clear (0871 Cl reagent), so about 10ppm. If I let the sample sit for a while, it starts turning pink again. The longer I wait, the darker it goes. I honestly don't know how long to wait for a sample to sit - my tub could be 0ppm or 10ppm. No idea. Update: So I did another 10mL sample, waiting about 2-3 minutes after adding powder. Took about 13 drops to clear and seems to be stable. So it looks like my ppm has been off the charts since converting from Chlorine (I'm sure my cover has enjoyed that). I find it odd how it takes time for the color to appear - I would have thought the FAS-DPD test could handle the high levels?

So I did a quick check with Dichlor mixed in a drinking glass. With a K-1001 DPD kit, I get an immediate color change to ~4ppm with my Dichlor sample. Sitting for 5 minutes on the counter, the color remains constant. I then take my hot tub (bromine) and sample the same way. Immediately I see no color change (0ppm). However over the course of 5 minutes, it gradually goes well off the chart (deep purple). Is this normal? How long are you supposed to let a bromine sample sit before reading values?

New to the forum, loving all the info. I've been using Dichlor/Bleach since I bought my tub 6 months ago, no issues. It's getting cold here in the North so yesterday I switched to Bromine without draining (tub @ 1000 TDS) to lower my daily maintenance. I'm doing 3-part so I added a bromine bank (sodium bromide), shocked (Bleach and MPS) and now have a BCDMH floater running. So, not a big fan of the new smell, but it's early so I my have something wrong (here comes the question)... When I use a Taylor DPD test for Bromine, after the 5 drops of R0001/R0002 it basically shows 0ppm however over the course of 30-60 seconds, it gradually increases (darker color) to >10ppm. Is this normal? I don't remember this happening with Chlorine (color was always immediate). Test strip shows 0-1ppm. FAS-DPD looks like I'm getting 10ppm (but my powder is quite old and questionable). It also seems to take a while for the DPD powder to turn my sample pink (where it was immediate with Chlorine). Is it normal for Bromine to take a while to color in tests?