mmiller

Thanks for the advice everyone! I am going to give the tub one more try as is, try some different test strips..and if we still have problems will probably drain and switch to chlorine. Will let you know how it goes.

Hello All, We are new to owning a hot tub..and need some help! First, some context: We just bought a home with a pre-exisiting hot tub. Sundace 800 Royale. The people we bought the house from inherited it from the previous owners and (supposedly) didn't use for 4 years. We had someone from a local company come out and fill the tub, make some minor repairs and check the chemical balance. Also replaced the filter and showed us how to clean the filter. Chemicals we are using now are bromine tablets and non-chlorine shock. Unfortunately, we REALLY didn't know what we were doing at first and let the bromine get too low. Several things have happened: 1. Although I was in the hot tub more often and more recently, my husband developed a rash that looks like the photos of hot tub rash that I see online. I did not develop a rash at all. 2. After using extra shock and sanitizer, I have been able to get the bromine level up (although chlorine is also showing high??) 3. My husband and I must both be color-blind, because we are having a hard time reading the strips (I mean..we can tell the difference in the low and high colors, but not the ones in between on the strip. We can see the color degradations on the bottle, but the colors on the strip don't really seem to match that well (for example the red on the bottle looks orange-red, and the red from the strip looks pink-red). 4. While it now looks like the bromine is about right, the chlorine is high, the Ph is high and the alkalinity is high (if we are reading the strips correctly)(the local company says high pH and alkalinity are not normal with the city water we are using..so we must have done something??) So...we haven't been back in the hot tub in about a week...my questions are: 1. Do we need to drain the tub because of the rash my husband developed?? We would like to avoid doing this because our area is a drought and we don't want to waste the water. But..if that is what we need to do, we will. We ordered a bacteria test kit..has anyone had any experience with those? 2. Is it normal to have high clorine levels if you are using bromine tablets? 3. What could cause high pH and high alkalinity if it isn't common to the area? 4. Is there any way to read the chemical levels other than strips? Are some strips easier to read than others? I'm sorry to post so many questions at once, but we love having the hot tub and want to be able to use it. Thanks!