faromic

I found water bears post... http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26324&st=0&p=116522&hl=water%20bears&fromsearch=1entry116522

Hi I'm back...I just drained and am going to refill my spa. Can someone send me a link to water bears bromine write up? Thanks...so I should be using the bromine tablets as they are blended with chlorine and not as strong..which I do. You can shock your spa with liquid chlorine bleach instead of the MPS (potassium monopersulfate) shock you are using, works just as well. Chlorine does not exist in a bromine system with a bromide reserve in the water. It converts the bromide ions into your active bromine sanitizer, hypobromous acid. In fact, any oxidizer will do this be it chlorine, ozone, or MPS. The advantage of using bleach is that it forms chloride ions instead of sulfate ions like MPS. Chloride ions are a more benign constituent of TDS than sulfates and MPS is a known sensitizer that irritates many bather's skin. Can you still do this if you don't have a bromine reserve? What happens if I have a bromine reserve and I forget to add bromine and the level drops and the reserve is used up? Do I add sodium bromide again? So really all I need is the bromine tabs, borax, and baking soda..and check the levels..in addition to the dry acid. One last question on dry acid...can I just use leisure time spa down? will that lower both, ph and TA. Sorry for all the long questions....but I'm trying to learn all this stuff. THanks

The spa is approx 350 gallons...it's a dynasty spa. So you're saying bromine can exist (by creation as elemental bromine) without even putting bromine in? of course, this bromine is toxic... What is Use 20 Mule Team Borax (white box) and where do I get it? Where I get chemicals? Leisure time makes a product called spa up and alkalinity up that will raise these levels? Are you saying I don't/shouldn't use those and instead use the baking soda for TA? How much to use? So Soda Ash is the pH up that leisure time or any company sells? sorry but I'm not familiar with this stuff. What do you mean by good ventilation? My spa cover is pretty old and heavy (water absorption I'm assuming, would a new one help?) By aerating you mean running jets or air bubbles I'm assuming? Also, how does aerating bring pH up? Should I be aerating on a regular basis with the cover off? I typically put chemicals in leave open for 30 min and close...I always assumed the smell was from too many chemicals...guess not. This information is very helpful thanks a lot! So based on what you're telling me I don't need to buy any chemicals from the spa store besides bromine tabs and shock (they're called renew tablets from leisure time)...and maybe the scent chemical so it smells nice, correct?

Sorry for the delay in response...I've been out of town on work a lot and haven't been able to actually check the levels. I typically keep the floater half full to full but leave only one hole open...However, I forgot to refill the floater and the bromine levels were at about 0 to 1 but I still had the mist. The minimum is keeping the floater half to full, putting in 3 tabs of leisure time "OZ" shock, and spa up when I check the levels. once a month or so I will also put a couple tablespoons of leisure time "defender in"...that's it. I checked the levels the other day and here they are: 2 TBr ppm Bromine level 20 Total alkanlity ppm pH below 6.8 100 calcium hardness I use the leisure time testing strips...for the most part all the levels were lower than the bottle indicated as "ideal"...However, I will then put the Leisure time "Spa Up" in to get the pH and alkanility up. The levels are then better but still the mist...As I was checking the water the other day the mist was so strong it made me cough and was tough to be around without coughing a lot...If I refill the spa it will be ok for a month or so and then the same thing again. I'm not really sure what the cause is. Thanks

Hello all, this is my first post. I'm pretty familiar with spas...My parents have had one for about 5 years...but we always seemed to have issues with water scent. I've had my own spa for the last year and I typically put the minimum amount of chemicals as advised to me by several people... I typically just keep bromine tabs in a floater and shock it with OZ tabs about once a week. It seems that after a couple weeks (maybe even sooner) the water has an extremely strong bromine scent and mist. It's tough to even breathe when sitting in the spa while the water is foaming and the mist is coming off....I check the bromine level, ph, alkalinity, etc every week and add ph up/down as required. I'm not really sure why this happens? Is there too much bromine? Is it normal to have this with bromine? Can I swictch to something else? Thanks,