waterbear

You could. I wouldn't

Are you running the spa uncovered during this time? If not you need to. It can sometimes take 24 to 48hours for the bromine to drop in a new tub because there is no bioload for the bromine to react with and oxidize. test only free chlorine and multiply by 2.25 to get total bromine 10 to 15 ppm is ok but don't rush it. It really takes a few days to a few weeks to get everything stabilized. When you do put in the floater you will need to adjust it until it maintains your desired bromine level based on your tub usage. Be patient. It often takes a few months of 'tweaking' until everything falls into place. Water chemistry adjustments don't happen instantaneously. Children do not dissipate heat as well as adults so turn the temp down to around 95 - 98 and limit him to about 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Keeping hydrated is very important. https://hottubinsider.com/hot-tubs-safe-kids/ https://www.verywellfamily.com/when-can-grandchildren-hot-tub-spa-1696192 https://www.bullfrogspas.com/blog/hot-tub-safety-kids/

According to your IP address you are located in Florida and the Florida Building Code has specific requirements on flow rate on both the suction side and pressure side of the pump. These flow rates are determined by both the size of the pipes, the length of the runs, and the full rated brake HP of the pump. You mention two pumps but not how they are going to be used (separate pumps for pool and spa, main shared pump and pump for water features, etc.). With the lack of information about your install it is impossible to advise you as to the size of pipe to use.

The thread you are linking too describs mustard algae and confirmed that the CYA was high. Your photo looks like mustard algae but it is hard to say. Could also be pollen but it ususally floats on the surface and does vacuum out. A useful rule of thumb is that if it doesn't vacuum out and passes through the filter there is a good chance it's algae. My question is how did your CYA get so high?

Please provide the URL for the thread in question. Search on Help Vaccuming Out Residule in Pool produced over 1000 results. This jumped out. Your FC is WAY TOO LOW for your CYA level. With a cyanuric acid of 60 to 90 ppm your need to maintain your FC in the 5 to 10 ppm range and shock to 20 ppm (don't go any higher with a vinyl pool). My suspicion, based on your FC and CYA, is that you have a mustard algae outbreak since it reappears after vacuuming it. Mustard Algae can appear as brown. Filters will not filter out suspended algae and I suspect it was their before you used the clarifer, making the water cloudy, which is why you probably used the clarifer in the first place. Am I correct? Clarifers will cause suspended particles to clump together. Mustard algae requires VERY HIGH FC to kill and this is not possible in a vinyl pool. Second best option is to get a 60% polyquat algaecide (poly [oxyethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene (dimethyliminio) ethylene dichloride] ). Iwould not recommend a quaternium or copper based algaecide, you want 60% polyquat. The cure is to lower your CYA to 30 ppm and not let it go above 50 ppm. The only way to lower CYA is to replace water, in your case around 50%. This is best done by a series of partial water changers since lowering more than a foot at a time in a vinyl pool could cause problems with the liner. Also, once the CYA is in range DO NOT USE ANY stabilized chlorine (trichor or dichlor) since they will continue to add CYA. Trichlor will add 6 ppm CYA for every 10 ppm FC added and dichlor will add 9 ppm CYA for every 10 ppm FC added. Use only liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) or Cal Hypo but be aware that cal hypo will add 7 ppm calcium harndess for every 10 ppm FC added. Saturation Index is not a measurement to worry about in a vinyl pool. It is for a plaster pool to determine if the water is aggressive and will etch the plaster or will cause scale to deposit on the plaster. Calcium hardness is not that important in a vinyl pool either. Just keep it above 100 to help prevent foaming (soft water has a tendency to foam). Since you are using an unstabilized chlorine source (Liquid Chlorine) you want to keep your Total Alkalinity between 80 to 100 ppm. Both trichlor and dichlor require a higher TA (100 to 150 ppm) since they are net acidic (acid on application and acidic on sanitation/oxidation) and will cause TA to drop (along with pH) while unstabilized chlorine sources are net pH neutral (alkaline on application and acidic on sanitation/oxidation) so pH rise from outgassing of CO2 is more of an issue and the higher the TA the more carbonation in the water and therefore the faster the pH rise from outgassing of CO2. Hope this helps. This pinned posts might be helpful: https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/52523-some-truths-about-ph-and-ta/

You are on your own with this one. Bottom line, Frog @ease is a proprietary system with it's own quirks, which require the use of their test strips. While it works well for some it is expensive. Modity the system at your own risk or stick ot approved methods such as 3 step bromine or dichlor/bleach.

from what I can see it's not exactly the same. Bottom line, Frog @ease is a proprietary system that has some quirks which rqauire using their test strips. While it might work well for some it is not cheap. If you are looking for a less expensive solution then explore 3 step bromine or dichlor/bleach.

My suggestion is to contact a Jandy dealer or pool professional who is familiar with the Jandy Aqualink automation and have it checked out. It could be many things causing this and if you are not familiar with the programming of the unit it is not a task I suggest you take on yourself. Jandy does have an 800 support number on their website 800 822 7933 and a dealer locator https://www.jandy.com/en/locator

My suspicion is that your chlorine levels are very high and bleaching out the chlorine tests (a known problem except for FAS-DPD testing as found in the Taylor K-2006 test kit. This bleachout can be seen in your total hardness test and the fact that your pH test is showing the highest pH reading (also an indication of high santizer since the phenol red indicator will convert to chlorophenol red when high chlorine levels are present Chlorophenol red goes through te same color changes as phenol red but at a much lower pH range so if your water is 6.8 or above in pH the test will indicate that the pH is high when it is not). My suggestion is to get your water tested with GOOD liquid reagent test kit and not with strips, which are basically worthless. Also, if the liquid reagent kit is using DPD testing for chlorine it will also suffer from bleachout. AFAIK, only Taylor Technologies offers FAS-DPD testing. Many pool and spa stores do use Taylor testing or you can purchase a K-2006 online from Amazon or several online pool/spa retailers. You can do a quick and dirty check of total chlorine with an OTO test kit (ususally sold as a 2 way or 3 way test kit that tests chlorine or bromine and pH. You will know you have the right kit if it has 2 vials of liquid testing reagents and a comparator with a pH scale and a chlorine/bromine scale and the chlorine/bromine scale has color blocks in shades of yellow.) You can often find these at big box stores like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes. IF the total chlorine is high the color will be dark yellow to orange or possibly red/brown

Frog @EASE is a proprietary system and refilling the containers andbnusing other chemicals, even if basically the same, could open you up to lawsuits since these tubs are on rental properties and any other similar chemicals you might find are not marketed for pool or spa use. If you want to save money and want low maintenance then I suggest going to 3 step bromine in the tubs. https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/53410-how-to-use-bromine-3-step-method/

No, It's almost identical to Dantochlor which does NOT match up with the SDS for SmartChlor.which only contains 1,3-dichloro-5,5-dimethylhydantoin and 1,3-dichloro-5-ethyl-5-methylimidazolidine-2,4-dione

In a word, no. Read this thread and go to the end to read my post: https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/55503-is-this-frog-easy-smartchlor-cartridge-type-system-a-money-grab-or/#comment-221432 Also, I would recommend doing a search in the forum (Everywhere) for smartchlor and you will find many threads that discuss Frog @ease and SmartChlor and some of the problems encountered and the cost.

This is a five year old thread. Please start a new thread. You will have a much better chance of getting your issue resolved.

What is the ambient temperature outside and is freeze protection turned on?

This tells us nothing. Please post a full set of test results. I have some suspicions but need to know your actual water parameters. Also, is this an inground or above ground pool and is it plaster, fiberglass, or vinyl? Are you using chlorine or a different sanitizer? If you are using chlorine what is your chlorine source (trichlor, diclor, cal hypo, or liqiud chlorine/bleach)? Do you use well water or city water to fill the pool? Please provide a link to the thread(s) where others have had the same problem so I can take a look.

Please start a new topic with your question. You have a better chance of having it answered then by tacking on to a two year old thread. However, since you have freezing temperatures you don't want to shut off the circulation since that will help keep the water in the pipes from freezing (which can ruin the plumbing and pumps).

It's a learning curve for a new tub/tub owner. You can go into the tub when the bromine is high but wear an old swimsuit so it doesn't get bleached out. lI would personally go in as long as the bromine was under 15 ppm but the recommendation is 10 ppm.

which is it? did you have the floater in or not? UV light and aeration will help reduce the bromine. Even if it's cloudy UV is still there. How much did you put in? 200 gal spa needs 1 oz by weight of sodium bromide to set up the bromide bank then shock the spa (bleach, dichlor, MPS, it really doesn't matter.) Your bromine will go very high. Uncover the spa and circulate until the bromine drops below 10 ppm before you use the spa. Don't put in the floater until the bromine has dropped. With a 200 gal spa the floater should be almost all the way closed and I would recommend a Pentair 335 floater since the are very adjustable (and come in tan or blue). Many floaters can't be closed enough and always put in too much bromine. https://www.amazon.com/Pentair-R171090-Chlorine-Floating-Dispenser/dp/B001DSECOS/ref=sr_1_2?crid=RH137MX3JCRA&keywords=pentair+335&qid=1705037213&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=pentair+335%2Clawngarden%2C132&sr=1-2 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pentair-Swimming-Pool-335-Floating-Chlorine-Bromine-Chemical-Dispenser-White-And-Blue-R171074/49036105?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1195&adid=22222222222000000000_3614603750_pla&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=s&wl2=c&wl3=10352200394&wl4=pla-1103028060075&wl5=&wl6=&wl7=&wl10=Walmart&wl11=Online&wl12=49036105_10000001242&wl14=pentair 335&veh=sem&msclkid=bf5fb004a09a14a922fdd5a46d61c40c&gclsrc=ds Mixed bag. It is an oxidizer so it will reactivate your brominde bank (produce bromine sanitizer) but it often will oxidize the bromide past that point into bromate, which destroys part of the bromide bank since bromate can't regenerate hypobromous acid (bromine sanitizer). If it were me, I would leave it off until the bromine level is in range and stable (with the floater).

Your floater was opened too much and was releasing too much bromine into the water. Leave the floater out and the tub uncovered and run the jets until the bromine comes down. If the tub gets sunlight leave it uncovered while the sun is shining since sunlight will destroy bromine.

Don't bother. It won't lower TA and, as I said before, you CH is fine. Just fill and follow rather procedure to lower TA. It might not seem like much is happening at first but just keep repeating the procedure and you will see you TA start to lower.

purge the spa (wet testing is commonly done at the factory) to be safe then fill and adjust the TA as a first step. The high TA of your fill water will make it very difficult to maintain proper pH. Your Calcium hardness is fine as it is but with the high TA of your fill water it can lead to scaling. Be aware that after you top off the tub because of splashout or evaporation you might need to make slight adjustments to the TA if it climbs over 80.

That is an extremely high TA and pH for tap water! Is that also from a fauicet in your house? Something does not seem right. Are you on a well? 50 - 70 ppm Use a spa purge such as Ahhsome. Good practice on a new spa since the wet testing can cause things to grow in the pipes. Doesn't matter. sodium bromide is sodium bromide. It does not go bad (any more than table salt, sodium chlorde, would go bad). Just get some. The packets can made dosing more convenient for some people, depending on the size of the tub. Sodium bromide is also used for 2 step bromine where you put sodium bromide in the water and then activate it with an oxidizer such as dichor, MPS, or bleach but it is more work than 3 step bromine since you have to add sodium bromide and oxidizer on a regular basis, possible several times a week. Just go to walmart or the grocery store and get the house brand bleach. Ultra bleach will normallhy be 6%. Don't buy a lot at once. Bleach loses strength over time. Same for pool chlorine, which can often be found in gallon jugs in big box stores such s home depot, lowes, and walmart in the swimming pool section. My local grocery store sells pool supplies and also sell 10% pool chlorine. Clorox tends to put additives in their bleach that, while they might help with laundry, don't do anything for your tub and you will pay more. no, it means that it might start out as high as 10% but it should not be below 5% when you buy it. This is common. The 12.5% bleach (pool chlorine) sold in some pool stores in refillable carboys that is sold as 12.5% is often as high as 17% when it is delivered in bulk to the store and put into their storage tank that they use fill the carboys. Clorox performance bleach is 7.5% if I am not mistaken

Keep adding drops until the last drop added doesn't cause additional color change (in your case the20th drop) and don't count that drop (so you had 19 drops giving you 190 ppm CH. You don't need to worry about lowering it. Anything below about 400 ppm is workable. Same rule as above 370 ppm. You need to lower your TA! https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/28846-lowering-total-alkalinity-howto/ In a word, no. What is the pH of the fill water? You can use it to shock the spa and activate your bromide bank. either one, they are the same thing with different packaging, probably for different markets. no, sodium hypochlorite is LIQUID chlorine beach or LIQUID pool chlorine. Sodium hypochlorite comes in different strengths. Laundry bleach is usually 5.25% or 6% but cheap dollar store bleach is often 3% and I have seen 8.25%. You want plain, unscented bleach with no thickeners or detergents added. Pool Chlorine is usually 10% or 12.5% https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/53108-some-truths-on-bleach-dosing/ Powdered chlorine bleach is usually dichlor these days but it was also sold as calcium hypoclorite or cal hypo. These are also the forms of powdered chlorine bleach sold in pool stores, often as a shock. Bromine tabs are bromine tabs. They are all 1-Bromo-3-Chloro-5,5-Dimethylhydantoin or a similar chemical. Fun fact, they have more chlorine in them than bromine. The chlorine converts the bromide into hypobromous acid (bromine sanitizer) No, you want a floater that is designed for1" tabs and has good adjustability. I would recommend a Pentair floater. In my experience they work the best. They come in beige or blue. https://www.amazon.com/Pentair-R171090-Chlorine-Floating-Dispenser/dp/B001DSECOS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=27INLAN2IC04O&keywords=Pentair+R171090&qid=1704711264&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=pentair+r171090%2Clawngarden%2C124&sr=1-3 https://www.amazon.com/Pentair-R171074-Chlorine-Floating-Dispenser/dp/B002BBDC74/ref=sr_1_3?crid=113PN0KX6YOUL&keywords=R171074&qid=1704711334&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=r171074%2Clawngarden%2C195&sr=1-3

If you read the entire post it seems that the problem is improper wiring. I suggest you contact the dealer and a licensed electrician.

After reading it post any questions you might have. There are only 4 EPA approved residual sanitizers for hot tubs in the US (3 for swimming pools). They are chlorine, bromine, and biguinide/peroxide for pools and spas and the 4th for spas is silver/MPS/hot water (Nature 2 used with MPS.) The high temperature of a spa is necessity for this combo to have residual sanitizer action but it has slower kill times than the other sanitizers and is not effective against viruses so it is not one I normally recommend. However there are others on here that use it and recommend it ( @RDspaguy )whos opinions I respect. Anything else is considered an alternative sanitizer and this list includes Ozone, UV, ionizers (except for the Nature2 mentioned above), and " magic in a bottle" products that don't really tell you what is in them or how they actually work but promise that you only need to add their product to have clean, clear water (sanitized water is often never mentioned or the small print will say that it needs to be used with chlorine, bromine, and/or other EPA approved residual sanitizer. Some of these are not residual (UV, Ozone), some have very slow kill times and some plain just don't work. Clear water does not alway mean safe water. Be aware that every bather introduced feces, urine, and swear (chemically similar to urine) into the water no matter how clean they THINK they are, Pseudomonas infection (hot tub itch), Mycobacterium avium complex (hot tub lung), Legionnaires’ disease, and other waterborne illnesses such as Cryptosporidium, E. coli, and protozoal infections such as Giardia are very real but maintaining proper fast acting residual sanitizer in a tub or pool is an effective way to prevent them, as is showering off before going in the water and NEVER going in the water when you have diarrhea.