Topspeed007

I use plain bleach from Tesco or Asda in 1 or 2 litre bottles. Tesco 2 litres is around 30p from memory so cost is next to nothing. I doubt it is 4% though, my vague calculations reason on it being nearer 3% but even so in my 1500litre spa I put 200ml in daily (using 2 step system / bromine) and no floater as my wife has an allergic reaction to bromine tabs. You can get 6% from online swimming pool retailers but doesn't make cost sense when you add P&P. hope this helps.

You should test and add titrant until water colour doesn't change anymore. Should only take a minute or so or bromine test using dropper.

Could try using dishwasher works well for me, I just put filters in empty dishwasher,add a tablet and run on full cycle then remove just as drying starts and leave to drain and dry - works a treat.

I thought Canada was 'home of the spa'. You must be able to get sodium bromide even in the UK I can get this no problem...use Amazon or similar?? Look for pool chemicals etc. If you don't have sodium bromide in your spa to start then until you have built a bromide reserve (bank) your spa is effectively as chlorine. The bromine reserve will take a few weeks to establish The basket and how far to open are down to use, so this is a trial and error situation based on how many tablets you're using and how open the floater is...

My advice would be mostly tub and refill. If you've been away a few months then can you be sure water is good? I would empty tub and refil...only takes couple of hours and overnight for heating and then you can be 95% certain you got good h2o.

For £100 it's worth it- how much will you spend on std testing between now and then ? £10 per 40 test strips or so, so I reckon at least £50 anyway but your call...and don't forget you will need access to a restocking supply for the future.

Hi. I think you are pretty much doing everything the same as me. I don't know about the floater as mine is different but I try and keep bromine around 5/6ppm. I normally don't shock on getting out as the floater seems to be open enough to replenish what's used by bathing and we have ozone. Trial and error seems to be the game - once you know your spa and set up you can 95% guess requirements. Yes it takes ages for bromine to drop, I normally leave cover off for 1 hr with spa running after shocking and then cover system. Waterbear seems to think, and I have no evidence to the contrary, that many ozone systems are nothing more than gimmicks- so that's your call.

Yes you can get Lamotte from Sword it's around £70 from what I recall. Once you get make sure you don't run too low on reagents as Sword often run low and supplies can be difficult.

Hi. I use Lamotte also but don't understand how you can get 0.8 or 0.9 readings with bromine? As far as I'm aware readings are in steps of 0.5. Anyway...the absolutely best thing you can do is read Waterbear's guide (sticky) to 3 step bromine. The 1st thing to do is reduce your TA to between 50 & 100 and then adjust PH to around 7.4. Once this is done I would add sodium bromide to make a bromine reserve. You can add bromine granules but it will not create a reserve bank for several days/ weeks , from what I understand, and needs daily attention until the bank is established. Once you have added the sodium bromide and PH & TA are in correct balance then you can activate the spa, by use of bleach or MPS. If you go to the pool calculator.com you can find out how much bleach to add else add MPS as per label. The bromine should exceed 10ppm and you should then run the spa with cover open until bromine drops below 10. Once this is done add the floater open 1/2 way, not e the bromine reading and then cover the spa, wait 24 hr and test bromine again, if bromine is below 2 then open floater a little more, if its too high +8, then close floater slightly. Hope this helps

Hi guys. Can anybody tell me what regular (say 1 week / 6 hrs total) spa bathing in high bromine water (say 10-20ppm) may cause? Reason for asking is that wife has started itching/scratchin and spots on skin - she has several allergies already. Checked for spa rash but many differing symptoms! I have a test kit Lamotte which I know how to complete accurately and bromine shows as normal yet test strips show ultra high bromine -upto 20ppm. I know convention is not to trust strips but have just got new dpd powder and worried maybe something different with new powder. Perhaps it may be bleach used for shock and an allergic reaction also. Could be non of these but just eliminating possibles. Follow 3 step cycle. Spa has ozone -330 galls. Lamotte reads BR 6, ph 7.5, TA 120, TH 160. Strips- BR 10-20, TA 120, PH 7.8-8.4, TH 100-250. Spa is well tested, bromine never low/out and water is less than 2 weeks old. Any clues? Thanks

Yes. Ozone helps kill organic matter and makes the water look clean but it isn't a whole solution. MPS is shock but you have nothing in your spa to 'shock' - for that you need Bromine or Chlorine. Read either Waterbear's or Nitros threads - they helped me no end.

Hi. Bromine should be in the 3-7 ppm range. The bromine in the dispenser needs filling to the top and you should also add bromine granules to get to the desire ppm. You need to add Sodium bromide in the 1st place And then shock it with either MPS or bleach (UK Tesco bleach is around 3% - go to Pool calculator to see how much you need)- read Waterbear's sticky it has all the info you need. Best thing is not to rush initial setup - do it correctly 1st time and you will enjoy for 3-4 months otherwise it could be a case of changing the water time after time.

1st thing to do is not use the spa until you have chemicals. Look for a local reputable co ( not the co you bought spa from as it appears they don't know what they're doing either). You can either go Chlorine or as most spa owners prefer Bromine - it's more stable in hot water and doesn't give off 'the swimming pool' smell when you open the cover. You should also purchase a proper test kit - not strips as these aren't overly accurate. There are several threads on setting up your spa depending on which method you choose. You have had a bad start but have found your way to this forum and most on here have nothing but excellent advice - being conscientious spa owners ourselves.

Cool and thanks for the reply. I thought TA should be down to around 100 and yes I have read Waterbear's bromine 'bible'! I will purchase some dry acid and add a little to see what happens to TA, as much as a learning curve for me. What do I do about shocking the spa? Do I use the pre packed oxidiser from a manufacturer or can I use bromine granules and raise bromine to 10+ for 2 hrs.... PH does seem reasonably stable - never goes over 7.8 or lower than 7.2 and I presume this is due to when I test and how much air has been through the system? I will obtain bromine floater and granules and adjust, I test spa every morning anyway so this will I hope get rid of this stage. Excellent forum I think and it's a shame more people who own spas don't know/visit and learn about water chemistry... Topspeed

Hi all I recently got my first ever spa and absolutely love it. Must spend about 1 hr a night for 5 nights of the week in it. My spa dealer, from what I've read on here, didn't setup correctly. The tub was filled with tap water, electric turned on and left 24 hrs. 1 day later he reappeared and put in 1x Di-Chloro Isocyanurate Di-Hydrate, Sodium Persulphate - 35g. He then said wait 30mins and ready to go. He gave me a pack of spa goodies which included bromine granules, filter cleanser, spa oxidiser and test strips from Aquasparkle range. Here in UK Never mentioned biofilms, empty spa re fill etc. Anyway, after reading that test strips aren't that accurate I ordered a Lamotte test kit which arrived today. I have tried to keep bromine between 2 and 6 ppm and yesterday added bromine granules to 20ppm, to kill off any baddies i didn't bathe until below 10ppm. ( haven't added any bromine since yesterday) Lamotte kit has these results: does anybody concur these and most of all do I need to do anything? Free chlorine = 0.4ppm Bromine = 0.9 bromine Total chlorine =0.8 combined Ph. 7.4 Total Alkalinity =160 Calcium.=140 Cya = 160 Sat index 0.1.