Schlomi

Hi - I am relatively new at the whole spa chemistry game and need some help with the following: I use bromine sanitizing with SpaFrog so far, but dealer actually recommended to switch to tablet floater because of size of spa (400 gallon), regular use (at least every other day two people for 15 - 30 min) and my need to regularly shock to keep the bromine levels above 2 ppm, although frog cartridge is permanently on highest setting (6). Tablet floater is supposedly more cost efficient and provides more stable bromine levels. It is also always a struggle to keep the water clear (first fill clouded up pretty quickly; second fill 3 months later stayed crystal clear almost the whole 3 months; third fill was again slightly cloudy almost from beginning), although the ph, TA, bromine and calcium hardiness are always within acceptable range. I am testing with the Taylor kit for bromine, but I am not using Waterbear's bromine for beginners steps and chemicals, but the ones recommended by the dealer (SpaGuard bromine concentrate, ph increaser / ph decreaser) which worked fairly well on average and by checking the water weekly. However, I am getting tired of the cloudy water and this time the tub is actually completely out of whack (no bromine, ph 8.0, TA 200). The tub is also three weeks away from a planned refill. So, here are my questions: 1) With the tub only three weeks away from next refill, I am tempted to just dump it early instead of going through the dry ice exercise to lower the TA. On the other hand, if it is possible to switch now to establishing the bromine bank the way Waterbear recommends it (with pure sodium bromine), then tablet floater and sanitizing with bleach rather than the SpaGuard product, is there a chance that I can still make the water recover? Or is it not worth the effort? (the TA lowering stuff sounds complicated and long process) 2) If I switch to tablet floater, can I kick out the mineral cartridge without replacing it with anything? Does this Mineral Cartridge of the SpaFrog actually do anything positive for the tub or is it all dealer snakeoil? Someone here in the forum mentioned that the mineral cartridge seems to actually cloud up the water. Is that true and may be part of my problem? We do not have well water. Usually I have to add a bit calcium increaser upon refill to get the CA hardiness to where it should be. 2) Is there a recommendation which bromine tablets to use for the floater? There are so many and everybody claims they have the "best". If it matters, what do I need to look for? Thanks for your help and any advice you can offer. Schlomi