kittkatt62

I am using a floater with bromine tabs and I also thought that ph was supposed to drop over time instead of rising. However, we are on well water, but I don't know if that would have anything to do with that or not....Chem geek, we used to have a pool and I never had problems with chlorine before, but maybe the combination of chlorine and the hotter water temp. is the problem.Anyways, I'm just glad that we got it figured out and I can actually use the spa, it would have been a very expensive unusable toy otherwise.Thank you all for the priceless help I have received on this site and for sharing all the knowledge you all possess.

Update:we are now a week into the change to bromine and not one itchy bump to be found anywhere.We are really loving the bromine, it's easy to use and maintain and i think it is really going to work out much better for us. I have been using the spa every night and haven't had any reaction at all. I even got brave 2 nights in a row and not showered after getting out to see if i would break out and there was nothing the next morning. I do have one last question though, I have a slight drift upwards of my PH every couple of days from a7.4 to 8.0 , is this normal? My TA is sitting at 70 right now. Can I add boric acid to stabilize ph or is that just something that you would use with the dichlor/bleach method

Thanks for the info.Plan on switching it over next weekend after all the stuff arrives,will keep you posted.If it gets worse with bromine,we will just switch back to dichlor/bleach.I also just lowered water temp. to 98,maybe that will help a little too

Awhile ago,I posted about getting itchy bumps from hot tub.Stopped using stain and scale preventer and bumps went away.Well,now they are back but not very badly.Went to dermatologist and he said it is a chemically induced folliculitis and suggested we switch to a bromine based system as ,he said,bromine is gentler on the skin....I don't know,so we are going to switch to bromine and see what happens.My question is:can I use muriatic acid instead of dry acid in a bromine tub to bring down ph or is muriatic acid not compatible with bromine?Also,I have the taylor k-2006 test kit for chlorine.Can I just buy the taylor k-1517 test for bromine and use the reagents from the k-2006 kit for CH,TA,PH or do I need to buy the entire k-2106 kit?

On my post,I meant to write borate, not bromates,but you probably figured that out. Anyways, thanks for looking for an msds on that stuff, it would have been nice to know what is in it that's so irritating.

I was using the Hot Springs Fresh Water stain and scale defense.It does not have a list of ingredients on the bottle,which is really strange.What it does have is a warning on the front which says:May be irritating to eyes,skin,and respiratory system...obviously,it's very irritating to MY skin.Hopefully,this is one thing that I don't need to use in the spa.Right now,the only thing that is in there is bromates,dichlor, muriatic acid,and bleach.Everything is fine now as long as I keep it to no more than 45 minutes of exposure to these chemicals.If I'm in there for more than that,I do still get a few little bumps here and there,but nothing like I had when I was adding the stain and scale stuff and only getting in there for 25 mins. max.We keep our temp at 99,that's how we can stay in there for longer amounts of time.

Just a quick update...found out that I am sensitive to the stain and scale preventer,no more break outs since we left it out of this new fill.Thanks to Dr. Spa and chem geek for all your help!

Thanks again,I read that chart and it's looking more and more like a chemical reaction.....we have the sea klear in it now,will superchlorinate and change the water tomorrow....thanks!

Ok,will try that,one question though,our water ph out of the well is 7.5,TA is 160,do I adjust it or leave it alone? will I recontaminate it if there is no chlorine in it?

I don't think I'm allergic to chlorine,as we have had a pool and I was in a hot tub last year with no reaction,unless I developed an allergy since last year.Either way,I have a Dr. appointment with a dermatologist on April 10,and I plan to get in every night for the 3 days before so I'm really broke out and maybe he can tell me what it is.In the meantime, we have a 4 day weekend coming up,so we are going to decontaminate and flush the system again...it can't hurt.We are also going to leave the stain and scale preventer out, as this is the only chemical that I never used in our pool,maybe that is the cause of this breakout I'm getting.Thanks for your suggestions.

I am a new member on your site,although I have been using it for awhile now to get info.I wanted to thank everyone for the useful info I have found here.Now ,my problem:We purchased a 2013 Hot Springs Flair in Dec 2012.Since then,I have decontaminated it once according to the steps I have found on this site,then started following your dichlor/bleach method.I now realize that we have had a bad case of that nasty little bacteria due to not using enough sanitizer.They told us that all we needed was 1/2 tsp.of dichlor before a soak and we were "good to go",found out the hard way that was not the case,hence the decontamination.My water now is crystal clear,everything is where it should be,according to my Taylor k-2006 test kit,but I am still getting patches of little bumps that show up the next morning after a soak,even though I shower after getting out of the spa.The bumps appear on the back of my calves and sometimes around my elbows and under my forearms.They are extremely itchy,but not a rash.I am the only one affected by this, no one else is having any problems.Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what could be causing this?We soak for 30 minutes,water temp is 100, PH=7.8, TA=60ppm, CH=120ppm, CYA=25ppm, Borate=50ppm, FC=3ppm, CC=.5ppm. Any suggestions would help,as I am at my wits end and don't know what to try anymore.