mkinsocal

Hi All -- sorry, I know this has been discussed numerous times, but I just feel like something's not going right. We have an 800 gallon in-ground Jacuzzi. The salt-water cell finally gave out, so rather than spend another $500+ on a new one, I figured this would be a good time to try out bromine. Followed the three step plan laid out by Waterbear by getting pH, etc in balance, adding 4 oz bromine startup, followed by 20 ounces of bleach, then added a floater with 3 one-inch bromine-chlorine tabs and the floater is about 25% open. The filter runs about 8 hours a day. pH has been kept in the 7.4-7.8 range. We have neither heated, nor used, the Jacuzzi since the generator went out last week. After the initial bromine / shock, the Br was about 5 (use Taylor DPD kit) checked 1 hour after bleach. Checked again on day 2 and test water did not turn pink after adding 2 scoops of powder. At that point, I realized that the bleach was maybe getting old (have had it over 1 year, and it seemed to be more clear than yellow in appearance). Went to store and bought new bottle of concentrated bleach (8.25%) and added another shock, but cut it down proportionally by volume since it was stronger. This time, Br was 6.25 after 1 hour. Checked the following day (today) and it's back to nothing. Had to rush to work, but will do another shock when I get home. So at this point, I'm thinking that it's just getting chewed up by some invisible organics since there was a period of a few days where the salt-water generator was probably off and on. The water has always been crystal clear, and still is, but I know that doesn't necessarily mean it's fully sanitized. My questions are: 1) At what point do I stop adding chlorine and question whether I have enough bromine? 2) How do I know when I should add more bromine tabs or open the floater more? 3) How do I know what I'm measuring with the Taylor kit is bromine, and not just the chlorine that I dumped in (ie, how would I know if I'm completely out of bromine reserve?); I'm not sure if this means anything, but for the first two days, the water smelled strongly of chemicals (even before dumping in bleach) -- smelled like a cheap hotel hot tub (not that I know what that smells like -- ha!). Now the water does not smell. Of course, there's never a good time for this to happen, but we're hosting a b-day party Sunday, so would love to sort this out so that the Jacuzzi can be used. Don't want to send the kids home with a hot-tub rash as their party favor. Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice.