vincecarter55

Hi everyone, I've already absorbed quite a bit of knowledge from this forum so thank you for that. I have a few questions that are specific to my situation that I was hoping you could help me out with. I currently have a 1500 L (400 gal for you non canucks) hot tub that is being kept at a temperature of 100 F that was here when I bought a house recently and changed the water right away (about a month ago). The previous owner left behind what he was using which was a trichlor tablets in a floating dispenser and said that's all he did was refill it and shock every once in a while so I just followed his instructions. I know... not good. But after I did a bit of reading, I realized I needed to make a change. So I took a water test in to my local hardware store (I have a Taylor kit being shipped to me as we speak but this will have to do for now) and I had a pH of 6.8, alkalinity of 19ppm, free chlorine of 14.17 and total chlorine of 16.44 ppm. It also states that the "Stab" level is at 58 ppm (ideal range is stated as 30-60 ppm) so I assume this is the CYA? After I found this information out, I took the floating dispenser out of the hot tub and bought some 'alk up' product (I know it's the same thing as baking soda) and have now gotten the alkalinity up to 94 ppm and have added a bit more alk up. I have tried opening the hot tub cover and getting the jets going to help burn off some of the chlorine but it's only down to 12.25 free chlorine and 12.25 total chlorine (is it a little weird that they are the same? I guess there's no 'used up' aka combined chlorine in the water?). "Stab" level is at 59 ppm now and pH went up to 8.1 so I have added some 'pH -' product but haven't gotten the water retested yet. I will do that tomorrow morning. A couple of questions I have: Would it be safe to use the hot tub right now given my current levels? After doing a lot of research and scouring this website, I have decided that I would like to use a 3 step bromine system (with MPS for now while I'm figuring things out... I know bleach is preferred due to its price point but bleach % is not easy to figure out based on labels in Canada). I have purchased everything I need (sodium bromide, bromine tabs, MPS) to make the switch. Can I start the switch right now based on my current chlorine levels? In other words, can I start adding my sodium bromide to get my bromine reserve started, shock and add my bromine tabs to the floating dispenser without waiting for the chlorine levels to go down? If the chlorine levels do need to go down, do they need to go all the way down to 0? As a follow up to the first two questions... If it is safe to go in the hot tub but need to wait for the chlorine levels to go down, then me going into the hot tub would help speed up the use of chlorine right? Any other tips related to my situation are appreciated too! Thanks for the help.