llamarche

Thank you sir! Much appreciated @waterbear!!

Good afternoon! im a long time user of @waterbear’s 3-step bromine program but this upcoming fill will be my first time establishing a bromide bank without plain sodium bromide (I had some left over) and switching to shocking with dichlor instead of MPS. My (stupid) question has to do with testing sanitizer levels. If I am establishing a bromide bank over the course of a few weeks using a sodium bromide/dichlor product and bromine tablets, do I need to test for both bromine and chlorine during that time? I’m guessing there’s still residual chlorine in the water as the bromide level would be so low at the beginning, do I need to be concerned with that at all? Thanks! Luc

Hey everyone I’m Luc from Ottawa Canada. I’m an occasional reader but I had to post something to say thank you to you all. There is so much great advice in these forums and I tell anyone I know/see with a pool or spa to come check it out. I bought a 12’ hydropool a year ago and have been struggling with water chemistry ever since. I’ve followed the “rules” (the ranges my dealer told me to stay within) to the letter and have always wrestled ph drift and other water issues, dumping tons of product in the water every 2-3 days. I was in the hot tub store every week it seems buying something that would make my life easier but it never did and I was losing sleep over it. I’ve read advice/guides from many of you (primarily waterbear, nitro, chemgeek) and thought you were crazy for not following the “rules”. After finally having enough I wised up and bought a k-2106 test kit (coming from a k-1004) and followed your advice. Used pool calculator, set myself up based on my current hardness and let the spa decide where the TA needs to be to tame my ph. it’s been a pretty awesome 3-4 weeks, I’ve cut back on 3/4’s of the chemicals. The true test (for me) was a heavy bather load this past weekend for my sons birthday. I shocked it afterwards, let the bromine come down below 10 before putting the cover back on. I thought for sure I’d be adding something to the water this morning but it was perfectly balanced. I was amazed. CH: 250 TA: 50 PH: 7.5 BR: 5 (CH is only that high because my shops “start up guide” has you raise it to 275-300 after a fill. It’s been going down gradually from weekly top ups which are ~25-30 gals) So thank you all, especially waterbear, chemgeek and nitro. You saved me time, sleep, stress and money. cheers!