Been using Frog @Ease with my new Hotspring for the past 4 months or so. I like the system except for the cost. I'm finding I'm exhausting cartridges about every 18 - 21 days which is not ideal. I've been doing quite a bit of research on moving to a bromine sanitized spa. I've read over the 3 step process and think I'm pretty familiar with what to do. However, I do have a few questions.
1. I understand I add sodium bromide to the spa on a fresh fill (or anytime coming from a chlorine spa but I will start fresh anyway). Then I add oxidizer (called "shock") to the bromide to convert it to bromine which will raise bromine levels. My question here is "How much shock do I add"? I have dichlor granules on hand. If I want to raise the bromine level to ~10ppm starting from 0, then how do I know how much dichlor to add to a 350g tub in order to do that? I guess I could add a teaspoon and test after a few minutes to see what the bromine level is.
2. I plan on using a floater with bromine tabs so I don't have to constantly add oxidizer on a daily basis. I see I want to shoot for consistent 4 - 6ppm bromine levels. I guess this is trial and error as far as how many pucks to use, what setting on the floater to select, and how long they last?
3. I understand I need to shock at least weekly and boost those bromine levels up to 10ppm+. If using a floater, do I need to also shock after each soak or is weekly enough? My tub also has a ozonator but it only runs when pump 1 is active and so it doesn't run 24/7.
4. How long does it take from bromine levels to fall after a shock? If I shock and raise the bromine levels to ~15ppm in the evening after we have finished with the tub for the night, will it be back to 4 - 6ppm by the next day? I have done some reading in here and some people have commented it can take days to drop from 20ppm back to usable levels of 4 - 6ppm.
