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So we have had our tub for two months now and last night opened cover and found it to be very cloudy. Two days prior it was perfectly clear! I added 3 TBS of MPS hoping this would clear it up and came out 10 minutes later to check on tub and was over flowing with bubbles! Today there is a bunch of white floating looking stuff and some yellow scum on walls. I figured it was time to use Nitros flush method which I am going to do tomorrow. By the way two weeks ago my TDS = 1000 PPM. My normal routine which I am not sure this is the way it is supposed to be or not has been to check PH and Bromine prior to every soak and TA 2-4 times a week. We have three kids so there are 3-5 of us that sit in the tub approx 5 days a week for 30-60 min each soak. I normally raise to TA to about 85, PH to 7.6, CH to 180 and try to keep bromine at 1-2ppm. We have a 550 Gal Caldera Cantabria tub with Ozinator and inline frog system. I have to add water every two weeks, usually a few inches of water in order to get back above the top sets of jets. Is this normal? We live in Oregon and temps right now are normally 40-50 degrees. During this two week period it is a steady decline for the TA and PH levels. By the time i have to add water which is every two weeks the TA = 60 and PH around 7.2 before water add and TA = 50 and PH = 6.9 after adding the 2" or so of water. So after adding water I add 3.1 oz of TA up or Baking soda which puts TA = 80-85 and PH = 7.6-7.7 and normally about 1.3oz of Calcium Chloride to get the CH level back up in the 180-190 range. I also normally add 1-2 TBS of MPS after each soak. Do this sound like a normal routine? It seems like I am constantly adding a lot of chemical which adds to the TDS. My TA & PH are always on a constant fall which is driving me crazy and the Bromine Levels always seem low which leads to another question, I started with a bromide bank of 30 ppm by adding Bromide Booster.....sodium bromide 99%. So every two weeks when I have to add water, do I need to be adding more sodium bromide to the bank? If so how much do I need to be adding? I really appreciate any advice. It seems like I am stuck in the same routine and am a rookie at this so I really could use some advise. I have learned a ton by reading this forum, but still have a lot to learn. Thank you for any help!

I'm hoping I can get some guidance on shortening the amount of time it's taking me to get my basic TA and PH balance when doing a fresh fill on my hot tub. I've been using the 3 step bromine method and try to follow the steps in Waterbear's and Nitro's sticky posts. I generally end up getting things balanced, but it is taking 4 - 5 days to get CH, TA, and PH in the zones - before I can sanitize.. and I assume that's not a good thing. I have a 225 gal. rated tub, so I assume about 200 gal. capacity. I fill from a municipal water source run through a household filter. My source water has been pretty consistent over several fills, usually: TA: 30-40 CH: 20 - 30 PH: 7.4 - 7.7 My usual procedure has been to adjust TA with baking soda and CH with pool calcium. Of course, this results in PH going very high. Using the Taylor kit for acid demand, I add acid (mercuric) at the recommended amount. And this is where I find the adjustments start taking a lot of time. When I test again a few hours later, there is almost no reduction in PH. Redo the acid demand, add the recommended amount... repeat....repeat. Even when I have 1 drop on the acid demand test move me from above 8 to 7.2 in the test - adding the recommended amount of acid shows minimal or no discernible difference. Eventually I get there, although usually with the TA lower than I would like in the 70 range. Up until this last fill I would add in Borax at this point. When I've used it, it really held the PH dead steady. But, since adding it pushes the PH back up and requires the same repeated acid adjustment problem as above, I skipped it last time. But, I had to make a lot more weekly PH adjustments as a result. Any suggestions on where I might be missing something - or different products to use - or revision of my order would be greatly appreciated. Not only do I have concerns letting the water sit there for several days without being sanitized, but it's really hard to go a week without a soak!!! I have learned so much from these forums and can't thank you enough for the great effort you put in here!