Newbiw With Questions/problems

[JimBeaux]

I got my wife a portable spa (Spa-n-a-Box) for Christmas, and have been trying to learn to balance the chemicals since then.

on 1/5 I took a water sample to my local spa store. They ran it through their computer and told me exactly what I needed to do. I did just what they said - added shock, added more bromine tabs to the floater, got some clarifier and something to raise the hardness a bit. A few days later I took another sample in - now everything was too high, including the bromine and the pH.

I left the cover off, ran the spa and took the floater out, and within a day the bromine level was practically nil again. So I've been trying to balance the bromine, while still using the spa.

On Sunday my son had a few spots on him, as did I. I suspect they're from hot-tub folliculitus. No big deal - goes away by itself, no harm, no foul, right? But my wife is uncertain about using the spa now.

I don't want to have to take a water sample to the store every day or so. I'm not sure how to proceed from here. The floater I got is a cheap floater from Home Depot - should I get a different type? Seems that when it's in the water, it releases too much and the bromine level spikes - which also raises the pH level, right? I'm using a combination of test strips and one of the chemical test kits.

Am I just in the beginning of a learning curve, or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? BTW, the spa is a 250 gallon unit. The floater is a mini-floater. The spa is in our weatherized back porch so it doesn't get any sunlight.

Thoughts?

[General Beluga]

I got my wife a portable spa (Spa-n-a-Box) for Christmas, and have been trying to learn to balance the chemicals since then.

on 1/5 I took a water sample to my local spa store. They ran it through their computer and told me exactly what I needed to do. I did just what they said - added shock, added more bromine tabs to the floater, got some clarifier and something to raise the hardness a bit. A few days later I took another sample in - now everything was too high, including the bromine and the pH.

I left the cover off, ran the spa and took the floater out, and within a day the bromine level was practically nil again. So I've been trying to balance the bromine, while still using the spa.

On Sunday my son had a few spots on him, as did I. I suspect they're from hot-tub folliculitus. No big deal - goes away by itself, no harm, no foul, right? But my wife is uncertain about using the spa now.

I don't want to have to take a water sample to the store every day or so. I'm not sure how to proceed from here. The floater I got is a cheap floater from Home Depot - should I get a different type? Seems that when it's in the water, it releases too much and the bromine level spikes - which also raises the pH level, right? I'm using a combination of test strips and one of the chemical test kits.

Am I just in the beginning of a learning curve, or am I doing something dreadfully wrong? BTW, the spa is a 250 gallon unit. The floater is a mini-floater. The spa is in our weatherized back porch so it doesn't get any sunlight.

Thoughts?

Jim,

Take a look at my post here: http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.ph...art=#entry72855

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

What does the spa in a box have for a filter system?

When you shock a bromine system, it re-establishes the bromine in the tub, causing a very high reading at first. If there is a high amount of bromine in the tub (risdual) than you could take the floater out and when it starts to drop the bromine level, add just a little shock to bring it back up, as time goes by and you get to the point that the shock is not pulling up the bromine, plop the feeder back in.

I dought it is hot tub folliculitis, more than likly an irritation from PH being out of wack and high/low bromine.