Bromine Left Out, Now Cloudy.

[Schmutty]

My bromine floater was left out of tub for 48 hours while I was gone and now water has gone cloudy. Tub has only been filled for a week. I shocked with 70g of shock x 2 in 2 days and put floater back in and its been 48 hours and still cloudy. Any suggestions before draining? Tub holds 1400 litres of water and has a uv sanitizer and ozonator. Ph and Alk levels are fine.

Thanks!

[quantumchromodynamics]

First, you should read waterbear's post about doing bromine.

Then, you should read the Chlorine Demand post; it's about chlorine, but the same thing applies to bromine.

Is this a new tub? If it is, then you should do the Decontamination procedure.

What test kit do you have?

What are all of your levels? Bromine, pH, TA, calcium?

What are you using for shock?

What does the water smell like?

[hottubdan]

First, you should read waterbear's post about doing bromine.

Then, you should read the Chlorine Demand post; it's about chlorine, but the same thing applies to bromine.

Is this a new tub? If it is, then you should do the Decontamination procedure.

What test kit do you have?

What are all of your levels? Bromine, pH, TA, calcium?

What are you using for shock?

What does the water smell like?

Keep it simple. Shock with chlorine. Shocking with MPS will not help. You have too much sanitizer demand.

[waterbear]

Keep it simple. Shock with chlorine. Shocking with MPS will not help. You have too much sanitizer demand.

Exactly what I was going to say! I would use liquid chlorine or laundry bleach (sodium hypochlorite) if you can get it.

[Schmutty]

Thanks guys! How much bleach would I need to add for 1400 litres of water?

[Schmutty]

This sound correct???

Use 2.5 oz (5 tablespoons) of the 5.25% or 2 oz (4 tablespoons) of the 6% per 100 gallons of spa water to shock.

[quantumchromodynamics]

You should add enough regular, unscented 6.0 % bleach to increase your bromine to 10 to 20 ppm. Maintain at least 10 ppm until the water clears.

10 ml of 6 % bleach will raise your bromine by 1 ppm.

What are all of your levels? Bromine, pH, TA, calcium?

100 ml = 3.38 ounces

[waterbear]

10 ml of 6 % bleach will raise your bromine by 1 ppm.

This is only true if there is a bromide reserve in the water. The OP said the tub was only filled for a week and if he did not add sodium bromide on filling there will be no significant bromide reserve built up yet.

100 ml = 3.38 ounces

10 ml of 6 % bleach will raise your bromine by 1 ppm.

To make this easier to measure.... 2 teaspoons is very close to 10 ml. (4.9 ml per teaspoon)

[waterbear]

This sound correct???

Use 2.5 oz (5 tablespoons) of the 5.25% or 2 oz (4 tablespoons) of the 6% per 100 gallons of spa water to shock.

This is right in the ballpark! For a 1400 liter (about 350 gallon) spa you would need about 6 fluid oucnes ( about 180 ml) of 6% bleach.

[quantumchromodynamics]

10 ml of 6 % bleach will raise your bromine by 1 ppm.

This is only true if there is a bromide reserve in the water. The OP said the tub was only filled for a week and if he did not add sodium bromide on filling there will be no significant bromide reserve built up yet.

Valid point (although, not necessarily relevant). That's one of the reasons that I previously referenced your write-up on bromine where you say to add the sodium bromide.

Either way, the addition of 10 ml of 6 % bleach will measure as 1 ppm bromine, so it doesn't particularly matter if the sodium bromide was added or not.

To make this easier to measure.... 2 teaspoons is very close to 10 ml. (4.9 ml per teaspoon)

I advise against using teaspoons to measure bleach. First, it would take 36 teaspoons to measure out the 6 ounces that you recommend (which would take forever). And second, it is very difficult to use teaspoons to measure liquid without spilling some.

I recommend using a disposable plastic (not Styrofoam or paper) drinking cup that you have determined the correct level of liquid.

[PaulR]

To make this easier to measure.... 2 teaspoons is very close to 10 ml. (4.9 ml per teaspoon)

I advise against using teaspoons to measure bleach. First, it would take 36 teaspoons to measure out the 6 ounces that you recommend (which would take forever). And second, it is very difficult to use teaspoons to measure liquid without spilling some.

I recommend using a disposable plastic (not Styrofoam or paper) drinking cup that you have determined the correct level of liquid.

For doses in the tens of ml (typical for hot tubs), I use my FAS-DPD test cylinder (thoroughly rinsed before and after) which is already marked up to 40ml. This also seems to help combat the blackening of the inside of the tube that many people see from prolonged FAS-DPD use.

For doses in the multi-ounce range and up, I use a plastic measuring cup that is dedicated to pool chems (it lives outside in the pool shed and has a large POOL ONLY label on it). These are cheap, survive being dropped, and are pre-measured.

--paulr

[waterbear]

10 ml of 6 % bleach will raise your bromine by 1 ppm.

This is only true if there is a bromide reserve in the water. The OP said the tub was only filled for a week and if he did not add sodium bromide on filling there will be no significant bromide reserve built up yet.

Valid point (although, not necessarily relevant). That's one of the reasons that I previously referenced your write-up on bromine where you say to add the sodium bromide.

Either way, the addition of 10 ml of 6 % bleach will measure as 1 ppm bromine, so it doesn't particularly matter if the sodium bromide was added or not.

To make this easier to measure.... 2 teaspoons is very close to 10 ml. (4.9 ml per teaspoon)

I advise against using teaspoons to measure bleach. First, it would take 36 teaspoons to measure out the 6 ounces that you recommend (which would take forever). And second, it is very difficult to use teaspoons to measure liquid without spilling some.

I recommend using a disposable plastic (not Styrofoam or paper) drinking cup that you have determined the correct level of liquid.

Give me a break! Let me do the math for you...36 teaspoons is 12 tablespoons is 6 fluid oz is 3/4 of a cup. HOWEVER, it's all moot since I said in a previous post you would need a total of 6 oz or 180 ml. for a 1400 liter (a bit above 350 gallon) spa.Why do you constantly want to complicate matters for something that is really not that hard to do?

[Schmutty]

I added 180mls and ran tub for hours and it considerably cleared up. Its obviously not crystal clear like new water but 80% better. My bromine levels jumped and have since fallen down but I use test sticks and I'm going to get a proper test kit as you have explained in your other posts. Adjusted my PH and Alk levels to normal range as well. Bromine floater is in and I assume I continue to shock with non-chlorine as per usual to bring bromine up to a consistent level. Thank you so much for the advice!!! Really appreciate it! Anything else I should do or now just shock with non chlorine and watch all levels?

[quantumchromodynamics]

You note that the bromine levels jumped up and then went back down. You should maintain 10 ppm bromine until the water is totally clear and the levels don't drop right back down. If your level is 10 ppm at the end of the day and is down to less than 5 ppm overnight, that means that there are still organics that need to be cleared.

Maintain 10 ppm bromine until the overnight bromine loss is only a few ppm. Use regular, unscented 6.0 % bleach to increase the bromine level.

Be sure to circulate and filter the water enough to keep it clear.

[njmurvin]

Can you use regular pool chlorine for this? If not, why not? If so, would the recommended amounts of pool chlorine be the same as those stated for the bleach?

[Schmutty]

You note that the bromine levels jumped up and then went back down. You should maintain 10 ppm bromine until the water is totally clear and the levels don't drop right back down. If your level is 10 ppm at the end of the day and is down to less than 5 ppm overnight, that means that there are still organics that need to be cleared.

Maintain 10 ppm bromine until the overnight bromine loss is only a few ppm. Use regular, unscented 6.0 % bleach to increase the bromine level.

Be sure to circulate and filter the water enough to keep it clear.

Hit it with more bleach and bromine levels stayed up and is back to crystal clear! Thanks again for all your guys advice and help! Very appreciated!!!

[quantumchromodynamics]

Can you use regular pool chlorine for this? If not, why not? If so, would the recommended amounts of pool chlorine be the same as those stated for the bleach?

You can use regular, unscented 6.0 % bleach, liquid chlorine (12 % sodium hypochlorite), dichlor, or lithium hypochlorite. I don't recommend trichlor or calcium hypochlorite.

You can use the pool calculator to calculate the correct amount of chlorine needed to achieve the desired increase.

When calculating the amount of chlorine needed to increase bromine levels, divide the desired bromine increase by 2.25. For example, if you want to increase bromine by 10 ppm, you would use 10/2.25 = 4.44 ppm. You would use the calculator to see how much chlorine would raise the chlorine level by 4.44 ppm, which would raise the bromine level by 10 ppm.