SprinterDave Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoolSpaGuy30 Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SprinterDave Posted February 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? Next time you exit the tub try and see if you can use the jets (turn some off and make sure the right ones are on) to create an effect in the water that pushes the stuff (use a rubber ducky) to the weir. You can take some air out from under the weir to get it to float lower but as long as the surface of the water is going over it, it should skim with the right water action. Some tubs are better at this than others. I don't know a lot about your particular tub but better tubs do a better job. It is built into there design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reeffreak Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? The skimming system on a tub is only there to remove floating particulate matter (leaves, hair, lint, etc.). Scum is accumulation of dissolved organics on the surface of the water. I bet when you turn the jets on with air, you get some nasty film / bubbles. This is because you are greatly increasing the surface area of the water by adding billions of bubbles that carry the dissolved organics in your water to the surface. This is called protein skimming in aquarium / pond hobbies. What you need is better sanitation, NOT better filtration / surface skimming. I'm not a chemistry expert, but I'm taking a clue from your shocking comment above. Bromine in a hot tub is useful when it's in the form of hypobromous acid. It is the addition of an oxidizer (NOT adding more bromine) that generally makes this form available in a tub. The oxidizer is typically either MPS or a form of chlorine. If you aren't adding one of these (and your note above says you're "shocking" with "brominating concentrate" so I worry), you probably haven't shocked your tub sufficiently to burn off the scum. I'd study up on bromine sanitation methods, and the role that an oxidizer plays.. That will probably solve your problem. It has nothing to do with "better" tub or design as Roger pointed out. This is pure chemistry. Enjoy your new tub! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don the spa guy Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? The skimming system on a tub is only there to remove floating particulate matter (leaves, hair, lint, etc.). Scum is accumulation of dissolved organics on the surface of the water. I bet when you turn the jets on with air, you get some nasty film / bubbles. This is because you are greatly increasing the surface area of the water by adding billions of bubbles that carry the dissolved organics in your water to the surface. This is called protein skimming in aquarium / pond hobbies. What you need is better sanitation, NOT better filtration / surface skimming. I'm not a chemistry expert, but I'm taking a clue from your shocking comment above. Bromine in a hot tub is useful when it's in the form of hypobromous acid. It is the addition of an oxidizer (NOT adding more bromine) that generally makes this form available in a tub. The oxidizer is typically either MPS or a form of chlorine. If you aren't adding one of these (and your note above says you're "shocking" with "brominating concentrate" so I worry), you probably haven't shocked your tub sufficiently to burn off the scum. I'd study up on bromine sanitation methods, and the role that an oxidizer plays.. That will probably solve your problem. It has nothing to do with "better" tub or design as Roger pointed out. This is pure chemistry. Enjoy your new tub! All good advice above. Now do this simple test. Remove your filter and put the skimmer assembly back in place. Make sure you don't have anything in the water that can be somehow sucked into the pump. Now run the pump on low speed and see if the water gets skimmed. If it does, this indicates to me that you have already plugged up your 45 day old filter and you should try a good cleaning and even some filter cleaner to bring it back to normal. If nothing changes in the skimming action then it isn't a filter problem. In any case, scum is bad and needs to be dealt with. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n1oty Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 This is perfect advice. Any properly plumbed, equipped and engineered tub should skim through the filter, even on low speed, assuming no restrictions caused by the filter. John I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? The skimming system on a tub is only there to remove floating particulate matter (leaves, hair, lint, etc.). Scum is accumulation of dissolved organics on the surface of the water. I bet when you turn the jets on with air, you get some nasty film / bubbles. This is because you are greatly increasing the surface area of the water by adding billions of bubbles that carry the dissolved organics in your water to the surface. This is called protein skimming in aquarium / pond hobbies. What you need is better sanitation, NOT better filtration / surface skimming. I'm not a chemistry expert, but I'm taking a clue from your shocking comment above. Bromine in a hot tub is useful when it's in the form of hypobromous acid. It is the addition of an oxidizer (NOT adding more bromine) that generally makes this form available in a tub. The oxidizer is typically either MPS or a form of chlorine. If you aren't adding one of these (and your note above says you're "shocking" with "brominating concentrate" so I worry), you probably haven't shocked your tub sufficiently to burn off the scum. I'd study up on bromine sanitation methods, and the role that an oxidizer plays.. That will probably solve your problem. It has nothing to do with "better" tub or design as Roger pointed out. This is pure chemistry. Enjoy your new tub! All good advice above. Now do this simple test. Remove your filter and put the skimmer assembly back in place. Make sure you don't have anything in the water that can be somehow sucked into the pump. Now run the pump on low speed and see if the water gets skimmed. If it does, this indicates to me that you have already plugged up your 45 day old filter and you should try a good cleaning and even some filter cleaner to bring it back to normal. If nothing changes in the skimming action then it isn't a filter problem. In any case, scum is bad and needs to be dealt with. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SprinterDave Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've got a 400 gallon spa (Evolution) using a Balboa Revolution controller. The system has a 2 speed pump with aux blower and ozone. During a filter cycle, the blower runs for about a minute and then the pump kicks in at low speed for the remainder of the cycle. When the pump drops to low speed, it doesn't appear that water (especially water with floating scum) is being pulled into the skimmer. When not in a filter cycle, and I put the pump into high speed, water is pulled into the weir skimmer fast enough to create a small whirlpool. My question.. Does this sound 'normal' or should I be seeing more suction into the skimmer/filter during the low speed cycle?. The spa is only about 45 days old and I'm starting to have more and more of a scum problem. I've bumped up the filter cycles to twice a day for 2 hours each but it doesn't seem to be capturing the scum in the filter. I've never paid too much attention to the performance of the filter system until now so I don't know if the current behavior is normal or faulty. The tub has low/average use (1-2x a week) and 45 days seemed a little too soon to REQUIRE a water change. Other than a couple of times where the total Bromine levels have gotten low for a day or two, the water chemistry has been on target. In those instances, I've shocked it with granulated Bromine to 10ppm. Any ideas/suggestions/observations? -Dave filter cycles aside my first questions would be re: the parts in bold above...if chemicals are "on target" why would you have floating scum in the spa? and by on target do you mean just TA, pH, and Calcium Hardness or are you including your sanitizer as being on target as well? Reason I ask is because rule of thumb is, if the water is stinky, cloudy, slimy it usually relates to low or no sanitizer in the water (not always but usually) With the exception of a few cases where I've let the total bromine get to 0 (2 days within the last 30) the TBr, TA, pH, and CH have been relatively good. My recent measurements over the last 3 days have been... TBr TA pH CH 10 80 7.6 100 10 80 7.6 100 5 40 7.6 100 Ever since I filled the spa, the CH levels have been at 100 and haven't moved. Neither has the pH level of 7.6. About 3 days ago I shocked with Brominating Concentrate (Sodium Bromide) to get the TBr levels up. I figured some of the scum was caused by the TBr levels dropping but I was hoping the filtering, along with sanitizer, would help clear that up - it hasn't yet. I'm also beginning to think my weir skimmer is floating too high and the filter suction isn't enough to pull it down during the filter cycle. Is it possible to get air bubbles inside the weir assembly such that it floats higher than it should? The skimming system on a tub is only there to remove floating particulate matter (leaves, hair, lint, etc.). Scum is accumulation of dissolved organics on the surface of the water. I bet when you turn the jets on with air, you get some nasty film / bubbles. This is because you are greatly increasing the surface area of the water by adding billions of bubbles that carry the dissolved organics in your water to the surface. This is called protein skimming in aquarium / pond hobbies. What you need is better sanitation, NOT better filtration / surface skimming. I'm not a chemistry expert, but I'm taking a clue from your shocking comment above. Bromine in a hot tub is useful when it's in the form of hypobromous acid. It is the addition of an oxidizer (NOT adding more bromine) that generally makes this form available in a tub. The oxidizer is typically either MPS or a form of chlorine. If you aren't adding one of these (and your note above says you're "shocking" with "brominating concentrate" so I worry), you probably haven't shocked your tub sufficiently to burn off the scum. I'd study up on bromine sanitation methods, and the role that an oxidizer plays.. That will probably solve your problem. It has nothing to do with "better" tub or design as Roger pointed out. This is pure chemistry. Enjoy your new tub! First, thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it. The "Brominating Concentrate" I'm using is by "SPA Essentials" it's listed as a sanitizer and oxidizer. They call for a low dose (1 tsp / 200 gal or until available bromine is 3-6ppm) for sanitizing and (4 tsp / 200 gal)for super oxidation. Ingredients are... Sodium dichloro-s-triazinatrione 82.5% Sodium Bromide 14.7% Other 2.8% Is this the wrong stuff to use? I also use a floater with Leisure Time Brom Tabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 First, thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it. The "Brominating Concentrate" I'm using is by "SPA Essentials" it's listed as a sanitizer and oxidizer. They call for a low dose (1 tsp / 200 gal or until available bromine is 3-6ppm) for sanitizing and (4 tsp / 200 gal)for super oxidation. Ingredients are... Sodium dichloro-s-triazinatrione 82.5% Sodium Bromide 14.7% Other 2.8% Is this the wrong stuff to use? I also use a floater with Leisure Time Brom Tabs. Basically yes, You are using a "one step bromine" product along with tabs. I am not a fan of one step bromine because it is a lot of work to keep the sanitizer in line. I would suggest draining the tub and starting over with 3 step bromine (add plain sodium bromide to create the bromide reserve, shock with bleach, then add the floater with BCDMH tabs, Here is a step by step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SprinterDave Posted February 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 First, thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it. The "Brominating Concentrate" I'm using is by "SPA Essentials" it's listed as a sanitizer and oxidizer. They call for a low dose (1 tsp / 200 gal or until available bromine is 3-6ppm) for sanitizing and (4 tsp / 200 gal)for super oxidation. Ingredients are... Sodium dichloro-s-triazinatrione 82.5% Sodium Bromide 14.7% Other 2.8% Is this the wrong stuff to use? I also use a floater with Leisure Time Brom Tabs. Basically yes, You are using a "one step bromine" product along with tabs. I am not a fan of one step bromine because it is a lot of work to keep the sanitizer in line. I would suggest draining the tub and starting over with 3 step bromine (add plain sodium bromide to create the bromide reserve, shock with bleach, then add the floater with BCDMH tabs, Here is a step by step. Waterbear, thanks for your help. I'm going to take your advice on the three-step system (already ordered the Sodium Bromide and the Taylor test kit I see recommended) on my next water change. In the mean time, I do believe that I did have a problem with the weir skimmer floating too high (not allowing water to get in even in a filter cycle.) Yesterday morning I removed and re-set the skimmer, trying to remove any air bubbles, and I began to see better water flow into the skimmer. Today the water is MUCH MUCH clearer. Thanks to you all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kube Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 I can say I use to have all sorts of troubles with water quality, lots of foam, scum, strong chmical odor. I was asdvised by the spa dealer that they just bromine tabs and to shock with bromine concentrate. I drained and did the three step process that Waterbearer recommended and have never had any issues since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterbear Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 I can say I use to have all sorts of troubles with water quality, lots of foam, scum, strong chmical odor. I was asdvised by the spa dealer that they just bromine tabs and to shock with bromine concentrate. I drained and did the three step process that Waterbearer recommended and have never had any issues since. That's waterbear, as in tardigrade. See my avatar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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