Brand New Hot Tub - Water Is All Messed Up. Starting Over And Need Advice - Thanks!

[jlazarus]

My husband bought a hot tub (somewhat on impulse - we did NOT research this first, I really wish I had because then I would have totally been completely against it but too late now)..The tub is a Viking - not sure of model number, all I know for sure it's in the "Destiny River" line (it says 20th anniversary destiny river edition on the side or something like that). No idea if this is a good tub or not - I do know it's much deeper than we would have liked - not very comfortable to sit in something so deep you feel like you're drowning, lol!

Anyway, the tub was installed Wednesday - and of course, being T-Day Eve, all the kids home from college and everyone was in it by 10 that night. When we got out that night I commented to my husband the top of the water looked "funny" (instead of crystal clear when we got in, it was filmy like - swirly, maybe a little yellowish but hard to say since it was dark and only had hot tub light on.

Last night we went to get in it and there noticed the water was all cloudy/very murky with the terrible foam over the the top. By the time the kids got out the water looked terrible - Told them to all shower and no one touch the thing 'till I can figure out what's going on.

Started googling and here I am. I suppose I should decontaminate. I have some questions though.

1.) The Decontamination procedure here (http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19115 ) varies from this procedure http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/spa-contamination.htm - why does this board recommend flushing FIRST and then chlorine and then filling again (2 drains!!) versus chlorine first, then flushing (1 drain!)? I'm just trying to understand the difference in protocol.

Also, both procedures discuss turning on air injectors and/or blowers? Like this: "6. Run all jets and air features for 30-60 mins. You can turn the air on and off every 10 mins, to help clean the air lines." " OR, from the other protocol, "Turn air injector switch on and then off for 5 minute intervals during this process to help disinfect air lines. If your spa is equipped with an electric air blower, run it for a minute every five minutes." - I don't know what an air injector switch or blower is, so I suppose I don't have one? I'll look in the manual but the only switches I have are for the jets, temperature and lights (unless this is a switch hidden somewhere else?)

2.)I've read that even crystal clear water can contain bad bacteria. This is very disheartening and frankly I will NEVER get in the hot tub again - but nothing I can do to prevent the hubby from it. So how do I know if my water is good or not? We are pool owners and I know how to judge that - if my pool water is crystal clear you can darn well bet my water chemistry is fine! But I read that with hot tubs, none of that matters - water can be clear and water chemistry good and you STILL have bad bugs. So what's the point? Seriously? What am I missing here? There has to be some way of knowing your water is ok and really clean? Testing will tell you your water chemistry but if bad bugs can live in proper chemistry then I am puzzled as to how to know if your water is ok or not???

I am so freaked out by reading about all this. I feel like someone just ripped me off for thousands of dollars - yet it's my own fault for not researching it. I don't know how anyone enjoys a hot tub after what I've reading about healthy adults actually dying from infections they acquired from hot tubs. I'm disgusted and terrified to let anyone I know or love near it.

[jlazarus]

Also, appears to me that hot tub water chemistry is much more complex and difficult. I don't know where to begin? With my pool, I just open with tons of shock and some borax....then add a little bleach and borax about once a week and the water is beautiful. I use a little drop test kit to keep tabs on my ph and chlorine, but after 10 years of doing it I pretty much can tell by looking at it, lol!

With the hot tub, I'm a bit confused with TA, FC, etc.. - and I think my tub came with bromine so need to read up on differences 'cause I'm not sure I understand why I'd want to use bromine instead of chlorine? But then I read that heat dissipates chlorine, so why would anyone use that if it gets used up so quickly? Arrghh.....

[jeffinpickering]

The Decontamination procedure here (http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19115 ) varies from this procedure http://www.spadepot.com/spacyclopedia/spa-contamination.htm - why does this board recommend flushing FIRST and then chlorine and then filling again (2 drains!!) versus chlorine first, then flushing (1 drain!)? I'm just trying to understand the difference in protocol.

That question is answered in the corresponding thread. Basically, superchlorination and flush at the same time will impact the effectiveness of the flush.

Given what you experienced, I would definitely follow the two fill procedure from this site, as it sounds like you had a biofilm disaster. What process did you employ when starting the tub to ensure it was not only balanced, but sanitized as well?

2.)I've read that even crystal clear water can contain bad bacteria. This is very disheartening and frankly I will NEVER get in the hot tub again - but nothing I can do to prevent the hubby from it. So how do I know if my water is good or not? We are pool owners and I know how to judge that - if my pool water is crystal clear you can darn well bet my water chemistry is fine! But I read that with hot tubs, none of that matters - water can be clear and water chemistry good and you STILL have bad bugs. So what's the point? Seriously? What am I missing here? There has to be some way of knowing your water is ok and really clean? Testing will tell you your water chemistry but if bad bugs can live in proper chemistry then I am puzzled as to how to know if your water is ok or not???

Clear does not equal sanitary in a pool any more than it does a hot tub, though hot tubs may be more prone to rapidly growing biofilm and bacteria due to temperature and smaller volume. The key to knowing if your water is good or not is to deconaminate and make sure you ALWAYS have the proper sanitizer level from the get-go.

Also, appears to me that hot tub water chemistry is much more complex and difficult.

Not really. Read the sticky on 3-step Bromine in this section of the forum. It's pretty easy. Bromine requires less frequent work than chlorine for a tub.

Take a deep breath, start from scratch, and follow:

1. Decontamination process here, and then

2. Pick which sanitizer you want to use and follow the corresponding sticky in this forum.

3. Enjoy having a tub!!

[Even Further]

Sounds like you went in the tub without knowing the sanitizer level, and without establishing a Bromine bank.

Seems like you're over thinking this - there's just a learning curve. Its not hard at all, actually easy once you get the right routine down. You have to consider 1) Balancing the water, and 2) Maintaining a sanitizer level. Hot tubs are perfectly fine, you just have to know what you're doing with the water and general tub maintenance.

All the info you need is here on this forum. You need to get a good test kit for Bromine, if that's what your going to use. Taylor is popular here, I've got a Lamotte Color Q pro that works very well.

I'm no spa pro, but I would decon with the water that's in it, drain, re-fill, run the jets, drain, and fill again, (just cause its brand new).

I use Bromine sanitizer, its very easy to keep 4-6ppm with a floater.

BTW...Congrats on your new tub!

[jlazarus]

Is jet cleaner the same thing as the flush? Went to dealer to get flush and they gave us jet cleaner. I also have a bottle that says enzyme on it (but doesn't say a thing about flush).

Yes, disaster is an understatement. Spa was filled Wednesday at 4 in afternoon - smelled like sewer this morning. I'm totally freaked.

[jlazarus]

Also, everyone, most importantly my kids and their friends, were all in this tub last night. How sick are we talking about here?

And do we need to be chlorinating everything??? Like all our swimsuits? Towels? Should I be running chlorine through the washer machine and let it sit for a while as well?

[Even Further]

This is what you need, a flush / cleaning agent.

Flush Product Link

After I balance the water, I use the Spa Choice Sodium Bromide to establish the Bromine bank, then use the Spa Choice Bromine tabs.

If the water is bad / cloudy, just shock it with Bleach, or other shock product.

[waterbear]

if my pool water is crystal clear you can darn well bet my water chemistry is fine!

Nope, not even close. If you are maintaining your pool properly you have a good drop based test kit and are testing your own water and you are maintaining your FC level based on how high your CYA is. If this is all greek to you then I can pretty safely say you are not taking care of your pool properly and clear water is not always santizied water in your pool!

Clear water tells you nothing of the pH, TA, or Calcium Hardness either!

However, this board is not only a good place to learn how to care for your spa, it is also a good place to learn how to care for your pool!

[waterbear]

Also, appears to me that hot tub water chemistry is much more complex and difficult. I don't know where to begin?

Not really, just a bit different because of the hotter water and smaller water to bather ratio. Bromine chemistry is different from chlorine chemistry and bromine cannot be stabilized from loss by UV like chlorine can (but spas are ususally kept covered so it is a moot point).

With my pool, I just open with tons of shock and some borax....then add a little bleach and borax about once a week and the water is beautiful. I use a little drop test kit to keep tabs on my ph and chlorine, but after 10 years of doing it I pretty much can tell by looking at it, lol!

Why are you needing borax weekly if you are using bleach? Borax raises pH and pools run on bleach usually need acid to lower pH. Borax would be more common in a pool using trichlor tabs.

With the hot tub, I'm a bit confused with TA, FC, etc.

These are exactly the same measurements that are also needed with pools so if they confuse you you really need to start leaning them to properly care for both your pool and spa. FC is free chloirne and is what sanitizes. CC is combined chlorine an is what smells strongly of chlorine, irritates eyes, and means you need to shock. TA is a measure of the bicarbonate in the water. It needs to be higher for acidic sanitizers like Trichlor tabs and bromine tabs and MPS and needs to be lower for unstabilized chlorine like cal hypo and bleach. Bottom line. IF your pH is always rising and you need to add acid frequently then your TA is too high (assuming no new, curing plaster). If your pH is too low and always crashing and you need to add borax or soda ash on a regular basis to raise it then your TA is probably too low. You need a good drop based test kit to test it. Strips are useless.

. - and I think my tub came with bromine so need to read up on differences 'cause I'm not sure I understand why I'd want to use bromine instead of chlorine? But then I read that heat dissipates chlorine, so why would anyone use that if it gets used up so quickly? Arrghh.....

Chlorine is cheaper than bromine but does requres slighlty more work. If a tub is used daily then chlorine is a good choice. If the tub is used less frequently the bromine is more forgiving and a bit easier for beginners. Both still need to be tested and adjusted on a regular basis (and not just sanitizer levels but also pH, TA, possibly Calcium hardness, and for chlorine you also need to monitor cyanuric acid (CYA, Stabilzier) just like in your pool so the testing for a chlorine spa and pool are identical.

[jlazarus]

if my pool water is crystal clear you can darn well bet my water chemistry is fine!

Nope, not even close. If you are maintaining your pool properly you have a good drop based test kit and are testing your own water and you are maintaining your FC level based on how high your CYA is. If this is all greek to you then I can pretty safely say you are not taking care of your pool properly and clear water is not always santizied water in your pool!

Clear water tells you nothing of the pH, TA, or Calcium Hardness either!

However, this board is not only a good place to learn how to care for your spa, it is also a good place to learn how to care for your pool!

I simply meant that as a pool owner I'm pretty intuitive with my pool ;-) I do have a drop test kit for my pool! No, it's not all greek, but a pool doesn't turn bad overnight unless there is no chlorine and 98 degree weather...um, kind of like a hot tub, lol.....My pool *is* clean - I learned a long time ago the three B's for that - Borax, Baking Soda and Bleach. I learned it from a pool forum (not this one) and learned valuable lessons on that forum - which is why I sought THIS forum for the hubby's hot tub ;-)

[walleye]

I am a new Hot Tub owner, less than 2 months. It seemed complicated at first, but it really is quite simple. Much simpler than my friends pool. I think you all jumped in it without having a clue. That is a mistake you made and really should have did some research prior. Not a smart choice (especially if you own a pool you should have known better). Anyway, drain it, decontaminate it, spend a couple hours reading here, refill and you will be fine. I use a Bromine system and if you fill correctly, and balance correctly, all I do is add tabs every few days and shock with Bleach every 7-10 days and my water is crystal clear and all levels are spot on. Very simple. You just can't fill and jump in without any idea on what do do. (which is what you already admitted) Relax, start over and enjoy your tub.

[jlazarus]

I am a new Hot Tub owner, less than 2 months. It seemed complicated at first, but it really is quite simple. Much simpler than my friends pool. I think you all jumped in it without having a clue. That is a mistake you made and really should have did some research prior. Not a smart choice (especially if you own a pool you should have known better). Anyway, drain it, decontaminate it, spend a couple hours reading here, refill and you will be fine. I use a Bromine system and if you fill correctly, and balance correctly, all I do is add tabs every few days and shock with Bleach every 7-10 days and my water is crystal clear and all levels are spot on. Very simple. You just can't fill and jump in without any idea on what do do. (which is what you already admitted) Relax, start over and enjoy your tub.

Yes, we have established that we did not research (who'd a thunk?) and that's why I am here. ;-)

You mention you use a Bromine system but you also shock it with Bleach. I thought I just read somewhere else on here that you shouldn't mix the two - i.e., either choose the Bromine route or Chlorine....I'll go read some more. I obviously must have misunderstood!

[jlazarus]

Heck we may have screwed up the decon. We drained the tub, refilled, added the jet clean (which dealer says is same type of stuff as spa flush - we hope!), let it run for 30 minutes, then turned it off and are letting it sit overnight.

We *turned* it off. As in cut the power. Had to = it would have overflowed with foam everywhere all evening! But, re-reading the instructions and it doesn't say to turn off - so were we supposed to keep it on? Aarrghhh......and what would we have done about all that foam? (asking in case we have to start over yet again tomorrow). Thanks.

[waterbear]

You mention you use a Bromine system but you also shock it with Bleach. I thought I just read somewhere else on here that you shouldn't mix the two - i.e., either choose the Bromine route or Chlorine....I'll go read some more. I obviously must have misunderstood!

read this and follow it and bromine will be easy. You can use chlorine as an oxidizer with bromine and bromine tabs do, in fact, contain chlorine. Bromine chemistry works a bit differently than chlorine.

If you want to used chlorine then use the dihclor/beach method that is stickied in the top of the hot tub water chemistry section as a hot topic. It is basically a modified BBB method that was first promoted by Ben Powell at Pool fourm (where I have been an active member for many years) and later at TFP (where I was previously a moderator until it changed ownership and became a commercial venue to promote the owner's test kits).

IF you are following the BBB method for your pool then you probably have a Taylor K-2006 which can also be used for your tub. The tests you need to do are the same but you don't need as many for bormine. You only need to test total bromine (if you are testing with DPD test total chloirne and multiply the results by 2.25, if you are testing iwth FAS-DPD test free chloirne and multiply the results by 2.25, if you only have an OTO test kit then multiply the results by 2.25 or use the bromine scale on the comparator,) You test pH, TA, and CH the same as for your pool. You do not need to test CYA with bromine.

[waterbear]

Heck we may have screwed up the decon. We drained the tub, refilled, added the jet clean (which dealer says is same type of stuff as spa flush - we hope!), let it run for 30 minutes, then turned it off and are letting it sit overnight.

We *turned* it off. As in cut the power. Had to = it would have overflowed with foam everywhere all evening! But, re-reading the instructions and it doesn't say to turn off - so were we supposed to keep it on? Aarrghhh......and what would we have done about all that foam? (asking in case we have to start over yet again tomorrow). Thanks.

You are stressing too much. Decon really does not need to be done that often, IMHO. If you have a high sanitizer demand then it is something to do but I had a potable tub on bromine that I only decontaminated when ti was first delivered and all I did was shock it to a high (30 ppm) level with bleach. I never needed to decontamiate it again in 6 years but I also stayed on top of the water chemistry.

[walleye]

Yes, we have established that we did not research (who'd a thunk?) and that's why I am here. ;-)

You mention you use a Bromine system but you also shock it with Bleach. I thought I just read somewhere else on here that you shouldn't mix the two - i.e., either choose the Bromine route or Chlorine....I'll go read some more. I obviously must have misunderstood!

I only use about 4 ounces of bleach every 7-10 days just because it is less expensive and is already in the laundry room! :-)

You may be correct about not using bleach and Bromine, but I suspect that means as a sanitizing system, either do one or the other. I am also new so I could be wrong. I would appreciate somebody letting me know if I should not use bleach for shocking my bromine system. I hope you get your tub balanced and enjoy it. Good luck to you.

[chem geek]

You can absolutely use bleach in a bromine spa. Bleach in that situation (assuming you have a bromide bank built up) is used as an oxidizer. The chlorine doesn't remain, but converts bromide to bromine. It's cheaper than using non-chlorine shock (MPS) for that purpose.

[GSmith]

I had to give up on reading all the replies you were just going in circles it seemed.

First off, the only mention I can find of the word SHOWER was to wash off after using the tub.

Let me say this loud and clear....ALL TUB USERS MUST SHOWER BEFORE ENTERING THE TUB.

I run a cottage resort with 7 tubs and I can tell you people do not get this. :angry:

The scum and film on your tub was from moisturizers and hair gels or conditioners and makeup and dead skin.... need I go on.

Have you ever swum in a lake? There is bacteria everywhere so lets not get worked up to much over this.

There is no need to flush and fill twice. SERIOUSLY it is not baking on in the pipes. Dump the water, fill it and add your sanitizer of choice. You can add some shock if you want but the proper sanitizer will deal with the miniscule amount of anything diluted into a tub full of water. If you are on city water which is chlorinated, that amount of clean water would eliminate anything that might have been in a jet.

Bromine does not burn off as fast in the heat of a tub as chlorine does.

Make sure before the crowd comes over that you have had the proper Bromine level for a couple days, this will mean you have enough banked in the tub

Make sure everyone showers FIRST.

when you have finished for the night put a cap full of spa shock(not pool shock) in the tub. In the morning, before noon if you can, check the levels. You will need to add Bromine usually if there has been many bathers.

ALSO and this is big as well. Cloudy foamy water from many bathers can be as simple as detergent residue in the swim suits. Many people are using the 2x or 3x detergents and still using a cap full which is way to much. This does not wash out completely in the laundry. When they land in the tub without showering in their swimsuit all the detergent rinses out nicely in your tub. I see this all the time and can just about tell which laundry detergent they use. There is no chemical that can counter this.

[jeffinpickering]

I had to give up on reading all the replies you were just going in circles it seemed.

First off, the only mention I can find of the word SHOWER was to wash off after using the tub.

Let me say this loud and clear....ALL TUB USERS MUST SHOWER BEFORE ENTERING THE TUB.

I run a cottage resort with 7 tubs and I can tell you people do not get this. :angry:

The scum and film on your tub was from moisturizers and hair gels or conditioners and makeup and dead skin.... need I go on.

Have you ever swum in a lake? There is bacteria everywhere so lets not get worked up to much over this.

There is no need to flush and fill twice. SERIOUSLY it is not baking on in the pipes. Dump the water, fill it and add your sanitizer of choice. You can add some shock if you want but the proper sanitizer will deal with the miniscule amount of anything diluted into a tub full of water. If you are on city water which is chlorinated, that amount of clean water would eliminate anything that might have been in a jet.

Bromine does not burn off as fast in the heat of a tub as chlorine does.

Make sure before the crowd comes over that you have had the proper Bromine level for a couple days, this will mean you have enough banked in the tub

Make sure everyone showers FIRST.

when you have finished for the night put a cap full of spa shock(not pool shock) in the tub. In the morning, before noon if you can, check the levels. You will need to add Bromine usually if there has been many bathers.

ALSO and this is big as well. Cloudy foamy water from many bathers can be as simple as detergent residue in the swim suits. Many people are using the 2x or 3x detergents and still using a cap full which is way to much. This does not wash out completely in the laundry. When they land in the tub without showering in their swimsuit all the detergent rinses out nicely in your tub. I see this all the time and can just about tell which laundry detergent they use. There is no chemical that can counter this.

"I had to give up on reading all the replies you were just going in circles it seemed."

Huh? What kind of smug statement is that? Most responses here provided the same information, and linked to the same helpful instructions for decontaminating and having a properly sanitized spa.

Your response however, is a mix of both ok thoughts(showering, keeping suits detergent free) and misinformation (comparing a hot tub to a lake, suggesting that the chlorine level in tap water could kill anything in a hot tub, that bromine only has to be kept at the proper levels for a couple of days prior to bather use, confusion of the difference between a bromide bank and the available level of bromine sanitizer, that biofilm and bacteria do not multiply in the plumbing, etc).

[SuzyQ442]

JLazarus,

You may feel distraught by what happened, but don't give up. As others have mentioned, dump the water & start again. It is your best and simplest option.

We have had a few parties this summer and believe me, the next day the water was simply scary - once, we couldn't see the bottom of the tub because it was so murky. But, that's what you get with 6 people in the tub for 4 or 5 hours in a row. In hindsight, I should have added a little bleach in there while the people were in the tub, just to provoke a little rise in the sanitizer. But, the next day, I simply emptied it and gave it a fast scrub, and started over. Other times, I had HUGE amounts of foam due to insufficient shocking to burn off organics. But, with high shocking & a little patience, everything got better.

Balancing the water may seem complicated at first, but I assure you that it is dead simple if you give it a chance.

I am partial to 3-step bromine as it requires minimal maintenance (but a good test kit); as to the rest, calcium just needs to be tested after a fill, and adjusted if necessary, and then only once in a blue moon just to make sure the "topping off" hasn't affected it too much. PH and Alkalinity need to be tested a little more frequently because of the acidic nature of the bromine, but then again, not necessarily every day. So your main concern is the sanitizer levels, which are very - very - easy to maintain IF you have a well established bromine bank and once you have determined how to set your floater for optimal results.

My personal experience also says that using MPS has a tendency to increase the foaming so now use bleach for shocking; however, I have no scientific proof of this, only what I observed in my spa. But for me, no more mps, just 6% bleach for shock.

If you keep a good sanitizer level in your tub and shock after a heavy bather load (i.e., dump a few tablespoons of bleach in there according to your tub size; it only takes a few seconds) you will find your maintenance very simple.

Don't give up, you'll find your spa very enjoyable. No stress, it's there to help you relax!

[jlazarus]

JLazarus,

You may feel distraught by what happened, but don't give up. As others have mentioned, dump the water & start again. It is your best and simplest option.

We have had a few parties this summer and believe me, the next day the water was simply scary - once, we couldn't see the bottom of the tub because it was so murky. But, that's what you get with 6 people in the tub for 4 or 5 hours in a row. In hindsight, I should have added a little bleach in there while the people were in the tub, just to provoke a little rise in the sanitizer. But, the next day, I simply emptied it and gave it a fast scrub, and started over. Other times, I had HUGE amounts of foam due to insufficient shocking to burn off organics. But, with high shocking & a little patience, everything got better.

Balancing the water may seem complicated at first, but I assure you that it is dead simple if you give it a chance.

I am partial to 3-step bromine as it requires minimal maintenance (but a good test kit); as to the rest, calcium just needs to be tested after a fill, and adjusted if necessary, and then only once in a blue moon just to make sure the "topping off" hasn't affected it too much. PH and Alkalinity need to be tested a little more frequently because of the acidic nature of the bromine, but then again, not necessarily every day. So your main concern is the sanitizer levels, which are very - very - easy to maintain IF you have a well established bromine bank and once you have determined how to set your floater for optimal results.

My personal experience also says that using MPS has a tendency to increase the foaming so now use bleach for shocking; however, I have no scientific proof of this, only what I observed in my spa. But for me, no more mps, just 6% bleach for shock.

If you keep a good sanitizer level in your tub and shock after a heavy bather load (i.e., dump a few tablespoons of bleach in there according to your tub size; it only takes a few seconds) you will find your maintenance very simple.

Don't give up, you'll find your spa very enjoyable. No stress, it's there to help you relax!

Thanks, Suzy. Getting the hang of it, although I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy it like most people (or my husband who adores it). It's just a personality trait for me ;-) My alk/ph/calcium hardness is all balanced, but still not sure I'm totally understanding the fundamentals of bromine. I keep reading that without the sodium bromide, I won't have a bromide bank (our local store doesn't carry it), yet my bromide readings are quite measurable and actually on the high side often. So now I don't really trust testing the bromine - I mean, what exactly am I testing for? If, without the sodium bromide on the initial fill, I still get measurable bromine test readings, then how would that reading differ if I *had* put in the sodium bromide on the initial fill? By measurable I mean nothing lower than 3, nothing higher than 12, but 6-10 is average.

Since I didn't have the sodium bromide for the initial fill, I've been adding a little bleach after each use, thinking I was helping to sanitize for the first 3 weeks or so until I had my reserve, and on Sunday, after an evening with 6 people in the tub, I super-shocked with chlorine. The water "seems" great via testing. PH is 7.8, Alk is 60, CH is 250. So the water is balanced, but how to know if really sanitized? Since I've always had a bromine reading, I think I must be not understanding *something* since the wisdom here on this forum is that I don't have a reserve yet. Also, we are not using a floater - just putting bromine tabs in filter basket (2-3 a week). We do have an ozonator, but heck, how do I test that? How do I know it's really working? Yes the tub is new, but that doesn't necessarily equate to all functioning parts, lol! ;-) (Sidenote: I just read that I might can buy a product for mustard algae that actually has sodium bromide in it - I'll check with my local store, but if I do find it, how much will I need to put in now that the spa is a couple weeks old? Thinking maybe at this point it's not necessary on this fill, and I just need to buy it for prep for the next fill)....

(Hmmmm...thinking outloud here.....duh, I guess it is possible that when I'm testing for bromine it's actually FC that I'm reading on the test?.....then, perhaps I DO need to go ahead and add some sodium bromide...Oh how I wish I had that when I filled!!!! I'd feel so much more confident!!)

I'm also not a big fan of sitting in a tub full of chemicals. Not sure why, but it wigs me out. I know that sounds crazy since I'm a pool person, but I don't "soak" in the pool. Mainly just lay on a raft on top of water ;-) And the chlorine in the pool is never as high as the bromine in my tub (except when super-chlorinating, but I don't get in that obviously), and in my tub, I now have a mixture of chlorine and bromine, and worry they are too high and worried about bromine toxicity (which right now I haven't read enough about to discern if that's something I truly should worry about or not - I need to research that more, but frankly I'd really rather not be exposing my family to *any* potentially toxic tub hazards on a daily basis. Yet, I also have read that many of the "natural" sanitation methods really might not be that sanitary, lol!) Last, but not least, I read yesterday that chlorine doesn't kill all recreational water illnesses...but haven't yet read if bromine does or not! That's not really reassuring (although I'm not sure which RWIs are actually all that common). I also read that it takes up to an hour to kill some of the bugs. How do we *ever* know at *any* given point during a soak that the water is actually clean?

So, yeah, a tad bit stressed still, but I will say that thanks to this forum, and Waterbear for above help, I'm not nearly as stressed as I was a week and a half ago!!

[jeffinpickering]

Without adding sodium bromide on the fill, you will have a chlorine tub until a bromide bank is built up (good think you've been using bleach instead of something else). Ironically, by doing something you shouldn't be (putting your tablets in the filter basket instead of a floater), you may have accelerated building up your bank.

You should get a floater for controlling the release of the tabs into your water.

The ozonator will simply slightly decrease the required demand from your tabs (ie. a lower the setting on your floater) necessary to maintain a proper sanitizer level.

It sounds like you're still sweating it too much. Just follow ALL the steps from http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30249

[jlazarus]

Without adding sodium bromide on the fill, you will have a chlorine tub until a bromide bank is built up (good think you've been using bleach instead of something else). Ironically, by doing something you shouldn't be (putting your tablets in the filter basket instead of a floater), you may have accelerated building up your bank.

Woohoo - yay for mistakes with benefits! ;-)

You should get a floater for controlling the release of the tabs into your water.

Got one now. BTW, the reason for throwing tabs in filter basket was....(drum roll here, can you guess?) that was what the original instructions were. Literally. Basic: Metal Gon, then throw some tabs in basket and use some Renew when needed....(aaarggh)....so we've just continued throwing them in there....Curious though - why do you "doing something I shouldn't be" in regards to that? Is it just because it's not a continual release (easier to maintain I assume) from the floater or are we actually causing a problem by putting the tabs in the filter? I *will* start using the floater, just trying to learn the "why's" and "why nots" ;-)

The ozonator will simply slightly decrease the required demand from your tabs (ie. a lower the setting on your floater) necessary to maintain a proper sanitizer level.

It sounds like you're still sweating it too much. Just follow ALL the steps from http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30249

I'm just a worrywart - about *certain* things (not necessarily any rhyme or reason, lol). Have been all my life. I actually try to keep that in check and to myself but on internet forums it's easy to just let it "all hang out" ;-) I promise to try harder not to "sweat it too much"! Thanks so much, everyone!