Spa Start-Up Help

[DFWDamon]

We recently purchased a Beachcomber 550 Spa. It holds about 400 gal.

We're having trouble getting the water chemistry off the ground. We're using Bromine as a sanitizer and testing using a Deluxe Pool-care OTO drip test kit. The first time we filled the spa we started with Chlorine Leisure Time Kit and followed the directions on the CD provided us with the spa for start-up, and followed the maintenance instructions for shocking, bathing before use, etc... The spa fogged up on the third day so bad that we couldn't see the bottom, and was foaming pretty bad. We shocked it with the oxidizing shock provided. With no improvement the next day. All the levels tested fine, so we added clarify and defoam as recommended. After a couple hours the spa water turned milky white. All levels including alkalinity and calcium still tested fine. So we drained the Spa and started over.

We decided to try Bromine, so we followed the steps in the Bromine for Beginners topic on this forum. After balancing the water, we added the bromide reserve packet as suggested, and put a floater in the spa with a 1" bromine tab. We also added a Nature2 Mineral stick to the filter per suggestions from our local Leslies Pool supply. After several hours of heating, final testing showed low calcium levels and no bromine so we added Leslies Harness Up. Alkalinity went through the roof (260 ppm) so we put in SpaDown (Sodium Bisulfate). As expected Ph fell, so we balanced using Borax. We gave it 30 min to circulate and balance, between each chem add and test. Test showed no bromine, so I added 2 1" Tabs directly to the filter, and one in the bottom of the spa, and we shocked with chlorine bleach 6%. Bromine levels came up to normal, but were back down to 0 within an hour. The spa water turned milky white and that's where it's been since yesterday. Since then we've shocked, and tried adding another dose of bromide reserve with no results.

We can't seem to get this spa off the ground. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[chem geek]

With a new spa and especially since you haven't maintained a disinfectant level with it, I'd suggest cleaning it out with Ahh-Some. As for the Nature², that is incompatible with bromine and is only to be used with chlorine (Leslie's is not the best source of information). Also, Total Alkalinity (TA) will not go up when adding a calcium hardness product so something was wrong there. You do NOT add acid (sodium bisulfate) and then a base (borax) since that just has the TA go down and then up. To lower the TA you add acid and aerate the water at low pH (around 7.0).

[DFWDamon]

Thanks for the advice. Just so I'm clear on the proper flush routine ... I should:

Empty the Spa

Refill with fresh water

Add Ahh-Some and run jet cycle for an hour

Empty, and Refill

Re-follow the directions for Bromine Startup in the Bromine for Beginners Topic

Is that correct?

If we run into the situation where TA is high and PH is low how do we combat that?

BfB says: Aerate and acid to bring TA down and add Borax to raise Ph, but you say don't add acid then base. I don't understand the statement "To lower the TA you add acid and aerate the water at low pH (around 7.0)"

In Round 2 when we switched to Bromine, we couldn't maintain a Bromine level for more than an hour or so even with the bromide starter. If that occurs again what do we do?

[chem geek]

You can add the Ahh-Some to used water. No need to empty and refill it before using Ahh-Some. The rest you have correct.

If the TA is high and the pH low you can most easily raise the pH by just running the jets (i.e. aeration). If you were to add acid, then that lowers both pH and TA. Basically, the lowering TA process does the following:

Process . pH . TA

Acid ........ - .... -

Aeration . + .... 0

--------------------

NET ........ 0 .... -

If the bromine isn't lasting long, just add more oxidizer (bleach, Dichlor, non-chlorine shock, etc.) Assuming you added enough bromide starter, that should produce more bromine.

[DFWDamon]

We're still having issues.

after we did a fresh water flush to get rid of any residue, we refiled and added ahh-some.

after an hour we took a baseline. This matches our strait from tap baseline.

TA =70 ph= 6.8 CH= 700

we added hth metal control 32 oz waited an hour and retested.

ta= 0 ph = >6.8 ch=0

we balanced ta and ph using ph increaser (sodium carbonate) 5 oz (2 + 2 + 1) waiting 30 min with jets on high between doses.

ta = 90 ph= >6.8 ch=0

we aerated for an hour until ph=7.2

we added Leslie's harness plus (calcium chloride) 2 oz

we left the tub on jets low and went to bed. jets low cycle runs about 2 hours, then turns to circulation only.

when we woke up this morning to finish the tub was milky white.

as we drain the water is leaving a white powder on all surfaces.

what are we doing wrong?

[chem geek]

Did you replace the water after using the ahh-some? If not, do that and see what happens on your fresh fill, but be sure and add disinfectant to it right away. You don't leave Ahh-Some in the spa to use it. Though you can add Ahh-Some without changing the water first, you definitely change the water AFTER using the Ahh-Some.

[DFWDamon]

We refilled with fresh water, and now it's perfect. So far.

We skipped the metal gon this time because it seemed to throw all our stuff out of whack. It dropped our ph, ta, and calcium to 0.

So we opted to skip and just use a little baking soda to bring our ph and ta up a touch.

Other advice said you can't add calcium and spa up in the same day, which we were doing to balance after metal gone.

We did not have to add hardness up this time because we skipped the metal gone. So we added defender to protect against scale since our base calcium is a touch high.

So far it's clear, and bromine levels are holding a little high, but that will just take some tweaking on the floater.

Thanks so much for all your time and help!