Swimspa Chemistry - Newbie

[cheddardonkey]

Hello everyone,  first time owner of a swim spa here (or any pool care for that matter) and looking for some general answers to a few questions!      I recently purchased a house that has a 1,900gal outdoor swim spa. I have a bromine system which most of the time has strong odors.   Two floaters set at level 4 with bromine tablets and mps shocks regularly once per week of 12 oz.  ..   Water temp is 87, pH is bouncing from 8.0-7.6 , TA is 70 (90 yesterday)   and I just added calcium chlorate to bring ppm from 100 to 180.    I am using a taylor test kit and water is clear.    My problem is the heavy odor which is kind of sickening and I have a 4 year old learning to swim.     When I shock,  bromine jumps to very high levels >15ppm and doesn't come down tp the 2-5ppm unless I open it up to the sun, pull the  floats and run the jets for a day.   Unit was filled about 6 weeks ago.   Is this normal?  I shocked last night and bromine is still at 12ppm.. is that safe to go in? What causes the chemical odor? I feel like I've done a decent job as a fist timer but I'm a bit lost on where to go here.   I know TA should be up a bit...    If oxidizing is meant to renew used bromine why is there a need to constantly add more and how do you know what that level should be and/or how frequently to oxidize?

 

Thanks for reading