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Chemicals??? Help!


Jane D-J

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Hi there,

I hope that you are all well.

Hot tub newbie here! We had our hot tub delivered last week :)

We were given instructions to fill the tub and, once it reached 26 degrees or over, put 4-6 tablespoons of bromine into the water. We were then advised to check the levels using strips and to add a capful of PH reducer or TA enhancer as necessary. 

The strips seemed far from accurate, but we got to a level where the colours seemed to match. However, after only being in the hot tub twice, we have all come out in a rash. Not to put too fine a point on it, I am covered in spots! 

We asked our hot tub supplier for help and they said that we were given bad advice on almost all fronts and that we needed only a couple of level teaspoons of bromine.

Having had such a bad experience, we are keen to start again and get things completely safe :) We have replaced the water and are desperately trying to get those strip colours to match. However, the PH always seems too high. 

Sorry to waffle on... we are just at our wits end!

Thank you for your time... I really appreciate your help!

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52 minutes ago, Jane D-J said:

We were given instructions to fill the tub and, once it reached 26 degrees or over, put 4-6 tablespoons of bromine into the water. We were then advised to check the levels using strips and to add a capful of PH reducer or TA enhancer as necessary. 

You need to detail specifically and exactly what you did.  For example, you did NOT add "4-6 tablespoons of bromine" because bromine is a dangerous liquid. So did you actually add sodium bromide powder like I suspect?  Did you add any bromine tablets? 

What was your pH before you added any chemicals? I would say you'd be better-served to get a test kit that uses phenol red indicator for pH than the test strips.  And a capful of pH reducer (likely sodium bisulfate powder) is not very much.

And when pH is too low, common pH increasing chemicals are sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and sodium carbonate.

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On any new spa it is a good idea to purge with Ahh-Some spa purge. Between production and shipping they can sit for quite some time growing all kinds of nasty inside the pipes, which are wet from testing.

Any test is inaccurate immediately after adding chemicals. Test, determine amounts needed based upon that test, add chemicals with jets on, wait at least one hour before retesting.

Sodium bromide is inactive bromine and must be oxidized (shocked) to create bromine. Please list the active ingredient on your bromine granules for accurate instructions on use.

I always balance (ph, alk, calcium) before adding any sanitizer or oxidizer.

Avoid any extra chemicals (borate, conditioner, clarifier, metal sequesterants) until you are familiar with basic maintenance.

Does your spa have ozone or uv? These are built in equipment that aid in maintenance that many spas are equipped with.

Read this.

https://hottubworks.com/blog/how-to-brominate-a-spa-or-hot-tub.html

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