Help! Low bromine in hot tub although there is tablets in it.

[Josef Sloan]

I'm a new hot tub user and for about a week now I've been having an issue of just above 0ppm bromine levels, my pH and TA are completely fine and in the correct range although the bromine is next to nothing, I have a Sundance Optima 880 and I tried using the Brominator and a floating dispenser both together and one at a time and neither has fixed my issue and now just yesterday when the jets are on the hot tub starts to create foam.

During the refilling stage I used infused bromine granules as I heard this is something you're supposed to use to boost the bromine upon refill, this worked and I had high bromine levels although they naturally ended up dropping.

I've tried, refilling the water, using non-chlorine shock treatment, cleaning the filter with a filter cleaner hose attachment

[RDspaguy]

https://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/52138-bromine-use-in-spas/

Not sure what "infused bromine granules" are, but you need sodium bromide at startup to establish your bromide bank.

Foam is usually from detergent/fabric softener residue on your clothing, or hair conditioner, makeup, lotion, etc. that you bring into the spa.

If the spa is new to you I strongly recommend you use Ahhsome spa plumbing cleaner.

 

 

[Josef Sloan]

Sorry for the late reply, I presumed I would get an email if someone replied to this forum although I didn't.

Thanks for the info, with the Bromine Infused Granules, they're Aquasparkle branded and it says it's Di-chloro-isocyanurate dihydrate and Sodium bromide. I used this although my bromine levels are still next to nothing.

[RDspaguy]

Shock with chlorine. 

On any new spa we recommend using Ahhsome spa cleaner. You would be shocked at the nasty stuff that can be coating the inside of the pipes in a new spa. Read the many posts on biofilm.

@waterbear, do you have any suggestions?

[waterbear]

How are you testing? DPD testing can bleach out and read low when sanitizer is actually high. Best testing method is FAS-DPD although since only total bromine is important in a bromine system OTO testing is a second best way to test since it will not bleach out. OTO test kits use a comparator with yellow color blocks instead of the red ones that DPD uses. FAS-DPD is a titration test (drop counting test) that is wide range, and very easy to do correctly since it involed a color change from pink to colorless that even color blind people can see. If you are using test strips they are fairly useless.

Your bromine granules are actually a combination product for two step bromine, which is using sodium bromide and an oxidizer. the oxidizer in your granules is chlorine (dichor). Adding the floater with bromine tabs (which contain organic bromine and an organic chlorine source to oxidize it)  makes it into a three step bromine system which, IMHO, is the easiest way to do bromine.

Foaming could also be cause by too low a Calcium hardness level.

If you could post a full set of test results not done with strips we can get a better idea of what is going on in the water.

[Josef Sloan]

Hi all,

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions, It seems I've still got a lot to learn when it comes to hot tubs, to test my water I just use 4 Way Aquasparkle test strips which test, TA, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine and pH although I've just tested my water about 5 minutes ago and some how (no idea how) my bromine levels are up at 4ppm and there's also a slight chlorine reading of about 1ppm, I've got no idea how this has happened, I've not done anything to my hot tub 8 just thought I'd do a reading incase the pH has been thrown off.

 

Many thanks for all of your help and I'll take a further look into getting some calcium hardness chemicals @waterbear thank you all for your help

[waterbear]

Before you do anything get your water tested at a store that does not use strips for testing, even if they put the strip into a machine to read it. Ideally you want someone who uses liquid reagents (Taylor Technologies, Palintest, or Hach). Next best but no where near as good a the LaMotte Spin Disk/Waterlink system. Once you get the test results post them and we will see just what's going on. IF I am not mistaken you are on the other side of the pond from me since Aqauasparkle is a UK brand. Your strips test Free chlorine (not applicable to a bromine tub but they can develop a color since bromine depends on chlorine for activation if you are using tabs. Bromine tabs have both bromine and chlorine in them. Your strips also test total bromine, pH and total alkalinity. Be aware that using strips to test total alkalinity is next to useless and you really want to test with either a meter used with liquid reagents or by titration. Strips have neither the accuracy (test results that are repeatable on retesting the same sample) or precision (test results how closely the test result corresponds to its “true” value) to really give meaningful information, particularly with Alkalinity, Hardness, and Stabilizer (chlorine only) tests. The parameters you need to test are total bromine, pH (with acid demand test if possible), total alkalinity, and calcium hardness (NOT total hardness which is what strips and some colormetric kits test). There might be some other tests that are useful in certain situations but these are the basic ones you need.