I can't seem to get my levels up on my bromine. We got a new to us spa about 5 weeks ago. The dealer told us to start by placing about 4 tablets into the filter housing, and later get a floating feeder. The tablets just made the filter sit funny, so I got the feeder and removed the tablets. I've drilled more holes into the feeder and that seemed to raise it just a bit for a day. This weekend, my wife brought home a bromine starter pack so we dumped that in. Again, it raised it for a day. I got diffrent test strips to make sure I didn't have a bad batch. Both sets agree. As of last night, my ph is at 7.5, bromine at 0, alk at 180, cyanuric acid is at 0 and hardness is at 0. The spa feels great. Nobody has had any kind of skin issues, and the water is crystal clear. I'm concearned that with the low bromine levels, there may be something in there that we can't see.

Go buy some DIFFERENT testing strips from another place... just be sure they're within their expiration date.

Do that first - then report the results.

That's what I did. I had a small bottle of the test strips that the dealer gave me, and just in case they we're off, I got another bottle this weekend. They are both good according to the dates and they both test exactly the same.

Tested it again last night with bot sets of strips twice. I did one test with a quick dip and the other with a good dunk up to the elbow. All 4 strips still read 0 on the Bromine scale. It's got to have bromine in it. I'm adding about two or three tablets a week to the floater. theres some in the bottom that are almost all the way gone. :" title="Question" />

Maybe I'm not shocking it enough. I've been shocking with 3 oz once a week. We're family of 4, ususlly 3 of us use it 3 nights a week, maybe for an hour each night.

Any out there have any ideas, suggestions, comments, home remedies?

Hate test strips, always did. I am a chlorinator and not a Brominator but there is no replacement for using a real titration test kit. You can't just use an HTH kit that you buy at WalMart. You would need to buy a Bromine based kit. The other tests are standard.

So, one question is do you have an Ozone Generator?

AGE

Havent used bromine in a long time, that sure sounds drastic drilling into the floater. I recall there was some kind of thing you twisted on the floater, that increased or decreased the dose.

There is a ring to turn to open the little window a little more or less on the floater. But as all my readings were stuck on 0 all the time, I drilled the holes in an attempt to give it a little more. It was onbly $4.99 so if I end up one day with the holes being an issue, I can easily get another.

Both test strip kits are for Bromine.

No ozone generator. The tub is setup for one. I might get one later on.

On another forum, I was told that I needed to add a starter pack to activate the bromine tablets. I've allready added one Brom-Start pack and it was suggested that I add two more. Almost like it needed a kick start or something.

Last night I crunched up one bromine tablet and sprinkled it in as the jets we're running. After about 4 hours, one of my test strips showed the bro levels raised a bit more, the other showed them off the chart. This was the first time they disagreed. I seriously considering getting away from the test strips and possibly going to chlorine.

We have a lot of folks comong over this weekend and I want to make sure the spa is ok for them.

Well, since I need to rebuild the tub surround anyway, I'm going to drain it and go with Chlorine when I refill. I'll probably start it this weekend.

FInally got the levels up. I poked a couple of holes in the bromine tablet bottle and tossed it in. After two days it came up to where it should be. Don't matter though. I drained it last night and I'll be tearing off the old skirting and frame this weekend. " title="Very Happy" />

Charliez - You answered both of my questions but you didn't understand one of them. I mentioned test kits and didn't mean test strips. You stated that your test strip kits are Bromine. If I were you, I would forgo the strips and buy a real titration test kit for Bromine (don't buy a titration kit for Chlorine, it must be for Bromine). The effort is greater but once you have balanced water and it's manageable, you go on auto pilot. I do a full test once per week (or after a night of friends and neighbors) and simple pH and CL every few days.

If the tub is set up for an Ozonator, as a bromine user, you should definately invest in one if you can afford it. Ozone and Bromine are a match made in heaven. Once consumed, the bromamines can be converted back to hypobromous acid sanitizer by mixing with an oxidizer like ozone (automatically). So you get more sanitizing from your initial bromine. Only caution is to watch your pH from getting too low.

Since you mentioned that one strip indicated bromine and another off the charts... it proves the sentiment that strips are unreliable. The chemistry can't lie. Get a real Taylor kit.

Good luck with your rebuild.
AGE

Well, the outside structure is now rebuilt. I made a quick set of access panels out of the old access panels, just to close it in. It's refilled and now using chlorine instead of the bromine. Levels are right on and it was real nice Sunday morning to go out at 6:30 am before anyone else got up and give it a run as the sun was coming up.