Swim Spa Chem battle

[Snavelaker]

Hello. I've been stalking the site for quite a while now. I've searched and found several answers that were 'close' to what I'm dealing with, but nothing quite like my issue.

Here's the long backstory, short:
We purchased a swim spa and were left with no instructions except.. ‘Just keep pouring Bromine in it’. Yah, that was bad. Literally that was it. So after about two months now of having the swim spa, it’s been cloudy about 90% of the time. I started doing research on my own and found YOU ALL!

Before my K-2006 kit came in, I dropped by a nearby spa place just to see what they saw for levels and was told, "Oh, your bromine levels are so low you can actually start just using Chlorine from here on out". So, I am now converting to Chlorine.

I now have my test kit and I am in the middle of SLAMming the pool. My pool is 2100gal, I added CYA to a level of 40 (the pool is outside, but covered when not in use and is under UV paneled roof).

FC: 16
CC: 1.8

I’m looking for a few answers. First, am I correct in saying that the CC WILL go down and the cloudiness should clear up (even though it’s been cloudy most of the time) as the pool gets cleaner (the longer I SLAM)? Second, is there a possibility that my numbers can be thrown off by the remaining Bromine in the pool?

Forgive me if I missed something.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hi there Snavelaker- Did the pool store happen to mention to you that "once a bromine pool - always a bromine pool" ? As you add chlorine it "revives" the bromine in the water again....and again....

Any chance you can easily drain, clean and refill this swim spa?? Start fresh with just chlorine bleach and stabilizer?

Maddie

 

[AftonJeeper]

From what I understand switching from Bromine to Chlorine requires a drain and refill Every time you add chlorine to the water it will reactivate the bromide and turn it into bromine.

 

[Donldson]

Welcome to TFP!

First question, did you drain the water to convert to chlorine? If not then you still have a bromine pool. Sodium bromide is what makes bromine, and it does not just go away. When you add any oxidizing agent, chlorine, MPS, ozone, it reacts with the bromide to create bromine. When the bromine is used up it returns to bromide until you add more oxidizer. So assuming you had a good bromide bank in there all the chlorine you added was just converted to bromine. Needless to say, the fact that the store employee you spoke to doesn't know that speaks volumes to their (lack of) knowledge about water chemistry.

If you want to convert to chlorine (which I recommend, much easier to deal with) you are going to have to dump the water and start over.

 

[Snavelaker]

Thanks for the quick replies.

No. The pool store did NOT say that, however I had read that several times here at TFP. I DID see a few posts about letting the Bromine 'fizzle out' over time, but unfortunately, the pool is owned by my parents, who had it installed at my home (no room at their house), so I'm kind of fighting with their misinformation and my newly found knowledge. They heard "yes, just add chlorine now", so I did. I have strongly suggested a drain and refill but was told to 'try this' first.

The whole reason I started to SLAM in the first place is because the sanitizer was so low, I had mustard algae growing. So what WOULD happen if I kept SLAMming? Would the CC ever get down to less than 0.5? Is the SLAMming pointless at this stage in my little disaster lol?

 

[Snavelaker]

ha HA!

Nevermind... I was FINALLY able to convince them to drain and start over with chlorine. Crisis diverted.