Is it time to change water?

[MoodyMaMa]

So we have had the tub for two months and so far three of us use it almost every night.

The water is clear when still. I am using the bromine system with an ozonator. And Bromine tabs. When the jets run on high we are getting a lot of foam (clean white foam, but foam)

We have been very busy and I have not been testing daily the last few days.

My chemical levels last night after being in for 10 minutes.

Br 15 (not sure how that happened it has never been that high without me adding MPS, I know we should not have been in with it that high)
TA 20
PH < 7.0

I added some Baking Soda and some Spa Up.

I am almost out of my drops to test the Bromine (I have ordered more) so I will not test that till we are ready to get in tonight.

Br still very pink did leave the tabs out last night
TA 50
PH 7.5

So is the foam a sign it's time to dump and start over? Like I said the water is clear when still and the foam leaves quickly.

 

[MPurcell]

I wouldn't recommend dumping and refilling at this time.

With regard to foaming, what is your calcium hardness?

I had an issue with foaming some time ago. I had guests in the tub and got bad foaming afterwards. After looking at the possibilities, my solution was to take the tub up to shock level (above 22.5 ppm of bromine), and then keep the bromine a little higher consistently, with a target between 6-10 ppm. We had to skip using the tub for a day or two. Bit by bit, after the shock and a little time, the foaming subsided. I still get a bit of foaming now when the air is running, but it dissipates immediately, and is not a problem. My calcium hardness is 225 ppm, both before and after this incident.

I'm currently on 4-1/2 months on this fill, and the water is still very clear and fine. Some of the good folks here on the forum have said they change their water only about once a year. My wife and I use the tub regularly, probably averaging 10 sessions per week or so. I'll keep my eye on the water quality as we go, but now I'm thinking six months to a year before changing the water is likely for us.

Your TA seems a little low to me. Bromine tabs (BCDMH) are acidic, so keeping a floater in the tub will tend to make the pH move down. At least it does in my tub. That could account for why your pH was below 7.0. MPS is also acidic. When I need to raise the pH, I use baking soda which also pushes the TA up. I have about 50 ppm borates in the tub as well as a TA currently about 120 ppm. Different tubs behave differently, but even with those numbers, my pH still tends to go down, and I stopped using MPS several months ago.

Most of the folks on this forum use chlorine in their tubs, and apparently it behaves differently than bromine.

 

[ant 83]

We scoop the foam out with a pool net whilst we soak. It never takes more than a 15 minute cycle of scooping to make the foam go away. This also improves water clarity noticeably.

Make sure you're cleaning out your filter.

Bleach causes a small rise in both TA and PH over time, and works as an oxidizer for your bromine. So I'd recommend switching to bleach when your MPS runs out. It's cheaper to boot.

Low PH leads to heater replacements, so do keep an eye out on PH. I keep my PH between 7.8 and 8. I test before I soak, so it likely goes even higher than that after the air jets run, and bleach added after I soak.

 

[MoodyMaMa]

Ok, the Calcium hardness is 140.
I did add some clarifyer and that seems to have helped some.
What should the TA be?

I have not washed the filters yet. So I should do that. Any suggestions how?

 

[MPurcell]

A little more calcium hardness might reduce the foaming a little bit.

For the TA, it depends on what your pH is doing. I have a hard time getting my pH up, and I have a hard time keeping my pH up. So in my case a high TA in the range of 120 to 150 is better. The acidity of the bromine tabs brings both the pH and the TA down in my tub. If your pH is stable, then TA is fine where it is. If your pH is going down continually, then you want your TA higher. If your pH is going up continually (unlikely in a bromine tub) then you want a lower TA around 50 or even 40.