Ok, here is the situation! We bought a Caldera spa - Niagara model. I'm going to write out everything that I did so there is a clear picture of whats what.
It was hooked up on Friday and filled that same morning. I took my water sample in, they gave me all my chemicals to balance the water. So I following their instructions which were :
2 cap fulls of Metal Guard
4 cap fulls of Non- Chlorine shock ( Brand name Spa Magic )
2 tsp Bromine Granular
Run the clean cycle
Add 1 capfull of PH Down ( water test showed slightly high PH)
Run the clean cycle again
Test with strip
The strip comes back with low bromine ( didn't seem to register on the strip at all, and I'm told to add an extra tsp of granular bromine and I"ll be good to go).
That night my son takes a look and says he thinks it has a green tinge to it, I didn't see it, we use the spa, and when done for the night added 2 tsp of bromine granular. The following morning the water is green but clear.
I email the spa guy and he says its algae so to do the 4 cap fulls of shock and 2 tsp of bromine again. Says I should see an improvement in a couple of hours and to test a little more often to make sure the bromine is at good levels and to shock once a day to clear up the algae. So I do this. Since we're out and about and near the spa place I bring in a sample just to be sure. Water lab test comes back with 40ppm bromine, and my water is still sporting a lovely St Patricks Day green colour. My test strips aren't showing anything still although perhaps it was bleached by the high levels. ( As an aside I did a little experiment just to see if perhaps the test strips weren't working and dissolved 1/2 tsp of bromine into half a cup of water, the test strip came back as dark purple..so I don't know )
The spa people tell me to drain the pool as those high levels of bromine may damage the shell. So, ok I drain it, wipe it out fill with new water, follow the same start up chemical process as before. Water looks great!
Because I"m paranoid, I take a sample in the next day ( yesterday ) just to be sure before I add bromine and to grab new test strips figuring the others were crappy. Water test comes back, shows .75 ppm for bromine and PH a litle high..everything else is great. They gave me a different brand of shock to use as well as the other was a new product they started carrying.
I go home, take a new test strip and test the spa water before I treat it and the test strip reads high bromine. And to add insult to injury the water is green again. So I email spa guy and tell him the strip is showing high bromine but I haven't added any since the day before and its turning green again. So he advises to just shock it ( 2 cap fulls ) and skip the bromine for now if the strips are showing high levels. So I do this. They are now thinking its high mineral levels turning the water green and advise to take the mineral cartridge out. So I do.
I went back today with a water sample and both brands of test strips. They run 2 separate water tests which come back with consistent readings of 1 ppm of bromine give or take,I have them do the test strips there out of the same water sample but my strips show high levels 10-20ppm. They even opened a new package of strips and got the same result again.
They gave me metal remover, which could take a couple of days to work and advised to just use the 2 tsp of bromine daily assuming the spa is also used daily.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to be clear about whats going on. I'd be grateful for any thoughts or suggestions?? So far this spa is not very
relaxing
It was hooked up on Friday and filled that same morning. I took my water sample in, they gave me all my chemicals to balance the water. So I following their instructions which were :
2 cap fulls of Metal Guard
4 cap fulls of Non- Chlorine shock ( Brand name Spa Magic )
2 tsp Bromine Granular
Run the clean cycle
Add 1 capfull of PH Down ( water test showed slightly high PH)
Run the clean cycle again
Test with strip
The strip comes back with low bromine ( didn't seem to register on the strip at all, and I'm told to add an extra tsp of granular bromine and I"ll be good to go).
That night my son takes a look and says he thinks it has a green tinge to it, I didn't see it, we use the spa, and when done for the night added 2 tsp of bromine granular. The following morning the water is green but clear.
I email the spa guy and he says its algae so to do the 4 cap fulls of shock and 2 tsp of bromine again. Says I should see an improvement in a couple of hours and to test a little more often to make sure the bromine is at good levels and to shock once a day to clear up the algae. So I do this. Since we're out and about and near the spa place I bring in a sample just to be sure. Water lab test comes back with 40ppm bromine, and my water is still sporting a lovely St Patricks Day green colour. My test strips aren't showing anything still although perhaps it was bleached by the high levels. ( As an aside I did a little experiment just to see if perhaps the test strips weren't working and dissolved 1/2 tsp of bromine into half a cup of water, the test strip came back as dark purple..so I don't know )
The spa people tell me to drain the pool as those high levels of bromine may damage the shell. So, ok I drain it, wipe it out fill with new water, follow the same start up chemical process as before. Water looks great!
Because I"m paranoid, I take a sample in the next day ( yesterday ) just to be sure before I add bromine and to grab new test strips figuring the others were crappy. Water test comes back, shows .75 ppm for bromine and PH a litle high..everything else is great. They gave me a different brand of shock to use as well as the other was a new product they started carrying.
I go home, take a new test strip and test the spa water before I treat it and the test strip reads high bromine. And to add insult to injury the water is green again. So I email spa guy and tell him the strip is showing high bromine but I haven't added any since the day before and its turning green again. So he advises to just shock it ( 2 cap fulls ) and skip the bromine for now if the strips are showing high levels. So I do this. They are now thinking its high mineral levels turning the water green and advise to take the mineral cartridge out. So I do.
I went back today with a water sample and both brands of test strips. They run 2 separate water tests which come back with consistent readings of 1 ppm of bromine give or take,I have them do the test strips there out of the same water sample but my strips show high levels 10-20ppm. They even opened a new package of strips and got the same result again.
They gave me metal remover, which could take a couple of days to work and advised to just use the 2 tsp of bromine daily assuming the spa is also used daily.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to be clear about whats going on. I'd be grateful for any thoughts or suggestions?? So far this spa is not very
relaxing
