Cloudy spa tho all chemical concentrations are fine

[jpa8r]

A persistent issue I haven't seen discussed (apologies if I missed it):
As long as I keep the bromine level in my spa in good shape, I'm fine, but if it slips to zero for a few days without me noticing, the water turns cloudy and it seems there's no turning it back. Have tried shocking with higher levels of bromine and with SpaGuard Spa Shock (sufficiently to put the chlorine and bromine levels off the charts for a few days), and run the jets on high for several hours repeatedly with little change. Ph, TA, CH, etc are all right where they should be. This can happen even a week or two after refilling the spa with relatively minimal use...conversely if I keep the bromine levels adequate, I can go months and be fine.

Three questions:
1. What's happening?
2. Would a clarifier be the right answer (as opposed to dumping the water).
3. Is there a problem with the spa frog bromine cartridges reliability? (i.e., sometimes I go long periods with stable levels, other times I quickly go to zero, with similar usage levels).

Note: I add sufficient bromine to establish a bromine reserve at the outset when I refill.
THanks for any help!

 

[Cuzziebro]

Great question....I have just jumped on here to ask basically the exact same questions. Will watch with anticipation.

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Cloudy water in a hot tub is nearly always bacteria from a lack of active sanitizer over a sufficient period of time. Bromine is trickier than chlorine because chlorine and bromine interfere with each other so it is difficult to measure. And I am not 100% up to speed on how to manage a bromine tub because I have always maintained mine with bleach.

Have you read this? How do I use Bromine in my spa (or pool)?

This is how I maintain my tub if you are interested in ditching the bromine and going to bleach. If so, you'll need to drain and refill. Which would be a good time to also give it an Ahh-some treatment. How do I use Chlorine in my Spa (or pool)?

 

[jpa8r]

I recognize the cloudy water appeared due to lack of sanitizer for a period of a few days...what I'm struggling with is how to get rid of it. Also, my original post should have mentioned that I have cleaned my filter.

 

[Krooz]

I've let my Bromine levels slip before as well. Even after getting the levels back I always have to use a good dose of clarifier followed by swapping out or cleaning the filters. Takes a couple of days to get things cleared up.....