I recently switched my spa from chlorine to bromine. Everything seem to be balanced over past 4 weeks but recently have seen a jump in TA. I used pH down and brought the TA down to 85 but then had a low pH level (6.8). Added pH plus to correct the pH level and TA went up again (140). I feel like I am playing a tug-a-war with pH and TA. Oh, and to add to issues my bromine level has dropped and I have been adding bromine consistently. My bather load is just me and about 3x per week. Tub is 375gallons. Any help would be appreciated.
Sudden jump in alkalinity
- Thread starter plwhorse
- Start date
The key things to understand about PH and TA are:
1) Acid will lower both PH and TA
2) Aeration (run the jets) will raise PH and leave TA alone
3) PH up will raise both PH and TA
So if TA is high, add acid and run the jets for a little while, repeating as needed until you hit your target level.
1) Acid will lower both PH and TA
2) Aeration (run the jets) will raise PH and leave TA alone
3) PH up will raise both PH and TA
So if TA is high, add acid and run the jets for a little while, repeating as needed until you hit your target level.
Thanks!!! I will give the jets a shot. I normally don't use them to much so maybe that will help. Will post results.
Ran the jets but pH was only around 7. Checked spa this morning and TA was around 180. Added spa down and TA now at 85 but pH now at 6.3. Running jets now for about an hour to see how pH turns out.
OMG! So I used your suggestion but pH and alkalinity have been low and hard to control. I thought that a water change was in order but then noticed in the bottom of the spa....a beer bottle cap. Neighbor came over last week and must have dropped it in on accident. Would the reaction of the metal bottle cap be causing my issues? Problems seemed to start after we used a week ago and there was some oxidation on the cap when I pulled it out. 
The bottle cap would not have any detectable effect on PH or TA. It could cause some minor problems with metal staining, but even that is unlikely.
Well everything is back to normal. Didn't do much of anything except add bromine floater back into tub. I was getting high TA reading but after putting in floater the TA went from 180 to 130 and has stayed there. PH is stable at 7.5 also. Thanks for the help.