Confusion testing a Chlorine/Bromine pool

[tavak]

I have an 8000gal plaster spa. It is a Chlorine spa, but because I had to add Chlorine ever few days, a couple of months ago I added 1in Bromine tablets to a floater to maintain the pool while we were on vacation (only thing I could find in 1in size), not realizing this would convert the spa to a Bromine spa.

Since then, I've been confused on what to do. I removed the bromine tables after we got back from vacation, so only 6 tablets dissolved in the pool, but I guess that is enough to convert the pool to Bromine.

Since last month, I've only been adding power Chlorine to the pool.

I measured the pool this morning and here are the levels:

TC: 2
FC: 0.5
Bromine: 5
ph: 8
CYA: 240
TA: 120

What levels do I need to worry about? Do I just focus on keeping Bromine between 2 and 6? Do I not worry about the TC and FC, but keep adding Chlorine to keep the bromine levels up?

Also, the CYA started getting really high after adding the Bromine. Is this something to worry about? Should I consider draining part of my pool?

Thanks for any help clearing up my confusion.

 

[mknauss]

An 8000 gallon Spa? Are you sure?

If 800 gallons, drain it. Start over.

 

[tavak]

Sorry, I think I was using inches instead of feet when doing the volume calculation... The pool is a 1,400 gallon pool (8.5 x 6.5 ft).

Because we live in an HOA and a dry area, draining is my last option. If I keep adding Chlorine to the pool to keep the Bromine level at 2 to 5 and the PH in normal range, is there anything else I need to worry about? I'm thinking that eventually the Bromine levels will not raise when I add chlorine, so at that point I will either have to drain it or add more Bromine because with the pool naturally converting back to Chlorine, the CYA levels are too high to not drain it. But as long as the pool is a Bromine pool, the CYA levels won't hurt anything?

 

[mknauss]

Bromine takes a very, very long time to disappear without water exchange.

Your CYA is astronomical. Though it is not as much an issue with the bromine.

The sooner you can get fresh water, the better.